Rebelations - Rebel Brown: Challenging the Status Quo

The Hogans

Last week I was in Monument Valley, camping and touring around the property of a Navajo clan.  Effie and family have worked that same land, raising horses, sheep and goats, for generation on generation. They've evolved with the times - moving from traditional farming and ranching to other ways of supporting their family.  Today, they host riders and share their history and the beauty of their land with lucky horsefolk. They sell their wares, sharing their beautiful weaving and silver work with tourists who come on Monument Valley Tour buses.

They share their stories of birth, life and death with all - stories that go on and on for those same generations and across every nook and cranny of their land. 

A Room with a View

The richness of their story is in such sharp contrast to the harshness of their lives.  They have no electricity and still live in the hogans of their ancestors. They have propane generators for necessary things (and yes, they do have cell phones). The outhouse is just that - a hole sunk a bit downwind,with a three-sided shack around it (against the wind). There's no door - simply a view of amazing wonders. The wind howls around me as I sit and ponder that view. Mother Nature adds to the harshness in a spectacular display of power.  The wind blows - always. So much so that everything here grows sidewise. That same wind carved the magnificent monuments that draw us here. So yes, it's BIG.

Their everyday life is what we would call roughing it - big time.

Effie - always laughing

Yet to these flowing thinkers - their life is fabulous.  Rich with family, love and laughter, living a life that's real and true, connected to Father Sky and Mother Earth.  Their faces reflect a peace, an acceptance of life as it is, and gratitude for it.

I'm once again struck by how much I take for granted in my world. How much I take for granted.  How spoiled I am with the accoutrement of modern business and living.

I'm thinking about the time when businesses had so much money that excessive spending was a replacement for thoughtful business. 

We've been forced to shift - from excess to prudence, from throwing money at problems to throwing our brains at those same issues. Yet we look back at the good old days wistfully, wishing we had that easy way of being and doing again.  Some of us stand as deer in the headlights wondering what to do...now that the easy ways have gone by. 

I came away from my trip believing that we need to think and act more like Effie and her clan. They understand that thriving is about doing the best with what we have at any point in time, accepting the changes that come to their world, adapting to find new ways of being successful with those changes - evolving in sync with their reality.

How many of us can do that? Do we accept with grace and positive power, or do we fight for the way we've always known it - the easy way?

Effie's family taught me a lot about moving beyond simply defying gravity - to ignoring gravity completely.  They showed me how to step forward -  honoring the past while evolving and accepting the now - and all it's realities.

I'm grateful for that lesson...and I wanted to share it with all of you... 

via rebelbrown.com