As I am writing this edition of our Tipping Point Game for Changing Our Frame of Mind, we are currently witnessing, via "death panels", the perfect example of how the Status Quo is borrowing old tricks and pulling rabbits out of the hat when it comes to health care reform.
By appealing to the baser instincts of their constituents, the Old Guard seems to have successfully bullied and intimidated those leaders who claimed they were dedicated to changing the way our government works.
If this is all it takes to cave their determination, what will happen when matters of greater consequence are debated?
Remember how George W. Bush used to distract us with his confusing double-talk and poor grammar? While everyone got all upset and emotional about the gibberish that was being said, Dick Cheney and his cronies were busily working behind the scenes, organizing outrageous schemes under the table. By the time everyone figured out what was going on, it was too late. The damage had already been done and a course was set that led us to the place where we are now.
They were following the Sacred Cow that has supported innumerable acts of war, poor planning and bad decisions:
"Use distraction and fear to get what you want."
What would have happened back then if we had stayed focused on what was important and let cooler heads prevail? Would we have spent trillions of dollars fighting a war that should never have happened in the first place?
Now, years later, we seem to be letting the same thing happen again. Will we actually allow hysterics to distract us from a moral responsibility that has been left in the ditch for too long?
Think of your own life. How often do you get distracted from the real issue by cheap theatrics and emotional outbursts from certain people who have their own agenda? Can you stay focused on what's in your long term, best interests in spite of their behavior? What are they doing that is distracting you?
You don't have to give away your power to decide just because someone is behaving irrationally.
You can decide that going for solutions that benefit us all in the long run is preferable to succumbing to screaming and going for the short term solution that isn't really a solution at all.
You can support an underlying change in consciousness by looking at the Soul Contract Circle below and affirming these statements:
"I release my agreement to be distracted from what is important."
"I release any agreement I have to refuse to learn from the past."
"I release my agreement to make important decisions based on emotional reactions."
"I stop feeding the screamers with my attention and take affirmative action for the benefit of myself and my fellow human beings."
You can replace those old Sacred Cows with this:
"I now make a commitment to make sane and balanced decisions that are in my long term, best interests."
To understand how deeply these Sacred Cows have affected you, play the complete Tipping Game and help yourself shift into a whole new way of thinking.
Rheanni Lightwater © 2009
We are getting closer and closer to releasing our economic agreements with the Status Quo. However, before we're finished this particular series of Cow Tipping Games, we really must handle this major Sacred Cow accompanied by her siblings, because they would just love to keep us stuck in the mire of doubt, fear and cynicism:
This “big one” sets the playing field up so that the others can spread their misinformation and thinly veiled threats throughout the pasture, keeping people like us corralled into a scenario of doom and gloom. This manure creates thoughts in our heads, like these:
~ “You don’t know what you’re doing.” ~ “You obviously don’t understand.” ~ “You’re lost.” ~ “What if you make a mistake?”
Reclaim Your Faith in Yourself
The kind of thoughts that he is advocating have never led us in a positive direction, they take us right back to avoidance of our own power and being willing to settle for less. He would love us to believe:
“Things will never change, we might as well give up.”
“It’s too hard. We don’t have a chance – we’re screwed.”
“Let’s face it, there’s no way out.”
“I’m too scared to make a decision, make it for me.”
“I’m stuck, we’re stuck, the whole world is stuck.
We aren’t stuck; the Status Quo is stuck and we need to stop following the Status Quo. It feels really sticky and unpleasant, that’s true. However, the very fact that we’re feeling it so strongly means that we’re breaking away from it. Not only that, in the past, Mr. Cheney would have one of his minions do all this for him. He can't stay hidden in the shadows, because no one with any credability is left to shield him. This is not the time to give up!
Look at the Sacred Contract Circle to your right and let go of your personal, familial and cultural agreement to be lead around by fearmongering of the Status Quo. Tip the cow and make a new commitment to a change in direction. Not just any change, a real change that has freedom, peace and prosperity at its core.
Rheanni Lightwater Ccpyright 2009
Play all sixteen games!
Creating a Tipping Point for Sustainable Economic Prosperity
The Status Quo is at it again - trying to blow the smoke of denial in our eyes. They would like us to rescue the Old Economy and bring back the old ways of manipulating commerce and unsustainable business practices.
What is actually required is to move forward and build the infrastructure for a New Economy based on sustainability, access and accountability. Yet the Sacred Cow that says, "Keep looking backwards" is front and center, stubbornly digging it's heels in to sabotage any real change.
Most people know in their heart of hearts that the old economy is dying. The Old Guard would love to feed the sense of hopelessness and fear with their carefully calculated doomsday predictions and the Media will gladly oblige.
What we can do to pull the plug on this kind of thinking is to turn our focus towards businesses and solutions that are being built now, rather than spending our precious resources on keeping the Titanic afloat.
Long, long ago, the Status Quo established a particularly opportunist Sacred Cow to use whenever cornered by their own abuse of power. This collective agreement was bred and perpetuated into the people through the use of force and trauma to avoid responsibility, and it's being used now with the economy:
"Blame the Victim."
The way it often works is for the perpetrator to insist that they had no choice – they had to do whatever it was they did because of the victim. They don't want the economic recovery plan to help the people that need it the most. They think they are able to depend on compliance because the victims are so used to being abused, falling into the role almost automatically. A victim readily accepts blame because that is what they have been trained to do through repeated traumatic events.
The majority of these unconscious agreements are held in place by trauma.
By far, the biggest cause of trauma is war and the members of the old guard that perpetuate it. That’s why today’s Sacred Cows are:
"Treat people like commodities; use them up and then throw them away."
And
"Only weak people experience post-traumatic stress."
The further we go on our journey and the more Sacred Cows that get tipped, the easier it is to see the real agenda of those who want to stay in control.
Creating and maintaining conflict of any kind is the name of the game for them. They are helped by the fact that so many contracts have been built into the very fabric of society. Nevertheless, we will persevere in tipping those Cows that interfere with our forward progress, particularly those that fuel conflict. Conflicts get a lot of fuel from the Sacred Cow of superiority:
"Strictly enforce a moral and economic code that reinforces the power of the Status Quo."
Everyone can make mistakes. However, if someone has abused your trust repeatedly, do you just keep trusting them? Do you follow their lead blindly without questioning their authority? Once you discover you've been misled, do you let them get away with it?
The Status Quo would like for you to do just that when it comes to the mismanagement and downright dishonesty that they have repeatedly perpetrated on our economy and our nation. After all, they are too big to fail, so that automatically excuses everything. Right?
One of the tactics it is likely to try is to push the use of this Sacred Cow:
What does bailout have in common with burnout?
The only thing that has been getting real attention in the media is the money. Today’s Sacred Cow is:
"It’s all about the money."
What about sustaining self-respect and an individual’s ability to take care of themselves? So many people have hit the skids and yet, it’s the bankers we are supposed to help. It’s give, give, give, until there isn’t anything left. And now we’ve even gone way beyond that point.
Up until this point we have been going after the Sacred Cows that set the general groundwork for the Status Quo to maintain its grip on us. Today, we will play a game that will be much more pinpointed towards breaking up this economic malaise we find ourselves in. The goal is to free up energy and release agendas that have worked against the common good.
Ideas for Change
There are a lot of great ideas out there. Isn’t it interesting how often projects and ideas that support the common good are proclaimed "prohibitively expensive and therefore economically unviable" by the Status Quo?
What if we were to demand that the old guard back up their claims with reliable data that comes from actual experience?Something tells me that there are warehouses filled with great, sustainabe ideas that got bought up and packed away for the sole purpose of keeping us trapped in the malaise.
Let’s start by tipping the Sacred Cow that holds up a lot of progress:
"Withhold ideas, information and technology that could benefit humanity and the planet."
Play our tipping game and release any unconscious agreement you may be carrying that supports this Sacred Cow.
If you know someone who is having difficulty getting out the word about their great idea or technology, send them this game. They could get a lot out of it.
Rheanni Lightwater © 2008
Tip all 16 Sacred Cows Before the Inauguration!
One of the most stressful things about living under the old guard is the tired Sacred Cow that states:
When someone doesn’t like something about you, it’s about him or her, not you. They are responding out of their own prejudices, likes and dislikes. If you take it personally, you are buying into their emotional paradigm on a certain level and letting them dictate how you are feeling.
Set yourself free by releasing your agreement to buy into their stuff.
We're at a defining moment in our journey out of the financial quagmire and the Status Quo has called out "Old Reliable", the Sacred Cow that always knows what to do when the going gets tough:
This age-old custom of sacrificing an individual, group or race is affectionately called "the blame game" and is responsible for entangling humanity in most of her Civil Wars. She has a very seductive quality that we have difficulty resisting.
It will be interesting to see how the blame game will play out with the recovery and reinvestment package.
What do wardrobe colors, obsessing about oversized backpacks and lunch menu items for two high profile gradeschoolers have in common? All three are symptomatic of this Sacred Cow -
"Come up with distractions and pretend that something is important, when clearly it isn't."
Notice that each story has been suspiciously contrived, meant to irritate some of us and placate others.
The Status Quo sure is is acting like an old curmudgeon with it’s arms folded in stubborn resistance to any form of change that doesn’t suit it’s own privileged agenda.
If we make one suggestion, it pooh-poohs the idea and ridicules our naiveté’.
If we have several ideas, it digs its heels into the ground like a stubborn mule.
If we have studied the situation and are audacious enough to create a plan, complete with procedures for accountability and new infrastructure – then the real trouble begins.
The Old Guard has rolled out its Sacred Triad of worn out dogma, officially dubbed the Sacred Cows of Procrastination.They are in this order:“Wait and See”“Drag Your Feet” and“If Its New, It Could Never Work.”
Have you ever decided not to do something because you've imagined that what you have to offer doesn't fit in with the common definition of what is acceptable?
Somehow I doubt that you and I are the only ones who have had that experience. So I have decided to go after a very special herd of Sacred Cows.
These bovines sneak around behind the scenes supporting the premise that our worth and value is determined by something outside of us.
They eat away at our good ideas, intentions and hopes for the future.
The Status Quo is like a Hydra and during the elections several of its heads were cut off. It has taken a blow by those who have woken up to what’s going on and started to speak out against it.
Unfortunately, the Hydra is able to grow back its heads and the grab for power and economic resources continues.
A vision of hope and freedom has visited us before countless times in the history books of our planet, only to have the sovereignty of the people violently squelched or put back to sleep in a bed of apathy. Will we let that happen again?
Our collective history has deep roots that can make it seem as though the obstacles are insurmountable and that we are doomed to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over.
However, I have an idea that could take the juice out of those roots. What if we changed our mindset and took money out of the picture for a moment?
You may be putting a lot of pressure on yourself to keep going, pushing, doing something - anything. However, before you work yourself into a frenzy, it may be more helpful to take some time and allow yourself to stabilize and gain your bearings.
One way to explain what’s happening is to think of the process of change as a bowl of Jell-O. If you keep stirring it up, it won’t form properly. So it’s important to learn how to chill a little, so to speak. Times of stress require a commitment to take breaks and get your mind off of work, regularly.
With that idea in mind, let’s release the collective contract behind some of the stress we’re experiencing via Wall Street, the media and the politicians.
Today’s Sacred Cow is:
"Keep the fear going by fueling it with speculation, uncertainty and psychodrama."
When our minds and bodies are kept under continual stress, we are like the Jell-o that won’t set. We are more susceptible to illness, paranoia, misinformation, fantasies and accidents. Tipping this Sacred Cow will calm down the external noise a bit. Then finding some time to rest and still your mind will be a tremendous help in being able to see the situation from a new perspective.
Imagine a Super Tanker heading out to sea with all it’s anchors down. That is the kind of dragging effect Sacred Cows have on the collective consciousness of us as human beings. If we want to move forward with greater ease, it is important to uncover the “Cows”, evaluate their usefulness and release them if necessary through the use of our individual free will.
That’s why I decided to concoct this game for change where I could symbolically purge myself of my compliance with travesties, decrees, social contracts and assumptions that keep the world in bondage.
The Sacred Cows we are addressing are social agreements, decrees, doctrines adages or points of law that have outlived their positive purpose if there ever was one, and have become a burden to our evolution.
They are important because as long as the agreement behind a Sacred Cow remains unconscious, our collective mindset continues to behave as if the agreement were true. This causes unnecessary suffering and a slowing down of progressive change for the better.
So many things are going on in the world. In the past, we had to stand on the sidelines waiting for someone to step forward on our behalf, now a new belief has taken hold. That belief claims that change can happen from the ground up. I happen to agree with that and certainly the elections proved that it's possible. Now it's our turn to do something with our economic woes. The trickle down theory hasn't worked for our ecomonic system and we can't just depend on those at the top to handle all the changes and have that trickle down too.
The only way that our economic system can really change is for those who are holding the system up to stop supporting the failed policies and prioroites of the Status Quo and create a tipping point for economic prosperity.
Our Intuitive Learning Game dares to test the question:
"Is it possible to reverse our collective mindset around economic sustainability and responsibility with a minimum of conflict?"
I think it is possible and want to invite each of you to join me in a free consciousness raising game process known as "Sacred Cow Tipping".
The goal of our game is to create a tipping point for positive change that will lead us through this financial quagmire to a more peaceful and sustainable economic system.
What is a Sacred Cow?
Sacred Cows are social agreements, decrees, doctrines, adages or points of law that have outlived their positive purpose, if there ever was one, and have become a burden to our evolution.They are important to deal with because as long as the agreement behind a Sacred Cow remains unconscious, our collective mindset continues to behave as if the agreement were true. This causes unnecessary suffering and a slowing down of progressive change for the better.Therefore, the purpose of our Sacred Cow Tipping Game is to find a way to release old, dogmatic agreements from the past on a conscious and unconscious level so that our minds can focus on something positive as we navigate the difficult waters that face us before and after the inauguration
