Power of Every Child… Every Drop Matters!!!

My heart is at peace today for the first time in a long time. The kids of Florida and so many other places are rising up… they are choosing to make the tragic loss of their friends into a platform for change. They are choosing to rise up instead of falling down and they are leveraging their heartbreak and loss into game changing courage and action.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/students-are-rising-up-against-gun-violence-in-the-aftermath-of-the-florida-shooting/ar-BBJl1sg

In nearly 30 years, my career has been all about getting the voices and local actions of children everywhere heard by decision making adults… and I’ve heard what feels like millions of unfulfilled promises by ‘grown-ups’ to children… but something about this feels different. These kids are doing it in such a grassroots and compelling way.

There are 2.2 billion of these kids on Earth… everywhere… and when this ripple of change is joined with billions of their peers to rise up together… each and every drop will become a tsunami of unstoppable change!

Lately, I’ve been wearing my rainbow glasses all the time and it is so amazing to witness active karma happening so fast… The universe of truth is speaking up… And just like the science of light and so many invisible forces of life on Earth, Sir Isaac Newton proved in his third law, so long ago, that every action causes and equal and opposite reaction. When I worked for Swarovski and entered the Crystal World in Austria, in brilliant crystals, the sign says ‘YES TO ALL’… this is my answer to the kids of Parkland and every other place in this world. My hope is that the work of Donna Goodman Productions on Elemental Heroes and Ecomasters will help to activate millions and millions more young people and one of these days, they won’t need adults to bring harmonic balance to this world… they will just be the change!!

Lots of love,

Donna

 

18 is my favorite number!

Happy New Year!!!  It is amazing that it has been more than 3 years since my last post… it was a time of transition for me in every way… life, love, purpose and understanding!!!  So here I am in 2018, the year of my most auspicious number about to begin a new planetary assignment!!!

First off… did you know that 18 is the molecular weight of water??!!! and in Hebrew it is for a healthy happy life and in most ancient scientific and spiritual teachings, 18 and of course 9 (8 +1=9) are key to everything!!! and of course, water is life… so there we go!!! So here I am, now living in southern Florida with my new puppy Frankie Luna and ready to embark on the most exciting journey of my soul… EVER!!! 

Living in love for all of these years has had it’s challenges, but each and every one has had a lesson helping my little drop of water to go deeper into the labyrinth of life. Today is 1.11.18, my other favorite number is 111… Frankie came from 111st Street and most every day miracles come in 111’s and 180’s!  Since separating from my job of the past three years that has brought so many blessings while also keeping me from this blog and many of my creative endeavors in November, I’ve been in a bit of a funk. Do you know the kind?  Achy all over and in more of a cave dwelling/cocoon way of life. But this morning was different… I woke up without pain and with a very clear head, even before noticing the date.  One may ask, why ramble on about this in my first blog post of 3 years??!! As most of us know, our incredible planet is changing and the future of humankind is in the balance.  This lifetime has been about Mother Earth and her children for me and I now understand that my role in this very critical transformation is to find and activate the most amazing kids on Earth… they are in every place… the farthest places from the middle of nowhere!! and we need them… they are ready to lead us forward. They are the Ecomasters and my job is to help to find and activate them so that they can do what they are here to do!

My mastery and passion is to connect the dots with love… this requires travel… and writing… and photography and creative expression that I have not yet even imagined. What I do know so far is that I have been invited by the Munduruku indigenous peoples of Brazil to work with them to create an environmental education and inspiration teaching and learning center for teachers and young people on their land in the heart of the Amazon!!!

This is real and necessary and will be a hub for so many of the connections.  My belief at this time is that the Amazon is at the heart of all life…. and my heart is drawn to her and to all of the many ‘Me’s’ who are ready to become ‘We’s’… together, we become ‘one song’… a uni-versal symphony of love, love, love… 2018!!!

Thanks for joining me, I’ll be sharing more soon!

Love

Donna

Gratitude is the attitude, the language is love

ALLOW love to find and fill you!

INVITE magic and miracles of the highest kind to your life!

INVOKE strength, integrity, courage and protection at all times!

WELCOME multi-dimensional beingness into your world in all forms!

RADIATE your love and magic to all who approach, interact or witness the light!

Be Love!

Be Strong!

Be Honest!

Be READY!

BE Peace!

Be your highest self in all ways, always.

Love,
Donna

Every body matters, every drop counts….

Its been a long time between posts and I finally feel like it is time to re-introduce myself to the world. A year has come and gone and my soul’s essence of water has brought me full circle to Uganda where I was privileged to share a glass of water with the most gracious and creative of women. A grandmother… and single mother… not so much unlike me…. in fact, I feel that we were more similar than different! Can you imagine that I’ve become a grandmother since the last blog post… of my darling Emma… and have been blessed to develop a Waterschool programme in the Amazon region of Brazil with and for Swarovski… and even to develop their teaching and learning materials!!!

The year has brought a tsunami of change, drop by drop and I am so blessed. Tomorrow, the blog will begin again with full intention to Live in Love and to trust the wisdom of the universe which encourages and enables each of us to live into a life of commitment to ourselves… our own drop… our soul’s purp. For me this has translated to finding the partners of my soul… finding the joy of being most deeply who I am and appreciating the ride!  Love, Donna

 

Neither here nor there, yet everywhere

Parsa district is a fifteen minute flight over the mountains from Kathmandu to a much warmer climate which borders the State of Bihar in India. We are here to visit some rural schools recently impacted by flood.

The road is full of gaping potholes not unlike Gulu Road in Uganda, but in an almost similar comparison to the difference in cultures, the Parsa road was a bit softer because it is all mud and dirt while the Gulu Road had been previously paved so the bumps were sharper and less forgiving to navigate. In a way, the situation in schools is also a bit softer, although the situation for girls seems equally disparate in both places. Maybe it is not a reasonable comparison, it might just be…For me, I’ve been working in three countries now in less than 3-months and home in between to face equally grueling challenges. With only a few weeks between missions, and an incredibly demanding pace/schedule of meetings and appointments, the culture shock has me a bit tongue-tied… or shall I say, finger tied! There is so incredibly much to share, but I am overwhelmed on where to begin.

For the first time ever, our UNICEF driver was female and she did a fantastic job of navigating the muddy road. I noticed that she was a bit more careful/mindful about the gaping craters in the road, slowing down and sometimes stopping before shifting gears and forging forward. It was an all-female mission with three of us documenting the programmes and one driver, which was also strange since the meetings were dominated by men, the irony of was not spoken in public, but felt like the detail was indeed noticed by us all.

 

Adorned with hand-crafted flower necklaces that had to have taken so much time and energy to make, I learned that only 20-short years ago this area was a forest/jungle. The deforestation has been rapid and rampant. I didn’t even ask the question and it came up as the greatest concern in all of the schools and meetings with decision makers. They told us that the poorest, most illiterate people are still the ones cutting remaining trees because they have no other way to make a meager bit of money. This story of course is not new to me, but I haven’t heard it told in such a powerful way in a while. The children told us that if people knew how to read and could do other work, they could restore the local environments. Without education they have little hope. What to say? None of the schools had toilets. When I spoke with my UNICEF WASH colleague she told me that people prefer open defecation and that they’ve tried behavior change in this district for the same 20 years. What to do?

I need to make three different presentations on Monday and am at a loss for how to present the finding in a way that will motivate others toward a sustainable solution. They consider me to be an expert, but I have no idea what to do. They solutions seem simple, but are not for so, so many reasons on so, so many levels.

Each school has only one child club member, represented into the young leaders, most of them are boys. When I asked the boy we met how he could engage with the other 900 kids in his school his response was not encouraging.

The success of the gardens in Uganda was meaningful, but these projects are so dependent upon a motivated and consistent facilitation support system. In Parsa, one Resource person covers 30-50 schools and it is virtually impossible to make it to more than 3-5 schools in a week without adequate transportation and the resource center that we traveled 3 hours each way to visit did not have any books or resources! Only head teachers from neighboring schools getting together (see picture above of the head teachers).

Sorry for being so random today, I’ve been feeling a strong need to write, yet still confused with the content. Tomorrow is the Hindu festival of Teej when women dress in red to dance and sing and pray to Lord Shiva in the streets. The purpose of the prayer is for the health and well-being of the man in her life. It is also International Literacy Day and I will join Eva Ahlen, Chief of Education here for a reception in the evening. Maybe it will be possible to talk to someone about the connections between literacy and trees… maybe that would be a place to start… maybe…

Love,

Donna

On the road again….

Actually, it’s more like in the air again! My body still aches from my most recent trip to Uganda and stress related to family and personal stress so, I’m doing all that is possible to nurture myself on this trip. I’ve purchased a pass to the American Airlines lounge and the note from my chiropractor helped me to get a bulk-head seat which is the best possible outcome for such a long haul trip in economy class. I’m headed to Nepal and have been humming Bob Seger’s Katmandu song for two days now… “I think I’m going to Katmandu, that’s really, really where I’m going to. If I ever get out of here, that’s what I’m gonna do…”

So, I’m getting out of here and going to Katmandu!  🙂  I’m going to learn a lot on this trip, I’ve never really worked in South Asia. The week has really been a challenge. Last week for Earth Child Institute we were approached by an interested donor wanting to develop a water school on the Amazon in Brazil, which of course is a huge dream of mine… linked to the Ecomasters and ECI and my personal goals. The opportunity came like a tsunami, they wanted to give the money immediately and move forward right away. I was so busy, but essentially dropped other priorities and made time to do the needful.  But then silence. Did we do something wrong? Did I do something wrong? Our team was so jazzed to get moving, I hate letting them down… and then there is also the fact that ECI so dearly needs the money. We are all working so sincerely for its survival and mission… what is the hold up? My son Elliot noted that we would have been better off if they would have just left us alone. This is the truth. My time that was wasted and the hopes that were raised were worth more than $5000. Why do the financially wealthy think that they can play games with the poor?! This is the truth in all areas of society at this time on our planet. Poverty is so severe in so many places and these people want to hold a press release for $5000! and don’t even honor the commitment! It’s really one of my core triggers, I really can’t stand it when people do not call me back… not to mention make promises without delivering.

So now as I prepare to spend more than 16 hours in the blue sky circumventing our most amazing planet tonight, I wonder what is possible to contribute? I dearly pray to be useful to the children and environment of Nepal. My prayer is TO NOT BE one of those people who shows up and wastes the time of others for self-gratification. I want to be useful… let’s see…

 

Today’s picture is of me and Tony at the Westport Longshore pool last week… another moment in time…

 

Love,

Donna

 

God bless the broken road…

Gulu Road is barely a road at all. It is more ditch than drive… more hole than whole, but it is the only way to get to Sudan from the ports in Mombasa and Kampala. Sometimes I feel like our lives are the same way… more ditch than drive… causing us to swerve and adapt again and again and again. Today was really a fun day for me, more drive than ditch for sure and in those smooth sailing moments it is easy to forget that the next ditch is coming soon… sometimes those are the times when biggest shocks are felt… when you least expect it and then reassess the situation. That’s the plan for tonight. Praying to patch up the road ahead and be prepared for whatever’s coming next.   Love, Donna

To feel or not to feel, that is the question

My body has taken a toll from all the traveling combined with emotional stress of living simultaneously in different worlds. Precious few can imagine what it is like to be so many hours from a toilet or telephone in a place where people are so poor that the torn clothes that drape over their bony structures continue on with the most possible dignity and while touring gardens which are literally the lifeline between life and death when suddenly the smartphone attached to my waist blares to life as if to awaken me from one story to another. The brash ‘robo-caller’ from Verizon Wireless pierced my consciousness to remind me that my data usage is over quota!!!

Somehow astonished at the interruption, another part of me instinctively clicks into another realm poised to argue with them that my phone settings are ‘off’ for data in another tone of voice… who is this other woman? which one is me? Clearly, a ‘mzungo’ (slang term for white person) as crazy/or more crazy as any who’d come before?

The irony is all around and inside of me. Who do I really think I am to bridge these foreign realities? On one hand my parents are increasingly anxious about my travels and my children and soon to be grandchild are living in yet another reality with plenty of drama of their own flavor. Today was the first day since I’ve been back (4 days) that I was able to take on some of my ‘first world’ tasks. Surely I paid my rent and health insurance immediately upon return, but the fortitude to return to the Verizon wireless saga now that I know that they are charging me for $600 in data usage which I didn’t actually use, I found myself on the phone for the usual quota of several hours to get a supervisor, who still has yet to return my call… but as I spoke to this indignant mock supervisor who told me that she has qualification to become a supervisor… but who could only argue with me, all I could think about was that moment and place in time in Northern Uganda when they pierced my consciousness as the worlds collided in real time.

Here I am wanting to scream at this girl, do you have any idea what it is to be 10 hours from the middle of no where and to squabble about ‘data usage’ while people are struggling to stay alive right before your eyes???!! Am I pretentiously judging this girl who is only doing her job? Is there a way to live in so many worlds at one time? I don’t know. I can’t figure it out. Bridging cultures is usually easy for me, it is what I do, but for some reason, my last two trips felt more like tectonic plates rubbing together toward a gigantic earthquake-like collision that is happening in my body. A war of the worlds waged in the most familiar, yet unfamiliar place. 

Our technology is so advanced that we can be seamless in our communication, people can call me on my same US phone number and it will ring in the most remote locations. Yet, our physical worlds are so very very far apart. The $600 of data usage accrued in that few days, even mistakenly, would be enough to provide food and water to so many children… or even shoes or a clean shirt or underwear, can you imagine? And somehow, I feel so impotent to do anything useful except to grow in my own awareness of the massive gaps within the fabric of humanity.

To feel the plight of others wherever they are in the world can be overwhelming, to feel my own place in this extraordinarily diverse journey is essential. Soon I’ll be leaving again for Nepal and I have much less experience with South Asian culture than of Africa where I’ve worked many times. How will I cope?/adapt? Will my body feel better by that time? Can I get my work done between now and then with Tony coming during my transition time, another reality collision. 

Urghhh… more questions for another day. No pictures in this post, the images are too closely intertwined to make sense… almost like the DNA of humanity weaving its way around itself as I stand in the middle and observe the strands… yet suddenly they crash in upon one another through me and then out once again… maybe more like a figure 8???

Love,

Donna

Waters of life

I really am a water girl at heart. Born at the moment of full Leo moon in the sign of Aquarius the water bearer, my ever-flowing destiny has now brought me to the two greatest rivers on our planet. Most recently, I’ve been introduced to the River Nile. Which is so mighty and vast and feels like it is holding the history of humanity within its banks. It may seem strange, but even as I approached the Nile for the first time, I noticed the tall reeds that look so much like early childhood Bible drawings.. it was almost like you could see the basket with Baby Moses floating along. The energy of the Nile feels historic, its hard to explain, but it is a serious river, full of intrigue and cultural diversity. The majestic beauty and powerful force are to be reckoned with. For me, the tension felt palpable, almost as if thousands of years of conflict are churning within his waves. The Nile has a very strong male energy in fact, now that I am reflecting and writing these words.

The Amazon, on the other hand, is a female energy river. Equally amazing and majestic, to me, the Amazon opens my heart and welcomes me into her arms, as if to call me to home. She seems full of potential energy, that which is yet to occur, the mystery as yet to unfold. My soon to be bestselling Ecomasters series leads the young leaders from all around the world to a secret island in the Amazon for training. I am having trouble accessing my Amazon photos for this post, but will add them later during the weekend.

It strikes me that the two largest rivers in the world each would hold the energy of a different gender… it makes sense when you think about it, don’t you think? When I googled associations between the Nile and Amazon while writing this post, I found that scientists are presently squabling about which is actually the longest? Originally thought that the Nile was the worlds largest River, scientists in Brazil are now claiming that the Amazon is first.. either way they are extremely close in magnitude. Indeed, all that we are and all that we do is of water, our planet is more than 70% water and our bodies are as well and it takes both male and female components for creation to manifest. I am not sure where this train of thought is going, but it does feel quite significant. Perhaps the history of the Nile is helping to lead us around the circle to the unfolding her-story of the Amazon as we enter into the Age of Aquarius?

More to come on this…

Love,
Donna

Living like a lion

It’s the first time I’ve seen a lion in the wild. Perched on the top of his hill he sat, watching people from vehicles below stretching to take a picture of him.

It seems to me that the most effective leaders are able to recharge their own batteries, even while others are watching, to take action at the right time for the right reason. I don’t know too much about animal behavior in the wild, to the extent that the lion empowers other animals, or how much they really ‘like’ him. Surely, as we all know some animals prey on others… but I’ve not heard much about how they support one another, other than natural roles and biodiversity.

Maybe I am rambling. I am now in Amsterdam waiting for my flight to New York, have just taken a shower and am thinking about buying some cheese before going home. The lion is on my mind this morning because sometimes people value a lot of running around and blah blah stuff and it often seems to me that my most effective moments are sitting in silence watching nature take it’s course. No one responded to my work submission… this is remarkably usual behavior among people I work with and honestly it drives me crazy, but maybe if I can be more like a lion and relax until my time for action comes again, I will meet my goals to wherever I am going. Not to be passive… or aggressive… but just to be. Hmmm… maybe that’s the story.

Here’s how I feel today, feet in one world, wings in another… ready to take flight, but not sure of where I am going!

Love,
Donna