A 400-year-old cedar tree that once grew near the shores of the Salish Sea in the Pacific Northwest arrived in our other Washington, DC that is, as a carved totem pole. The pole is the work of Douglas and Jewell James, a pair of sixty-something brothers who are members of the Lummi Nation who created this unique piece of art -- some 25 feet long and nearly 5,000 pounds. Why?

Their organization, the House of Tears Carvers, has a nearly 20-year history of using artistry to bring cultures together and to spur activism, protect lands and waters, and defend the sovereignty of Native American nations. Evidence of human life on the land called the Pacific Northwest dates back 16,500 years, long before the dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness became the American dream and intention. Before that dream was committed to paper and justified power over others to assert their inalienable rights, Native Americans lived and honored the land, for far longer than Americans’ very short, 244 years. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is the first Native American to serve in our democracy. Thank you, President Biden and the US Senate for her confirmation. What took us so long?

Our work at inviteCHANGE offers a foundational mindset in living sovereign, accepting the responsibility for choosing our relationship with the conditions of our life. To live sovereign is to act with integrity, values-aligned, authentic, generative, and a source of reciprocal prosperity in every choice and decision we make.

Please look carefully at these images of Lake Oroville, CA USA. The first one is from only 3 years ago.

The second photo was taken on April 27, 2021.

The third was taken July 18, 2021, just two weeks ago.

What are the choices we make each day without a social mindset? A social mindset considers the consequences on the collective before saying yes. Without inciting ire for what we each may believe to be the root cause, the source, the culprit, the villain, or any other epithets our heart might immediately feel in viewing these images, the fact of this circumstance demands our attention now.

These images are duplicated in many countries around the world; the USA is not alone in our unconscious or perhaps innocent belief that we are not part, cause, or agent of this phenomenon of nature. The absence of water has a ripple effect and consequence not often expressed and therefore understood so that each person might choose differently today, tomorrow and teach others to be more deliberate.

How does each of us learn to live in tune with our nature - the one within and the one without? Author Joseph Campbell defined bliss in this way, that life is always a manifestation of bliss. He believed that life wisdom lives inside each of us. Only when we block this energy within us do we experience dis-ease.

Bliss is a core value for the inviteCHANGE organization.

A generative mindset and skillset support each of us to live sovereign, to remove the blocks of fear - false evidence appearing real. Faced with the reality of scarcity and compelling evidence of this experience around the world, each of us has an opportunity to choose differently. As we slow down again, to protect ourselves from an invisible virus that persists, take time to reimagine your relationship with the planet, with your community, family, and yourself. What do you want to stand for and how will you contribute through each daily act to our collective well-being?

This is a generative inquiry worthy of your reflection.