A while ago I did some free writing in response to questions like, "What do I want to rebel against? What hurts my heart? What changes do I want to contribute to?"

I thought I'd make a post out of it, because it expresses a lot of concerns that you might resonate with. It'll be an easy read because it's almost entirely in bullet point form. 

When you get to the bottom, I'd love to hear your thoughts... Do you feel like rebelling against these things too? What would you add to or remove from the list?

What am I rebelling against?

control

lack of choice

dis-empowerment

an education system that punishes children who can't sit still

a system that takes our data and our kids' data and makes profiles of us, the better to influence us, sell to us, and keep us trapped in consumerism our whole lives

a system that discourages people from thinking for themselves

big food

big ag

big pharma

the military-industrial complex... they're using our tax for this! 

surveillance

loss of indigenous culture, language, knowledge

biodiversity loss

damage to rivers, grasslands, wet lands, oceans, soils, forests

It pisses me off when...

people feed sugar to my kids

people bring screens to camps or put screens under my kids' noses

people dole out empty praise to my kids (as opposed to telling them specifically how what the child did, enriched the commentator's life, which I welcome)

people tell kids to stop crying, to not be angry, to not be scared...

people can't listen and empathize without giving advice or judging

people can't shut up

I feel trapped without options

people think they need the system to survive

men speak about themselves or about life in the voice of a hopeless or helpless victim, in the hearing of boys who are looking to them to see how to be a man

men (or women, but in my experience it tends to be men) using alcohol to loosen their inhibitions and avoid their blocks, instead of having the courage (and receiving the support they need) to feel what they feel and hold and heal it

I feel demoralized when...

I know what to do but not how to do it

I see what needs to happen but not how to make it happen

I know what's wrong but not how to make it right

I want to make something right and others near me want to just submit to the system and live with what's wrong

It hurts my heart when...

people are suffering alone and in silence

children and babies don't get their needs met

people are not compassionate - towards themselves or each other

I cant connect to nature

I don't feel heard

I see people's pain

I see forests/oceans/soils/grasslands destroyed

I see one of my kids not being empowered

I see the system trapping my kids

I treat my kids badly because I cant break free of how I was treated badly

I feel dis-empowered

I feel unwanted

what's wrong warps and twists and compresses and diminishes me and others into shadows of who we are meant to be

The changes I want to contribute to are...

from a desperate, sad, lonely, fearful, angry world, to a connected, confident, curious world

from supermarket food to real food

from families being reliant on pharmaceutical medicines, to families knowing how to make basic remedies and medicines from herbs and local weeds

from a few global corporations controlling and homogenizing the global market pace, to hundreds of thousands of small, unique local businesses

from social media that keeps people entrapped and enslaved, to social media that frees people

from people trapped in jobs they hate, to people thriving in roles they love and feel appreciated in

I want to live in a world where...

people make their own stuff or buy it from their friends or small local businesses rather than from unethical companies

people have access to resources to help them build know-how, choices, and support for themselves and their families

kids grow up free

grown-ups know how to take care of the kid inside them, so they can grow up free too

people feel safe

land, water, air, trees, animals are treated with respect and reverence

companies take back their product at the end of its life cycle and re-make it into a new product or something else useful

companies are accountable and transparent

parents are responsible, accountable, respectful, compassionate toward their kids (and themselves)

people can access the help and resources they need

the need for mental health support is not shameful

healing is a community affair instead of a sick or troubled person feeling isolated from their family and community

people grow up with their needs being honored and met

there are elders and peacemakers who can help people handle and resolve conflict

knowledge about real food is so common that cheap, heavily processed, sugar-filled fake foods evaporate from the food landscape in my lifetime

farmers are rewarded for doing the right thing

most of the population has a lot more involvement in where their food comes from

life is slower

people's needs for fun, excitement, challenge, connection, laughter , meaning, purpose, and contentment are so well met in their real, everyday lives that social media becomes a servant and stops being a master

people who make digital aps and develop digital technologies do so in ways that harness technology as a servant of the people, rather than deploying technology to control people and keep them hooked

people trust themselves and trust Life and trust each other

people can reach out to elders for support

elders are respected and remain within their families/communities until the end of their life

death is treated as part of life

prolonging life purely to avoid death is not a thing any more

adults can leave their kids and their responsibilities in the hands of other adults when they need time out to search, heal, reclaim, rebuild

all adults take responsibility for all children

children have models, real models, of what a healthy, fulfilled adult looks like

we can acknowledge and work with our pain so that we can transmute it into healing and power

ceremony and ritual are part of life

In my ideal world, people would...

know where their food comes from and be more involved in producing and processing it

be healthier

be happier

be confident

be sovereign

say what they mean and mean what they say

say what they want and get what they want, unless it was harmful to them or to others

refuse to buy from companies that don't share their ethics

have options, resources, and support to enable them to refuse to buy from unethical companies

get up on Monday morning feeling inspired and enthusiastic instead of dreading or dull

see that their kids' education doesn't necessarily need to look like school

realize that the cosmetics industry duped them into spending billions on crap they don't need, that's bad for them and bad for the environment

realize that Big food, Big Pharma and Big Ag are all colluding to screw the people and none of them care about health

have choices, options, know how, the right questions to ask, and the courage to keep asking them and not taking BS for an answer

be able to reclaim everything: food, health, home, soil, water, spirit, language, culture, self...

I want people to see that...

pointing the finger is not enough (in fact it's counter productive)

healing and reclamation needs to happen inside our hearts, our selves, our families, our gardens, our kitchens and bathrooms and communities

if we commit to healing and reclamation within our own spheres of influence to the degree that we can, global corporations will diminish in stature and significance... local businesses will proliferate... consumerism and global homogenization and unhealthy capitalism will gradually wane away.