"The President shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."
Article II, Sec. 3, of the U.S. Constitution
Since Jan. 8, 1790, when George Washington personally delivered the first annual message to Congress, presidents have "from time to time," been delivering what has become known today as the State of the Union Address.
Today, we gather at the local watering holes of our various electronic devices to witness what has become as much of a political spectacle as it is a vehicle for the President to convey his vision for where he wants to lead the country.
We take note of who's sitting next to whom and on what side of the aisle, who's applauding, who's not, who's standing, who's not. And in today's extremely polarized Congress, we hold our breath, wondering if there will be another outburst like the "you lie" accusation hurled at the President during last year's address.
All of this takes place in the theater of the public sphere. It's all happening "out there." But here's my question for you/me/us: How's the state of your own private nation today?
When was the last time you assumed the role of President and CEO of your life and checked in with yourself? When did you last do an audit of your life's vision, the resources you have at your disposal to implement it, where you are along that path, and what you need in order to make progress?
Consider the private nation of someone perhaps not all that unlike yourself. We'll call him Ted. Like many other people in their 50's and 60's who have lost their jobs during the economic crisis, Ted is going through a major life transition.
Ted was forced to close the business he'd spent the last 20+ years building, and is now facing the reality of having to re-invent his career altogether. In addition, Ted's marriage also unraveled and he now is going through a painful divorce.
The state of Ted's life mirrors in many ways, the state of our country. As a nation, we're faced with the challenge of re-engineering ourselves in order to move forward, as President Obama outlined in his speech last night. Ted is now looking at how to re-engineer himself in order to get on with his personal life.
Ted's personal finances have been considerably weakened as a result of the recent upheavals in his life. His personal Treasury Department needs shoring up and he needs to create his own jobs program. But before he plunges forward in search of what's next, Ted has some fundamental decisions to make.
I asked Ted if he had a sense about, not what's next for him specifically as in a job, but what kind of life he wanted to live. What are his values today and how does he see those values shaping the choices he makes going forward?
I used to think I wanted to make millions of dollars. Having lots of money so I could travel and see the world seemed very important to me in my 20's. I wanted to live in a big house, drive a fancy car, and be able to retire with financial security in my late 50's or early 60's. Today, I'm about to turn 60 and I have none of what I'd dreamed. I'm not sure about where I'm going from here or even what I want.Perhaps you can relate.
Ted went on to share:
Today, I could easily be happy being a monk. I still want to travel and see the world, but I could be happy without all the trappings I used to think I needed in order to be successful. I can see myself living simply, perhaps in a community of kindred spirits who share a vision for creating a whole new model for Boomer-style retirement. I can imagine a whole network of communal living, in different locations around the U.S. and perhaps even abroad.
Many of you are going through a similar transition period in your life. You might look to the current economic crisis as the cause of this change and upheaval, but if you look more closely, chances are you'll find there was something deeper stirring within you, even before the economy crashed.
You might uncover a deep discontent with something about the status quo of your life, even though at the surface, perhaps you'd not made any outward movements towards change. Or perhaps you felt a sense of unrest, or a distant call to shake things up a bit.
Ted's vision of a new paradigm for Boomer retirement and the next stage of his own life was actually inspired by an experience he had back in his 20's when he co-founded and lived on a commune during his college days. Today, his idea of communal living has evolved into something much more complex and sophisticated than a bunch of tented structures situated on barren land with no improvements.
The idea of communal living has sat in the background of Ted's consciousness for over 30 years and is now re-surfacing, having evolved, seemingly out of economic necessity. Perhaps Ted is really on to something that could change his and others' futures. But I wonder, is economic necessity the real force at work here?
In previous articles, I've written about the soul's calling and its impact on our lives. I've suggested that the soul has its own agenda and by hook or by crook, it will have its way with us. Your job, and mine, is to discover what that agenda is and get on board with it; to learn the dance your soul came to dance and then dance it.
My previous articles have addressed how to nurture the soul and come to know its calling, so I won't address those issues here, but you can find them in my author's archive. Suffice it to say, it's important to be current with your soul's agenda and conducting an audit of the state of your own private nation can help you assess how on track you are.
Conducting the audit
Rate yourself on a scale of one to 10 (one = in a state of continuous breakdown, 10 = complete fulfillment) in the following "departments" of your life:
Speaking of peace, in a comment on last week's post on MLK Jr.'s Legacy of Love, SShaw 490 suggested that "peace" be an active verb, as in "I peace you." In an e-mail to me this week he wrote:
These are great social conditions for us to seek a state of peace in our lives. And it's a great time for us to express that. Yesterday, we were at the grocery store and I noticed that the guy sacking our groceries was named 'Jonathan' on his nametag. When we left, I said, 'Thanks, Jonathan,' and you'd have thought I gave him a $10 bill, the way he smiled and looked me straight in the eyes. It was nothing, less than nothing, yet it was meaningful for one person, in one place, at one point in time. I hope that I 'peaced him' and he 'peaced me back.'
And in reference to a beautiful poem Sam included by Wendell Berry (which I couldn't include due to limited space) he wrote:
"We each hear the music in fragments, and we each have an opportunity to dance to it in our own way. We choose our steps, and the steps of my private nation are those of peace."
The state of Sam's private nation is peace. How about yours? What is your soul's agenda and how is it showing up in your life? If you'd really like to get creative, consider leaving it as a six word memoir. Six words describing your personal state of the union.
Please leave a comment below and let's have a discussion. I invite you also pay a visit to my personal blog and website, Rx For The Soul and let's continue to explore issues of the soul and more.
Click Become A Fan and be notified when new posts appear every Wednesday. For personal contact I can be reached at judith@judithrich.com. I love hearing from you!
Blessings on the path. I peace you.
Follow Dr. Judith Rich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dr_judithrich
State of the Union address - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
State of the Union 2011 | The White House
A State Of The Union Preview - Chris Good - Politics - The Atlantic
Obama, in State of the Union Preview, Hails U.S. Innovation ...
Welcome on board, and consider me your newest fan......
Blessings
Judith
Her treaty partner is urging her to return to the workforce. She maintains that she needs more time to sort out the consequences of her revolution - new goals need to be selected, new territory needs to be learned. The work of reconstruction is well underway, however. The Nation of Hannah has already formed new alliances, entered constructive dialogues, and is asking for guidance from other nations who are reinventing themselves. Thank you Nation of Judith, for your wise and funny analogy!
The "Nation of Hannah" has undergone quite a transformation....... please consider this "Nation of Judith" among your newest fans and allies.
And might I say, in your search for new alliances with other nations of "re-inventioneers", you'd do well to pay a visit to these borders on a regular basis and get to know the community of nations who gather here. There are some mighty fine ambassadors here who are busily working to form alliances in support of the greater good. You'd fit right in!
Seriously, bows to you for the important work you've already done and are continuing to do. I'm so happy you chose to share your good news here!
Fanned and Fav'd.......
Blessings and best wishes,
Judith
Yes, I'll be passing this way often with progress reports on our interior departments as they evolve, and to open rich new conversations, as well as learn the dances of many lands. Hark, I think the Grand Promenade is beginning...
I'm a fan from reading other posts of yours...more, please.
to be a vehicle & live in the Light
To serve & be a friend
Thank you for lighting the way for so many......
Big Love,
Judith
My soul's agenda in 6 words: I love you no matter what!
and for my birth family
I love you, I peace you!
Interesting that I read this today. I put it off yesterday and couldn't figure out why. It falls right in line with a fabulous severance gift received last night from good ole mom, unbeknownst to her of course.
Will reply in full later...
Cheers,
Catherine
Lovely
life these days speeds by so fast, we rarely are given the opportunity for smart, and thoughtful reflection. Such "idle time" is what made our nation great to begin with.
Thanks!
There you are in TN at a "mommy bloggers" conference, holding down the fort as an "elder"...... I only wish there'd been elders like you around when I was young!
You are a source of continuous creativity and inspiration. Can't wait to hear what comes out of your latest exploration.
Much love,
Judith
Going through the audit was both refreshing and disturbing. It served as a reminder of the dynamics we all are subject to.
Ted's story hit close to home. Building a business over years, then loosing it due to global events leaves one floating emotionally, financially, socially, et al.
Turning inward to solitude was my solace; my comfort and confidence grew from it, and I now see myself related to all my brothers - I know of Berry's poem. In one sense I was alone, but not lonely. Though much was lost, I remained rich with family (we all live in the same compound so to speak). I know there remains a richness of opportunity; an abundance of giving and receiving we all can share.
But then, there is the "audit". There is so much to do; many challenges, but much too for which to be thankful: change to pursue, and growth to realize; so much to gather and to share; so much being "now".
Life is both simple and complex, so here are two 6's:
You are what you settle for!
Count on yourself; believe in others!
You always challenge me... I am always grateful.
Lawson
Your comment reminded me that I did not include an aspect of "Ted's" story. He, too, has turned inward, as you, to do not only his audit, but to just listen for the voice of his own inner wisdom for guidance. He is doing well, and finding himself naturally guided towards the people and activities that call him to develop the skills he's going to need for the next chapter.
While it's still a bit scary to let go of the old ways of thinking and doing, Ted is clear those ways no longer serve him and he's learning to trust himself or as you suggest in your six word memoir on this topic: "count on yourself, believe in others".
If I always challenge you, you always deliver in ways that delight, surprise, and nurture!
As always, with love and gratitude,
Judith
Peace and joy, love and blessings with you, my dear,
Cara
And may you be the recipient of much love as you celebrate a big one, your 65th, birthday. Know that a major dose of it, is coming from me.
Celebrating you,
Judith
What a wonderful article and I love all of your departments and the questions you pose. I am as you know deriving huge awakening through the process and agenda of parent care. At the end of last year, I had the sense of being "reformatted" - the term that came to mind.
Now as I witness and changing conditions of my parents, I am learning much about the patterns of belief and behaviour I have inherited from them. And it is possible that the awareness I am receiving will open the door to making some new choices. Time will tell.
The Department of Inner Well-Being is healthy and sure. I have a feeling that some new arrangements will be taking place to fulfil a new agenda some time in the future, as old values get refreshed, and some replaced.
With love and appreciation as always,
Anne
I sense a great deal of optimism and hopefulness in your process. You are a perfect demonstration of surrendering to the "lesson" in the form of its delivery and using it to open new doors of possibility.
My own parents' transition from this plane brought me face to face with the reality of my own mortality in a way that nothing else ever had. I had stepped to the front of the line in my personal lineage. Kind of puts a new "spin" on things..... for me, a greater awareness and appreciation of how precious this life is, even in its smallest expressions.
I'm happy to hear that your Dept. of Inner Well-Being is healthy and on track! Looking forward to witnessing what comes next for you. I'm on your team!
Much love to you,
Judith
You have to lower your expectations and I can do that since they weren't all that high even when I was prospering. I'm not sure how to help them other than to keep my mouth shut and just go on living my life. I was fortunate to travel when I was younger, I've seen the pyramids, I've climbed the Mayan monuments, I've been on pilgrimage in India, I've been to Europe several times and now I can joke that I'm hungry for Italian food, let's go to Italy for a week! I can't afford to do that, not any more, but it's still a good joke.
Most importantly, I'm in good health so whatever the future will throw at me, I'm as ready as I'm going to be. It's true that I'm the oldest I ever was today but I'm also as young as I'll ever be right now!
Assuming 1941 is the year you were born, I'm coming up right behind you. Born in 1942.
Like you, I look at the life I've already lived and am grateful to have done the things I've done and traveled to many places in the world I've wanted to visit. And like you, I'm extremely grateful for good health and plan on being healthy living it out right up to the end.
See Marc Middleton's Huff Post article on Jack LaLanne and "compressed morbidity". http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-middleton/jack-lalanne-compressed-morbidity_b_813325.html
Sign me up!
I love your line: "I'm as old as I've ever been and as young as I'm ever going to be!"
My six words? To live life with no regrets. So far, so good!
Happy trails to you,
Judith
Transition - Opportunity waiting to be seized.
I love your six words!
It takes a great deal of mindful awareness to pull it off, but I know you are already doing it. Do take notes and send postcards.
Love and blessings,
Judith
Check out #6 - Dept. of Peace and Fulfillment.......
I know yours is doing good things in the world, just by virtue of your consciousness. I do love what you bring every week...... You are so spot on!
Yes, I think Ted is on to something a lot more sophisticated than chasing the memories of his memories from his 20s. And I wouldn't even bother whether it's because of economics or not. Or rather, I think it is, but certainly not in a narrow minded sense of economics.
Maybe you agree to some extent, since you've chosen to call your meaning-making machine (if I may call it that) an 'audit'.
Why wouldn't that be part of the solution to most of our woes? To reinvent economics as the thing which propels us in a world in which everybody's survival depends on tapping each other's knowledge of what we don't know yet.
Sounds too philosophical? Not materialistic enough?
Well, I don't think so. It's almost certainly how the economy evolved and came into being, long before anybody had any second thoughts about it.
It may have the side-effect of turning economics and the marketplace into something which is somewhat philosophical at its heart. But I don't see the damage in this. :-)
Thank for shedding light. I invite you check out my blog @ www.QuintessentialYouDesign.com I will be following you.
And thanks for your comment and follow. I just visited your web site and will be back! Looks like a delicious cornucopia to digest, as you might say, "in small bites".
I appreciate your point of view and couldn't agree more. What you've described is the work I've been about for over 30 years. One could spend a lifetime in this inquiry and many people often do. It's a journey that has no destination and no right answer. Consider this article is a "jumping off" point, a place from which to launch one's self on the path. Many have not yet begun the journey, at least not consciously.
Consider me your newest fan.......
Many blessings
Judith
Of course, these are only the externals of life. It is still possible to have good internals.
It's possible, but it isn't normative. Most people aren't even close to that kind of detached stoicism, or Buddha-like ego idea. We only have X amount of resilience, with or without a therapist, life coach, circle of friends, etc.
Take away enough of the external stuff we all desire, and replace it with its opposite, and most of us will snap, sooner or later. The state of the union (inside) will - for most of us - become a reflection of the state of the union externally.
Sad but true.
Not so much in other cultures, primarily indigenous or less materialistic ones.
This is indeed, sad, but true, for those in the Western world who constitute the "have nots" for we no longer have much of a social safety net left. And there are those in positions of political power who want to dismantle the shreds of what we do have.
What do you think, Otay? Are we our brothers' keepers? I think we are.........
My best to you,
Judith
Unfortunately, part of the dis-ease of our society is that all to often, the answer to that question is "Yes".
If/when you have a chance, would you mind posting the Wendell Berry poem here?
Hope the world is treating you well and vice versa........
Blessings,
Judith
Good work finds the way between pride and despair.
It graces with health. It heals with grace.
It preserves the given so that it remains a gift.
By it, we lose lonelinessÂ:
we clasp the hands of those who go before us, and the hands of those who come after us;
we enter the little circle of each other’s arms,
and the larger circle of lovers whose hands are joined in a dance,
and the larger circle of all creatures, passing in and out of life, who move also in a dance, to a music so subtle and vast that no ear hears it except in fragments.
And by it we enter solitude, in which also we lose lonelinessÂ.
Only discord can come of the attempt to share solitude.
True solitude is found in the wild places, where one is without human obligationÂ.
One’s inner voices become audible. One feels the attraction of one’s most intimate sourcs.
In consequencÂe, one responds more clearly to other lives. The more coherent one becomes within oneself as a creature, the more fully one enters into the communion of all creatures.
One returns from solitude laden with the gifts of circumstanÂce.