The challenges one might face while creating a public representation of self as an idea to be marketed. Who am I in a world of labels and brands? How do I self identify uniquely & authentically and still fit in with current social trends enough to be taken seriously as well as seen as a valuable commodity. How does one sell the wild? Because let's be honest, that's what’s happening when I “package,” “label,” or “market” the natural world. Let us take it a step further because I always like being one step ahead of myself and muse on the esoteric; which, consequently, is the reason why nothing solid, regarding “branding,” has formed around me.

Ahh the million dollar question, “Who am I?” Well at least for this morphing, amalgamation of a metaphysical human being/doing. I’ve come to terms with being the creator of my own reality and also I have come to comprehend that I am a dream being dreamed by something so much bigger. So why is it so hard to find definition? Maybe you are beginning to see my dilemma. Seeing through the algorithm of reality, riding the paradox of life. Having to be, while simultaneously not existing at all. Where everything matters but also nothing does. Physical body sighs at the enormity that is existence, the soul laughs at the eternity of the infinite journey. A unique expression of vibrational light, my being desires to make a difference, leave a mark, shift the direction of conscious reality as we know it, or really, as we have never seen it before (but as it has always been!). Creating a neat little packaged object, seems to defy the very nature of this quest. The density of physical reality is actually getting lighter. The grip on tangible things is lessening. The concept of “time” is shifting. And while capturing a bit of worldly reality in a jar seems easy, it is also hard to focus on what it is that wants to be captured. How can one little jar of flavored salt help shift the paradigm? How do you explain the shifting of the cosmos by sharing a bit of local spice with a sculpted audience of foodies, on a platform that seeks to conform? Am I just anchoring my place in this dimension with an acknowledgement of what the dominant narrative expects? Glass jars, filled with staples to exist? A label explaining contents. When paradoxically what I want is to support your unique experience, receiving your authentic perspective of the thing and not tell you what to expect. This is leading me to my current ponderings, what I have been fortunate to be exploring lately is having all of my fundamental needs met. Maybe for the first time ever in my adult life.

A deeper place of expression is opening up to me. A channel that seems to be only available after these core needs are taken care of and my emotional body is healed from many lifetimes of generational trauma. This isn't just basic survival needs, but a full satiation. Body has food, shelter, touch, love, emotional needs met, sleep, self care & a deep spiritual connection. Space to create and explore without feeling the pressure to make money and survive. How wrong is it that these basic forms of humaning are seen as a privilege when they all need to be functioning for these higher places of thought to feel spacious (and safe) enough to come online? There is another obstacle that is present for me as I wander into the esoteric possibilities of humanities evolution and it can be summed up in one word, “shame.” Privilege and shame have become synonymous in my (and many others) healing journey and have kept me limiting my own soul expression. This has shown up in lots of different guises. Some of which I am aware of now have expressed in my life as the following: worrying that if I express myself fully I will make others feel like they are not enough. If I dont make sure others are okay and “full” first then I will be alone. If I say what I feel then I will be misunderstood and outcasted. These experiences are unique to me, but they are core wounds that come up for others too, limiting genuine expressions. There are many other wounds that anchor us into a story of shame and separation, they keep us small and unable to feel our inherent connection to the breath of life, deeming us as unlovable and unworthy of a rich life experience. Unable to move with abandon, following our hearts and bodies intuition on how to live and shift. Just as murmuration of birds can read the language of the winds' subtle shifting currents, we too can feel this same kind of connection, the subtle “ask” of energy and others we surround ourselves with. It is in fact the next step in our evolution, or better said, it is our divine remembering. Relearning how to morph space-time into healing so we may all become sensitized to “the breath”. Letting go of the damaging and limiting ways we have been taught to behave by the powers that be. Living in a Corporatocracy one gives up their human freedoms. Maybe this is where the delineation of producing something for a capitalistic class falls apart for me. Can we truly meet the needs of so many in a conformed society, when there are so many nuances to the complexity of human experience? Some of which we are only just starting to awaken to.

My wonderful partner described the structure of capitalism as a wall. I couldn't think of a more perfect symbol. Corporations, small businesses, sole proprietors, etcetera all being bricks in the wall. Many expressions that fit within a controlled structure, you can be different as long as you fit within the parameters that will keep the wall standing. You need a brand, you need a logo, you need a color scheme, blah blah blah. You must clearly define the idea you are selling. To get real meta here the very definition of “define” is to assume that there is a separation occurring. This wall of separation is slowly crumbling as we are starting to see the atrocities and cost that come with commoditizing nature. It isn't something we can unsee as the encroachment of the harm to our innocent and abundant earth is happening in all of our backyards. The supply chain teeter and our current state of socioeconomic affairs is an indication of how fragile this wall of glass cubicles can be. To quote Francis A. Schaeffer 

“Culture and the freedoms of people are fragile. Without a sufficient base, when such pressures come only time is needed—and often not a great deal of time—before there is a collapse.” 

Is the base of this corporate wall rooted in universal intrinsic truth? No. It is a smaller structure that has been able to sustain itself for a time and is now becoming heavy under an unbridled and exponential period of growth. Like any pattern in nature, and remember we are a part of nature, there are natural checks and balances that occur sometimes slowly and sometimes through cataclysmic action. Think about the progression of a forest, fast growing deciduous pioneer species take root, claiming edges of meadows and creating the right conditions for slower growing conifers in the understory. The conifers grow bigger, they shade out the pioneer trees and compete for canopy space, the forest spreads and grows, trees compete until a tree(s) dies or is blown over, making room for sunlight to reach the forest floor and a small competitive ecosystem cycle starts again or there is a forest fire from lightning. Forests are not static and just as we are beginning to understand the slow progression of forests walking across the landscape in a cycle of purification and enrichment, we are also seeing the patterns we are unable to deny in our societal expression. We are here, at a pinnacle, well to me it feels as though we have already crested the wave. Consumption is not evergrowing, in fact there is a second wave of back to the land happening. Spurred in the 60’s and 70’s by those who wanted nothing to do with the structure of industrial war and consumerism they were offered. Those “hippy” predecessors were onto something and paved the way by action. Discovering what it meant to be sufficient and have enough and feeling the support of the earth beneath their feet and remembering the natural cycles of living. We are still on course for a cultural revolution.

This is the space I find myself in, living close to nature, with the rhythms of life dictating my actions with space to ask myself some deep questions of vulnerable exploration. What does it feel like in my body to be supported fully and be able to feel so deeply the undertow of what the earth is speaking to me? It feels as though I am on the edge of time. I feel self sourced and abundant. I am in an active conversation of listening and reacting in accordance to a dream of a divine creator. It feels undefinable, as it is, a spiritual experience to trust-fall onto the earth and to hold the space and share my heart so others feel the trust through my experience. How could you possibly commoditize anything if you knew without a doubt in the world that you are supported in every breath in every bite of food in every divinely guided step you take as long as you are stewarding truth? 

So… finally, I feel the answer to the question I was asking myself starting to flow. 

We will create through play and share. We will taste true freedom in the sweet jams of nature's glittering blossoms of truth. In the nectar of the sea we will sip the wisdom of all of the world's oceans. Sprinkle the forest’s floor onto golden yokes of sunshine spilling life on our wild lips at dawn. The memory of mother resonates us into our childhood as we savor the vibrational crunch of a perfect pickle marinated in fermented summer light. Flower crowns anchor our beings to this moment of now, we become the portal for universal breath as we inhale the sweetness of tomorrow resting in a field of dreams. We create for the sake of pleasure, seeing the light in others as they receive our divine inspiration and feeling the spark inside of us as we dance and sing and make messes until the stars come out to tell us what their wishes are.