Speaker 1 (00:07):
This recording is an offering of Networks for Training and Development's online university.

Rosa McAllister (00:15):
Hi, everyone, aloha. It's Rosa McAllister and it's the Healing Circle call, the first Monday of the month. It's July 4th 2022. It's 8:00 PM, East Coast Time, 2:00 in the afternoon where I am in Maui, Hawaii, and I'm glad to be with you today. I haven't led a Healing Circle Call in a little while, we've had many other guests and we'll have many more. We're starting a new year. This is the new year for many of us in the non-profit world, starting July 1, coming to a close, as always, as I say, a bit of a crash dance, as we're all scurrying, trying to get things done, last minute things.

Rosa McAllister (00:58):
In our world, at Networks for Training and Development, many people, in springtime, contact us because they want last minute things, they want last minute training or last minute help, or things like that, things that they've been contemplating for the year since July, but now that it's edging towards June 30th and the end of our year, they're asking, "Ooh, can we squeeze this in? Uh, so the crash dance begins.

Rosa McAllister (01:23):
I always suggest to my comrades, my family at Networks, some time around February or March, "Start taking your vitamins, it's springtime at Networks. It's coming on fast." And in the last couple of years, we've been extraordinarily blessed, even during this pandemic that's been going on, where much of the world has shut down. We've been incredibly, incredibly blessed with so much work, so much rec- referrals and requests for help, so many exciting projects, new things, things that we've been able to expand upon, and things that we've been able to start anew. It's been really an amazing time, really an incredible time, and I like to think about it as, uh, the blessings of COVID, the blessing of things that we never saw coming, even in the midst of a [inaudible 00:02:13] at a fitting time.

Rosa McAllister (02:15):
So, here we are in this new year for many of us. Again, many of us in the non-profit world, it's a new year, it's a new, fresh beginning. It's a time to take a breath [inaudible 00:02:25], or maybe two or three. I like to think that when the calendar page turns into July, somehow, it's a little more free, it's a little more open, the crash dance is not quite as it was in June, and I'm able to think and dream and imagine.

Rosa McAllister (02:43):
Today, it's July fourth, as I mention earlier, and so for some of us, particularly those of us in the United States, this has a lot of meaning. It's a day of independence, it's a day where we celebrate the stars and the stripes. Many of us celebrate with fireworks and we wear our red, white and blue. There's picnics and swimming and barbecues and get togethers and lots of cheerfulness. But that's not true for everyone. That's not true for many people, who really think that this idea of independence, particularly in the United States, particularly in the last handful of years, or maybe the last many, many decades, it's not quite the independence. It's not quite as equal, it's not quite what we pretend it is. So I'm not gonna get all political on you, although I sure could.

Rosa McAllister (03:35):
This is, again, a beginnings, it's a time of celebration, and it's a time of thinking about the idea of independence, or maybe, as I like to think about it, interdependence, because who amongst us really is independent? Not me, that's for sure. I'm here with you today and there's several of you in here with me. It's anonymous, so I don't know exactly who you are, but I know that there's several of us in here together that I'm speaking to, so I'm not alone. I'm not really independent, am I, in this conversation? In fact, to have a conversation, typically, we think of that it's gotta have at least more than one person to converse.

Rosa McAllister (04:19):
So this idea of interdependence is something that I like to think about a lot, it's something that I studied a wee bit, I've Googled and read about, and the history of it is very, very interesting and varied. Some people say it came out of the McCarthyism era. Um, many of you may not know what that is, hopefully some of you do. The McCarthy era, Joe McCarthy was someone who, in the 1950s, I believe, 60s, maybe 40s, pressed charges against a lot of people, particularly those in Hollywood, very famous people and lots and lots of people, charging them as communists.

Rosa McAllister (05:03):
McCarthy era, there were hearings, there were lots of charges, there was scapegoating, they were finger pointing and much else. And yeah, there were some people who were legitimately a part of the Communist Party, but was that necessarily bad in a country where we're supposed to have free speech and the ability to think freely and act freely, religious freedom, et cetera? Uh, kind of part of our code in the United States, isn't it? I think it's written a couple places. But is it really? Is it really true?

Rosa McAllister (05:37):
So, the Interdependence Movement started in this very interesting time where people started looking at each other, doubting one another, being skeptical, even being afraid of one another. Neighbors turning in neighbors, as we see happen in other countries and other places. Yeah, it happened here too, and it still does. The Interdependence Movement was about recognizing that none of us are alone, none of us are sole beings. We like to think of ourselves as being so independent, and yet, really?

Rosa McAllister (06:14):
So, right now, I'm sitting in my home in Maui, Hawaii. It's a beautiful, sunny day. It's a little warm and it's a little noisy at the pool, so I closed my place up and I have my air conditioner on. You might hear a gentle hum in the background. Did I make my windows and doors? Did I make my air conditioner, did I make the electricity that it runs on? Did I make the ceiling fan that's circulating on my ceiling and helping to- to move the air about? Did I make the clothes that I'm wearing? Did I make the water that I'm sipping? Did I do any of those things? How about this internet thing? I'm on my computer, calling in, by computer. I have a headset on with microphones, I have eye glasses on to read my screen a little bit more, and the notes that I have written to myself here. How many of these did I independently create on my own? Not one. Not one.

Rosa McAllister (07:09):
A- a- and then, in all honesty, if I were to really think about it, what things in my world, in my life, am I really, truly independent on? It's only dependent upon me that I created it, that I make it work. How many of those things in my life truly are mine, just mine? I really cannot think of anything, nothing at all. I live a life that I like to think is pretty independent. I like to think I make my own decisions. I like to think that I make my own way in the world. I like to think that I'm strong and responsible. But I also like to think that I'm of service to others. Is that independent?

Rosa McAllister (08:03):
I like to think that I give back to others, that I care with and about and for others, where's the independence in that? I like to think that I make free choices, I like to think that I decide things, and yet, the reality is, it's oftentimes [inaudible 00:08:22] in between many other possibilities or many, many other things that are going on, options that are possible for me. And yeah, I make a decision within that, but how much of it is really, truly independent?

Rosa McAllister (08:37):
So here we are on this so-called Independence Day, celebrating what really is a little bit of a stretch, not just for many people who have brought it to our attention in the last handful of years, but for all of us. Wouldn't it be interesting if somehow this is changed to celebrating interdependence? When do we do that? When is that day? Maybe it's today, maybe it's tomorrow, maybe it's every day. But I like to think about that, especially on these days like Independence Day.

Rosa McAllister (09:12):
So, I want you to take a moment and I want you to think about yourself. I want you to think about the who you are, the where you are, the what you are, the how you live, who you're responsible to, who you're responsible for. I want you to take a minute, I want you to look around yourself, think around everything that's around you right now, the chair that you're sitting on, car maybe that you're driving in, the computer or the phone that you're listening to, the people that are around, the other noises, the other beings, the other things in your environment. Think about all of those things, and think about yourself.

Rosa McAllister (10:02):
I wanna take a minute and I want you to pretend that there are intercepting and interconnecting strings between you and all these other things, whether it's the telephone pole or the cloak or the ceiling fan or the whatever it might be, something in the next room. Pretend you're connected, by filament or string or silken thread, to all of these many, many things around you, physically as well as all of those things in your brain and in your heart. Take a minute, close your eyes if you wish and connect the dots, connect the strings to all your inner connections, all your interdependence.

Rosa McAllister (11:10):
I don't know about you, but I've got lots of connecting strings. I've got... some are more thick, kind of like wires. Some are vibrating, some are very thin, some are stretched very, very thin. Some are really strong, some are pulling me really tightly, almost making me bend towards them, and some, I'm pulling, trying to have them bend towards me. Some of my strings, my connections, are very colorful and bright, and some are very somber. And I even have connections up into the ether, to those who have gone on before me, to those who part of my lineage, and to some that I'm not even sure who or what they are.

Rosa McAllister (11:58):
Of all of these connections, of all of these strings, are there any that you wish to cut? A- a- again, I'd like to think, "Oh, I could live without electricity, I could live without... ah, I don't think so. I don't wanna cut that one." There's some strings that are, I don't know, a little too tight right now, and are pulling me in directions that maybe I'm not sure I wanna go. Do I really wanna cut them entirely? I sure would like to loosen them a bit. So see what you can do to loosen those ones that are really tight. And if you feel a need to cut any, give it a try.

Rosa McAllister (12:41):
And then, maybe there's some strings attached to you, to other- other people, beings, things in your environment, in your life. Maybe some of them you'd like to strengthen a little bit more. Maybe you'd like to color them differently. Maybe you'd like the threading or the string to be of a different texture or thickness. Maybe some of them, you'd like to vibrate or have hum. So take a minute or two and see what you can do, 'cause you can manipulate your strings. You can change them. That's part of the idea of being interdependent, is you're not necessarily at the beck and call, you're not necessarily under the thumb, you're not necessarily beholden to all. You can shift those strings, maybe just a little, just to loosen them or tighten, to strengthen them, to stretch them, to recolor them. Give it a try. Which ones do you wanna change? Which ones do you wish you could change? And again, maybe there's some that you wish you could cut.

Rosa McAllister (14:09):
And maybe, just maybe, there are some people or things that you don't feel you yet have a string attached to or a connection to, that interconnection, that interdependence isn't there quite yet. Or m- maybe in you- your coy or shy way, you wish you were. Maybe you're not sure how to make that happen. Give it a thought and see what you can do, kind of like Spider-Man, shoot out a web. Maybe it's from your heart, maybe it's from your head, maybe it's from your hand, or your wrist like Spider-Man. Maybe it's form some other body part, maybe it's from another person. Maybe there's an interconnection with someone that you're connected to, that they could connect you to somebody else. And you know, the old sixth degree of separation or less, you therefore would be interconnected. So give that a try. Who else do you want a string attached to? Who else do you wanna interconnect with? And see what you can do to make that happen. Go ahead, Spideys, see what you can do.

Rosa McAllister (15:31):
And now look all around you, pretend your eyes really were in the back of your head, too. Pretend that you could see 360 degrees around you, up and down and all around, and you could see yourself almost in a sphere, with interconnection to all kinds of beings and things, that you were so interconnected, you were a hub of interconnections. Guess what? You are. You are a hub of interconnection.

Rosa McAllister (16:10):
What if we realized that, and what if we celebrated that? We celebrated not this idea, this false idea of independence, but what if we took a day? Maybe it's today. What if you took a day, or a- even a minute, and celebrated, really, who you were, and the interconnections and the interdependence that you have created in this life? How cool would that be? And how might you use that differently? How might you live differently, knowing all these interconnections? And- and think about other people's interconnections, like, I'm guessing there's some of you on this call, that our strings are already connected, our strings are already attached? Uh, uh, I know you're connected to me, but I'm also connected to you. Imagine- imagine how that person is seeing your strings, the connections to you, and the gift that it brings.

Rosa McAllister (17:17):
Imagine if you suddenly could jettison upwards and have a bird's eye view, not just of you and all your strings and interconnections and the hub that you are, but all those that you're connected with, all those things that you're connected with. What if you could see all of their strings, all of their interconnections, too? What if that's how we viewed the world? My guess is that if we viewed each other, even ourselves and the world in this way more often, my guess is there'd be a little less hatred. There'd be a little less violence, there'd be a little less strife and hunger and wanting. There'd be a little less war and maybe even a little less sadness, because we'd be celebrating, we'd be seeing, we'd be honoring the interconnections and the interdependence between all of us.

Rosa McAllister (18:22):
So, on this fourth of July, on this day of independence, ha-ha, I'm celebrating myself and I'm celebrating you. And if we're not interconnected already, guess what? We are now, 'cause we're in this call together, whether it's live today on July fourth, 2022, or whether it's some time in the future and you're listening in, we now have a string, we're now connected, and that makes me pretty darn happy. So, go light a firework. In fact, better than that, go be the firework that you are.

Rosa McAllister (19:00):
Thanks so much. Come back and join us again the first Monday of every month at 8:00 PM, Eastern Time for our Healing Circle call. Thank you and goodbye.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
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