Lynne Twist and the Opportunity within the Economic Crisis

Lynne Twist is the author of The Soul of Money and the co-founder of the global NGO, The Pachamama Alliance.  The Pachamama Alliance is a partnership between the indigenous Achuar Tribe of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest and people worldwide working to save the Ecuadorian rainforest and preserve the Achuar culture.

Lynne talks and writes often about the profound abundance in life that we often overlook as we instead focus on our scarcity. It is a monetary perspective as well as a spiritual one and impacts our actions and happiness.

She recently created a short video talking about this idea as it relates to the current global economic crisis. I encourage you to check it out (it's about 3 minutes long) by clicking on the link at the bottom of this blog entry. 

In the video, Lynne says, “If we can see that what's happening is a truing, is a recalibration, it helps us see how to deal with it on a personal basis.  It doesn't mean it's not going to be painful; it doesn't mean that there's not suffering; it doesn't mean that we shouldn't be paying close attention to how we use money."

“But if we look on a larger scale, if we step back from the personal trauma, the fear, that we're all caught in and that the media's caught in, and see that we're living at a time of enormous excess that has created financial structures and systems that are inappropriate and completely unsustainable and now they're falling apart, we’ll know that, at the end of this, we're all going to be better for it, because we're going to be in a truthful, more accurate, more integrous relationship with ourself, with money and with the resources on this planet.  We can get through this.”

This has great implications for addressing epidemic homelessness, which has been for decades now the carnage of an unsustainable system.  Click here to view the video

Lynne has been a great friend to Give US Your Poor.

The Gift of Music & Oneself at Christmas: Michael Severens at PIP Shelter

The week before Christmas 2009, Give US Your Poor organized a performance by classical cellist Michael Severens of the l`Orquesta Sinfonica de la Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico at the PIP Shelter in Worcester, MA. Michael grew up in Worcester down the street from PIP and was home visiting from Mexico for the holidays. Attendance was sparse, the weather was bone chilling outside, but Severens was in fine form. He had played the night before at Worcester's Longest Night service and was moved to tears hearing about the people who lost their lives in 2009 due to homelessness, proof that homelessness is not only a moral tragedy for US all but a death sentence for too many. A number of PIP guests that evening thanked Severens for taking the time to come and perform and for thinking of them. Many talked of their own musical talent. They walked him to the door, thanking him again and again, and wishing him Merry Christmas. I was with him and struck deeply again that I was off to a warm home and these new friends were off to a crowded emergency shelter for the night, for the week, for the year.

Many thanks to the staff and guests at PIP shelter for welcoming Michael and his cello that cold night in Worcester, and many thanks to Mr. Severens for reminding me of the meaning of giving at Christmas. May we all carry that forth throughout the year! Peace out.

PIP Shelter is part of the South Middlesex Opportunity Council (S.M.O.C.)