“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
                                                                   ~ Henry David Thoreau

I have decided to live in an upside down world. A world where all those things we fight are not the enemy but the messenger. Where I no longer fight disease, poverty, the battle of the bulge, or terrorism but where I say instead: “You bring a message for me. Come, sit down, and tell me what you have to say. Let us see if we can find an answer together.”

In the upside down world I’ll live in I will not work for money, power, or prestige. I will work for the joy of sharing the gifts I have brought to this earth to share. I work because it fulfills the creative urge in me. I will work to learn and grow – and doing that others will benefit and be delighted to share the fruits of their work with me as a beautiful exchange of energy. I will be an artist not a worker.

Here I will respect the energy exchange and exchange the money I receive for things that serve me well and delight me. I will buy only what I need and I love. It will not matter what my neighbor buys, it will not matter what the latest and greatest is, it will only matter what speaks to me, and being fully conscious of my purchases they will be few, yet perfect, and beautiful. In my world I will not be a consumer but a connoisseur.

I will share my abundance with the world, not because it’s right, but because it brings me joy.

In this inverted world I will respect those who are stubborn, disagreeable, bossy, and unkind as my teachers. Much as teachers of the martial arts they will push and probe looking for my areas of weakness. I will study the lessons they teach me, even as I set boundaries, see where they are able to throw me off of balance, correct my imbalance and at the end of the lesson bow deeply and thank them for revealing me to my self.

I will look inside for answers first. I will cultivate a rich, rewarding relationship with myself. I’ll ask my heart what it thinks and listen carefully to the answer. And when it doesn’t agree with the “experts” I’ll consider that perhaps the experts know what’s best for them but only I know what’s best for me. I’ll remember all the pioneers, inventors, explorers, I’ll remember how they were all told they were wrong and it couldn’t be done. Then I’ll go my own way quietly not needing to prove anyone else right or wrong just doing my own thing my own way.

In my world I will know that I am enough. Not because of what I have, or what I earn, not because of titles or degrees, not because I am good or kind. I will know I am enough because I am, because I breathe, because I’m here – and that’s enough.

I’ll spend my time with sunrises and sunsets and the beauties of nature. I’ll pursue beauty and wonder and excellence. I’ll busy myself about nothing except what brings joy and flow and contrary to all the predictions my house won’t be dusty and my work won’t be ignored but both will flourish in beauty and love.

As I think of my upside down world I’m not sure it’s so upside down. The longer I look at it the more the world most of us currently live in seems upside down. The more I attempt to live in my world the more I see that the world I have chosen might just be the one that is upside right. Won’t you join me?