There are words that stay with you forever—like this vision from Crazy Horse:
“Upon suffering beyond suffering, the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness, and separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of Seven Generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the Sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again. On that day there will be those among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things, and the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom.” —Crazy Horse
Though I am no longer one of the “young white ones,” I feel this call pulsing in my bones. His words point us toward a world of healing, not domination; of belonging, not separation.
We are living in such a threshold moment now—a Great Turning, as Joanna Macy calls it. Many traditions have named it: the Andean Pachakuti, Mesoamerican world ages, Celtic cycles of renewal, Hindu yugas, Buddhist kalpas, Taoist and Sufi visions of balance, Indigenous prophecies, African cosmologies, and Jewish mystics who speak of tikkun olam—the repair of the world. You can hear more of Joanna Macy’s wisdom here: The Great Turning.
Thresholds are never easy. They ask us to face grief and disillusionment, and to rise anyway—with courage, creativity, and community. Those who have walked through heartbreak and come out more whole are being called to steady the circle, to become good ancestors, and to midwife what longs to come through.
This vision feels urgent now. It is not about domination but healing, not separation but belonging. Each of us carries the power to choose compassion and connection over fear and greed. Yet most of us were trained otherwise—to compete, consume, and extract. At our core, we are meant for something more.
The Dalai Lama once gave a bold charge: “The world will be saved by the Western woman.” His words were not flattery but prophecy. What he saw was that women in the West, having gained education, freedom of speech, and access to resources, also bear responsibility. With privilege comes the capacity to act. He was calling us to rise—not to dominate in the old way, but to embody a new way: one grounded in compassion, creativity, and moral courage.
But this work is not for women alone. It requires the partnership of men who “get it”—men who choose reverence over domination, compassion over control, and who honor the life-giving force in women, the earth, and in themselves. Their courage to break with old patterns of patriarchy and step into wholeness is just as essential. When women rise with compassion and men rise with reverence, the circle becomes whole again.
Still, inner change is not enough. We are also called to collective action—to say no to what destroys us, our people, and our world. No to the extractive philosophy that treats the earth as commodity. No to policies that sacrifice human dignity for profit. No to systems that exploit the vulnerable while rewarding greed. Social activism is part of our spiritual path, because without a courageous “no,” our “yes” to life cannot fully flourish.
This is not abstract. It means daring to imagine solutions for homelessness. It means choosing reverence over extraction, generosity over greed, creativity over consumption. It means raising our voices against injustice, standing shoulder to shoulder with those most impacted, and refusing to normalize what diminishes life.
The natural world keeps calling me back to this truth. Many mornings a dove rests on the dying branches of our olive tree. Hummingbirds dart and battle as if urging me to be bold. A family of quail struts proudly across the yard, their tiny topknots bobbing in unison. When I am still, the wild ones come, whispering: remember who you are, remember what matters.
My interest in healing ancestral trauma has brought me to the old stories of my lineage. Reading Irish folklore, I feel the presence of my ancestors and the wisdom they carried—stories of caves as portals of transformation, of kings marrying the goddess of the land to pledge loyalty to earth and people. These myths remind me how far we have strayed, where leaders now serve economies of extraction instead of life itself.
And yet trauma and loss can return us to essence. From ashes, a new self rises—wiser, truer, more attuned to what matters. That is the journey I’ve sought to capture in Mining Inner Wisdom, culminating in the final song: Becoming.
Becoming is more than a song. It is an awakening, a call back to wholeness, to the brilliance and wisdom we each carry. Healing is never only personal; it is collective.
I was reminded of this recently when I sat down with Rae Luskin for her podcast Creative Activists. Rae has created a space where stories of survival and resilience are lifted up as sparks of creativity, reminding us that trauma can initiate not only healing but leadership. Our conversation felt like a living example of what Crazy Horse and the Dalai Lama envisioned: people rising from pain with compassion, courage, and imagination—becoming part of the repair of the world. You can listen here: Creative Activists Podcast.
Three Steps to Let Your Visionary Future Self Lead (they already hold the key)
See Clearly
Visualize your most empowered and connected self 5–10 years from now—where you are, who’s with you, how the world is better because of your presence. Feel their steadiness. They’ve already done what we are here to do.
Receive the Key
Sit with this future self. Ask: What do you want me to know now? What’s the smallest move with the biggest ripple? Write down exactly what comes.
Live From “Already”
Act as if their reality is true today. One boundary. One kindness. One creation. Each daily act closes the gap between who we are and who we’re becoming.
Contacting your visionary future self is more than an exercise in wishful thinking—it is an act of imagination that raises your consciousness. When we engage imagination in this way, we align with a higher field of guidance that expands what we believe is possible. We stop being driven only by the wounds of the past or the fears of the present, and instead allow the wisdom of our already-becoming self to lead us. This is the inner activism that fuels outer activism: daring to envision a healed world and stepping daily into that vision.
A Closing Word
Personal healing, imagination, and social activism are not separate paths—they are three strands of the same braid. Healing restores our broken places so we can walk whole into the world. Imagination lifts us beyond what is, into what could be, raising our consciousness to match the scale of the times. And activism grounds both healing and imagination in tangible “yeses” and courageous “no’s”—yes to what sustains life, no to what destroys it.
When we weave these strands together, we become participants in the Great Turning, answering Crazy Horse’s vision and the Dalai Lama’s charge. We stand as ancestors-in-training, midwives of a more compassionate, reverent, and just world.
Access Mining Inner Wisdom here:
Many blessings and much love, 💕🙏💕
Carrie
