What do you do when your guides ask you to help with something you don't feel “qualified” for? A few months ago, I had a dream where I was shown the energy at Standing Rock and was given specific instructions on how to help.
I saw a circle with a web inside of it. Almost like a dream catcher. I was shown that the circle was surrounding the water protectors but it wasn't large enough to reach anyone outside. I was told that I need to enlarge the circle and the web. I also saw a series of symbols surrounding the circle.
When I woke from the dream I thought….seriously?! Why would my help be needed? As connected and concerned as I was/am for the water protectors and the important protest happening, I was sensitive to the idea of “outsiders” offering help if it was not wanted. I am not native and don't want to pretend that I am familiar with the needs of the tribe, especially their energetic needs.
And certainly, there must be far more qualified people who could handle this request. Do I even know what I'm doing?
I thought about it for a day or so and realized that it was not just the water in North Dakota that needs protection, but ALL water including the water in my own backyard. I decided to visit the river in my town and then do a shamanic journey to Standing Rock to see if I could be helpful. I asked to see who was holding the energy there and was shown a medicine man in the middle of the circle and could feel the immense amount of energy he was responsible for.
He WAS holding the energy in the circle but he needed help to expand it and reach beyond the people inside.
I spent some time imagining the web growing larger, encompassing the river that was at the edge of the protest and including those on the opposite side. Then I saw the symbols around the outside again and asked if I needed to do anything with those but was told that I didn't need to worry about them. The tribe knew what to do with them. I returned from my journey and offered thanks for the water and thanks to my guides.
When I got home, I made donations to the Standing Rock Medic + Healer Council and to Water for Flathead's Future, a local non-profit working to protect our watershed from a proposed water bottling plant. A physical action to backup my energetic action.
So the real question is, was I helpful? Who knows. I hope that I was and that at the very least, I didn't do any harm. But what occurred to me after doing the journey is that the question should not have been why ME? But why NOT me and really, why not all of US? I am certain I am not the only one who received that call – whether in a dream or a meditation or in some other way.
Just as there were many people who felt called to go to Standing Rock and offer physical help, I'm certain there were thousands (millions?) of people who were asked to help energetically.
How many people heard the call and responded? And how many said….why me?! And considered themselves unqualified.
The more I journey and learn the more the idea of the collective ONE makes sense. If we are all connected, then why not me? Why not all of us? Did the medicine man holding all of that collective energy send out a call for help? How many people answered him?
This is a lesson I'm trying to incorporate in my life every day – not just in a situation like Standing Rock. None of us feel qualified. Ever. We're all waiting around for someone more experienced to tell us what to do next in our lives and how to do it.
Our guides will help us and journeying is a great tool to ask…what next? if you're not sure. But if we're not willing to take action on the guidance we receive, nothing will ever change. Not in our own lives and not in the world.
So…what message are you hearing that you think you're not qualified enough to handle? What small step can you do to take action? It's okay to feel nervous about it. But go do it anyway. And then let me know what happens!
