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The Trap of the Armed Chief

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The Trap of the Armed Chief Drop the heavy shield/ When the village stands as one/ Peace becomes our wall. If you have to walk through your own living room, organization, or community with an ox-hide shield strapped to your arm, stop lying to yourself: you don’t have a sanctuary. You have a perimeter breach. We love to romanticize the solitary grind. We praise the brother whose jaw is locked so tight his teeth might crack, convinced that if he drops his guard for two seconds, his family will starve. We crown the sister who absorbs the emotional debt of three generations, smiling through agony while her spirit suffocates. We call it "holding it down." Ancestral wisdom calls it what it actually is: a confession of disorder. “When there is peace in the country, the chief does not carry a shield.” A shield is forged for blood and blade, not fellowship. When you refuse to take off your battle armor around your own people, that shield isn’t proof of leadership—it’s physical eviden...
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"Shadows"-Ha2ku by ha2tim

Too Many ShadowsImage via Wikipedia
Shadows trick my eyes
sounds made in dark shock my soul
I still say welcome- Hamblacha 2010

As I sat in the woods during my hamblacha, I experienced many lessons. This one deals with shadows and fears. In life we are surrounded by unknowns and if we are not careful these unknowns will consume us. Not because they have power but because we allow our fear to make them bigger and more dangerous than they really are.Things in this world feed off our fear, and many of us surrender our power along with our dreams to these monsters we created.
Last year was my first time out on hamblacha. I was alone and scared, but I would not admit this fact and as soon as night fell I was jumping at every crack I heard in the woods. i would turn around and prepare myself for the worst and in the end I used all of that energy for nothing. What I decided to do at that time was to sit down and embrace the fact that I was alone, that I had a fear of the dark, and even accept that fact that i was vulnerable at that time. Instead of letting my imagination run away with me I began to pray, and remembered that I was in a sacred circle. As i sat in the circle calming myself I began to become more open and welcoming and the next sound i heard behind me instead of jumping up, I simply said "welcome". That was a practice that i have used since last year.
This year i started my journey in that fashion welcoming everything and every sound to approach. I gave up the illusion of control and welcomed what nature and the spirit had to offer me. because of that attitude I was blessed with tons of lessons and topics to discuss this year. This year in that sacred circle I decided to expand this practice to my life. Often times we use a lot of energy fighting things that don't require a fight. I decided to welcome these things into my life. Just like I welcomed those things out of the shadows in my sacred circle. I have decided to not invest my energy in fear this year and use it to create, and by having a welcoming attitude i can do just that.I no longer fear what may lurk in the shadows hiding, as a matter of fact I am entering those dark places, starting with my soul. I have decided to stop living in fear of things that are not in my control, and welcome that fact into my life so now I can spend that time dealing with what I can control. When we becoming welcoming we invite situations into our life that will force us to grow, and stop hiding from our blessings.
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