OMG. A few weeks ago, I was asked to speak at TEDx Asheville. I nominated myself months ago, hoping and also frightened to be chosen. I’m going to speak about The Earth Pledge of Allegiance. Honored doesn’t truly describe the feeling I have. It is more than that. It is a dream showing itself in a different manner than I had expected and planned for. To make God laugh, tell him or her your plans. It’s funny when things start happening that you’ve dreamed about. For instance, my son now lives in my town. I didn’t dare think it was really going to happen and now it has, along with his little family. But you read about that in a prior post. Speaking to a crowd of people with the intention of inspiring them. That is a big piece of my dream. Another little fear I have about it is that it won’t happen again. Funny, right? Scared to do it. Scared not to. Scared it is a flash in the pan. A blip in my life. Perhaps I should change the name of my design studio. http://blipstudio.com A blip in time. blip is the first letters of my name…Breah Livolsi Parker. Or Barbra Livolsy Parker. I changed my name. I started out in this world as Barbara Jean Livolsy. I become Barbara Jean Livolsy Parker at 18. Became Barbra Parker at age 22. Finally Breah Livolsi Parker in 1999. Change the name. Change the way of being. Change how others view you.

I’ve always been a very nice person and I was also quite bitchy. I looked at the world with a negative eye. I complained or criticized more than I allow myself to remember. At one point I realized it and decided to practice positive. Flip the coin. Turn left instead of right. My family laughed at me and still I know they learned from me. When I divorced their father, they rejected the changes I began making. Where was their mother? I was told more than once “We just want our mother back.”

That was a tough one to swallow. I was their mother, couldn’t they see that? It was really that I couldn’t see that. I was wrapped up in finding myself. I wish I had done that before I had children. Would’ve saved everyone a lot of pain. But I didn’t. And so they witnessed their mother scrapping for her life, being attracted to all the “wrong” men, being fearful of my ability to pay my rent, losing my business over and over again. They also saw me do things like become an actor on the stage. Take up a new absolutely perfectly fitting business by saying yes to something I had never done before. Being a vegetarian. Not being a vegetarian. Smoking. Not smoking. And they have watched me age. I have watched me age. They have watched me come back to earth after flying every which way.

“When you come to the edge of all you know, you’re either given legs to stand on or wings to fly.”

And now I know how to use my wings to lift off in a purposeful direction. Along the way I have been given gifts. One of which is the Earth Pledge of Allegiance. I did not write it. I borrowed it from an anonymous source, given to me by Terry Deal, the environmental ed director for Evergreen Elementary School here in Asheville. I added “with Peace and LOVE for all” when I illustrated it for the second time. That time we launched a program called Peace and Love for All. Dot com. We set up a website, with curriculum and sales of the poster, bookmark and peace & love sticker. We were gifted a banner by a company whose name escapes me right now and I’ll find out and let you know later. We were gifted the printing of rain forest certified printed Earth Pledge posters. Personally I was gifted with a few people who were willing to trot off on this path with me. Michael Ashmore, Anna Booraem and Amy Ellisor. And of course Terry Deal.

So where is the program? Well, it is here today as I write. We are on the road to bringing awareness to children all over the world, as well as their parents and teachers, that we are stewards of this world, this planet, this Big Mama Earth. It is our job to bring peace to her. We have tapped into her soul. And we have violated it. Can we give back the lives of millions of beings, be they flora, fauna or the human version in the Gulf? We cannot and we CAN turn the ship around. It is turning. It is turning because of each one of us.

In making this Earth Pledge of Allegiance, we are saying we promise and keep that promise to be kind, be loving, be fair, be generous, be of service to all creatures…with the intent of PEACE and LOVE for ALL. No matter what. Trusting that from that place we change the world. We do it anyway. We change the world just by our very existence. Why not make it a positive one?

I pledge allegiance to the Earth

and the Flora…

the fauna…

and the Human Life

that it supports…

One Planet

indivisible, with

safe air, water and soil,

economic justice, equal rights, and

PEACE and LOVE FOR ALL.

It’s been over a month since I wrote here last. Skipping through all that has happened, I land here today with a new household full of people I love. My son, his wife, 2 year old baby girl and their Golden Retriever have moved to Asheville and are staying with me until they find a place of their own. It reminds me of the story of the man (let’s call him KuKu) who goes to his guru for advice…

KuKu tells guru he is going crazy with his life. His wife and children are making him crazy. Guru tells KuKu to go home and bring his dogs and cats inside the house. KuKu does as he is told and goes back to guru and cries “It’s worse!” Guru says go home and bring in your ducks and geese. KuKu again does as he is told and again goes back to guru crying “It’s worse!” Guru tells him to go home and bring in all his cows and horses. KuKu once again does as he is told and returns to guru pulling his hair and pleading for guru to help him because “It’s worse, it’s worse!!!” Guru pulls up all his wisdom and tells KuKu to return home and take all the animals out of the house. KuKu does as he is told and returns to guru a refreshed and new man, full of gratitude for his life with his wife and children.

I’ve complained about being single, alone in my house. Not only do I have my son and his family but all of their possessions fill my garage and extra room (meant to be an art room). My granddaughter’s room is what used to be my studio. My bedroom now doubles as my work and sleeping space. For now, I am happy to have them here…the blessings outweigh the challenges. And I am leaving for Denver today for 4 days.

My trip to Denver is to be “the artist” as my line of Verbal Remedies™ matted prints and cards are announced the INATS gift show. I will also be graphically recording Marianne Williamson’s breakfast talk on Saturday. Check out my blipstudio website to see what this is. And I’ll tell you more when I return from Denver…

I’m in rehearsal for a play that will be performed in a little over a month. One of our actors has been out of town for the first 2 weeks of working together and returned last night. I didn’t realize just how much I missed his presence until he punctuated the rehearsal with his sense of humor, quipping quiet, generally unnoticed little phrases that made me laugh, if not out loud definitely on the inside. Those little brief vacations from the business at hand made the evening much lighter.

Humor seems to be a choice, though once in the habit of finding the lighter side it is much easier to slide into it. Almost 2 decades ago I realized that I was looking at my world from a pretty negative viewpoint and made a conscious decision to “practice positive”. My children and husband gave me wry looks, mocked gagging and generally resisted my new way of being. Mom seemed to be someone they did not recognize. In time they got used to it and it started to seep into their outlook. It was infectious.

People want to laugh. People want to see the good in the world, the lighter side. Negativity is a habit and can spiral a person down into a dark abyss without so much as a “come on down and set a spell”. Positivity is also a habit. The benefit of developing this habit is that no matter what is going on around, there is an ability to find a resting place for our resourceful spirit, a gathering of self and an ability to keep swimming when a moment before we might have felt too weary.

So, the story. What is it? It is whatever you want it to be. We create our stories with our outlook. When I first moved to Asheville, a new acquaintance invited me to dinner and a basketball game downtown. As we were leaving the restaurant for the game, she suggested we take one car as her belief was that it is difficult to find parking in Asheville. I told her that I always found parking and I had a parking space angel. She scoffed and called me “new age”. I convinced her to give it a try. Pretend. She begrudgingly went off to her car and me to mine. I arrived maybe 30 seconds before she did in the lobby of the arena. I was quite happy and she was miserably mumbling. I asked where she had parked. “The garage,” she grumbled. “So did I,” I sparkled. The same situation, two different realities. I was happy. She was not. Case closed.

I am grateful for a very healthy and strong body. It has not yet reached its peak, though I am moving towards it. My work has not yet reached its peak and I am moving toward that. I am well supported in life, up or down. Lately the roller coaster of emotions has been active yet subdued. I’ve got an awareness that all is well, no matter how it looks. People who seek peace and love are becoming more vocal. It is becoming more and more clear that it takes us coming together with a common intention to get things done. People are partnering and re-partnering, becoming more aware of each moment. “Make today today.” (lyrics from a song by James Taylor)  It’s another way of saying live in the moment. Make now now and not the next day or the day before.

Nah.