A second exercise, which will also seem very simple but quite powerful, is hugging. Hugging and physical closeness in the month of November is like magic for everything. If you are visiting a friend for lunch, move your chair around the table so that you are sitting right next to each other and you can lean into each other as you talk. If you are sitting on the couch with a loved one, slide over and sit right next to them so your hips are next to each other and you can put your arm on theirs. Any time you have an opportunity where it is socially appropriate, touch, be close to people and even better, hug them.
Wrap up with a blanket or a shawl. The symbolic act of pulling yourself together will be extremely helpful this month. Physical embrace brings everything into alignment. Hugging yourself creates a physical shift in your body toward love. This is helpful particularly this month because fear that has been held inside peoples' bodies for eons is finally coming to the surface to be released. There has not been this much collective fear at the surface at one time since September 11, 2001. As political, economic, and other institutional systems are crumbling, it becomes more apparent than ever that we are all in this together. The systems are crumbling so that better ones can arise.
This much change at one time can be frightening. It serves to have the physical comfort of proximity to one another. Isolation feeds fear. Counteract fear by being physically close. You do not have to think about it, you do not have to figure it out; all you have to do is slide over on the couch and get closer to people. It will benefit you in ways you cannot imagine. Physical connection enables you to help reweave the web of humanity based on love rather than on fear.
In addition regarding your bodies, you might find a tendency to overeat this month. If this concerns you, sleeping or hugging will counteract the tendency to overeat. You might crave food, but what you are really craving is connection. Seek connection during this month; reach out to your neighbors and friends.
There is an entirely new economic system coming that will not be based on institutionalized rules for exchange, but on a whole series of infinite individual agreements on exchange that are collectively reflected in the value of currency. In recent history, the value of currency has been predetermined by economic institutions; what a dollar is worth, what a plate of food is worth, what a car is worth - each of these things have been predetermined by an institutional system based on how the institution can benefit. The shift toward the new economy will mean that we as individuals or as individual businesses or groups will agree together on what makes sense for any given exchange situation. Through your individual agreements, a universal value emerges. This universal value will shift constantly, not based on tweaking by institutions, but based on your continued agreements occurring on an individual level. Institutions will not decide how value changes, but will instead work to constantly reflect how value changes based on the exchanges we work out as individuals across the globe. The details of this are not yet completely foreseeable, because we are creating the new system together. We will continue to have currencies which will have a collectively agreed upon value, but that value will be based on how each of us is negotiating value on an everyday basis with those around us, rather than on a predetermined value given by economic institutions.
Dabble with this in November whenever possible, when you have something to exchange, such as offering a service for a payment or you are offering a payment for a service, sit down with the person you are exchanging with and discuss what would benefit each of you most. Perhaps one of you needs a certain thing at this time or perhaps one of you would rather be paid later or sooner, it will serve you to sit down and negotiate what you need and how each of your needs can be met. This is going to take an enormous amount of practice on the part of individuals. Most of us do not value ourselves and our time as highly as we are worth, and sell ourselves short. We must learn how to stop doing that. Some of us have a lot of guilt or embarrassment about exchange or value when we communicate it to others. We must be able to do this with honesty and joy, and it is possible!
What we want changes all the time, so we can continually ask ourseves what we want to do next. At times, we might not find someone who has the right fit for us and can exchange what we want, so decide to compromise or wait and try later. There is no harm or shame in it; it is just the way that people naturally negotiate exchange -- it is the way each of us gets what we want. It would serve you to play around with this a little bit. There are usually countless possible solutions, and part of the fun is thinking creatively together.
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