{"id":967,"date":"2011-10-17T11:34:17","date_gmt":"2011-10-17T19:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/onelife\/?p=967"},"modified":"2011-10-17T11:34:17","modified_gmt":"2011-10-17T19:34:17","slug":"occupy-your-self","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/?p=967","title":{"rendered":"Occupy Your Self"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/heatherhaley.com\/onelife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/13033_182246947037_527457037_3535354_6135045_n.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-970\" title=\"13033_182246947037_527457037_3535354_6135045_n\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/heatherhaley.com\/onelife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/13033_182246947037_527457037_3535354_6135045_n-98x150.jpg?resize=98%2C150\" alt=\"\" width=\"98\" height=\"150\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Revolution. Nearly as abused a word as <em>love<\/em>. As the  Occupy Wall Street movement migrates to Vancouver, I am skeptical,  though can\u2019t abide the status quo either, and do believe change is  possible. I am hopeful democracy will continue to spread, encouraged by  the Arab Spring, how technology facilitates virtual brainstorming, the overthrow of despots. I am impressed with the integrity of this oh so  grass roots movement. Still, I maintain, look within. I realize it  sounds Buddhist or hippie-ish, but it\u2019s vital to self-reflect, inhabit  your Self, no matter where you reside, be it Wonderland or Wall Street.<\/p>\n<p>I revolted long ago. Fleeing tortured relationships and a harrowing home life, as an angry young woman, I vainly sought justice, or more accurately, vengeance. A radicalized feminist, I became disillusioned and frustrated, began to understand that being an artist is a political statement. Being me. There is no other reality, or viable accomplishment, such a hard journey it is, once penning in a lyric, \u201cI will not become what I mean to you.\u201d I am far more effective expressing my views through words. And deeds, (see below), changing the only thing I can; me. My transformation, dare I say, transcendence is my greatest contribution, for talk is cheap, as is life, sadly.<\/p>\n<p>Clean up your own back yard. Mess. That would be a good start. Do the work. Strengthen your foundation. Fill in the cracks, make the repairs. Corrections. Engineer community. Eliminate the pain and suffering within your reach. Stamp out tragedy, reign in disaster, strife, and or, express grief. Assimilate grief. Strip away the armor. Learn humility. Share. It feels good. Respect yourself. Others. Life. Be as kind as you can be. Expect less. Reserve judgement, not affection. Love. Unconditionally.<\/p>\n<p>Whether I agree or disagree with the protesters doesn\u2019t matter. We are complicit. Reform begins at home. All the rest is politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Revolution. Nearly as abused a word as love. As the Occupy Wall Street movement migrates to Vancouver, I am skeptical, though can\u2019t abide the status quo either, and do believe change is possible. I am hopeful democracy will continue to spread, encouraged by the Arab Spring, how technology facilitates virtual brainstorming, the overthrow of despots. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[149,212,213],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}