Earth Day

Dear Friends,Earth Day, for those of you who might not be aware, is Thursday, April 22nd. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Earth Day gives us an extraordinary opportunity to reflect on how we can all come together and build a sustainable world.I will be blogging as part of the Earth Day network and encourage each of you to hit the Earth Day Network site and see how you can participate in this wonderful celebration as well - http://www.earthday.net/ .I have recently been in contact with Chevy and Jayni Chase and have become a proud supporter of the newly founded Green Community Schools program – I note in this newsletter later how much my 7th grade teacher meant in my life and I think it's vital that we enable and empower our youth to have the best schools possible with which to dream their lives.I hope that you will visit the site - http://www.GREENCommunitySchools.org and join their Facebook page -http://www.facebook.com/GREENCommunitySchools and follow them on Twitter -http://www.twitter.com/ourGREENschools .In my books, "The World Is As You Dream It" and "Shapeshifting" as well as "Hoodwinked," I detail my own journey of dreaming and believing in more than what the modern media tell us is true.While we face a multitude of obstacles with the economic downturn: ongoing wars, job losses and environmental crisis, I prefer to have hope.I feel incredibly optimistic when I hold my grandson in my arms. Holding him reminds me of the power of dreams and children. As infants we enjoy an intimacy with everything around us; tiny stones, butterflies, flowers, birds, animals (both stuffed and real). We live in a world of beauty and imagination. Ecstasy comes easily. We feel at one with nature and the realm of dreams. As adults we mistakenly begin to put this type of knowing behind us.The Native North American shaman, John Fire Lame Deer, writes in his book, Lame Deer, Sioux Medicine Man (London Quartet, 1980, p.157) , "They have forgotten the secret knowledge of their dreams. They don't use knowledge the spirit has put into every one of them; they are not even aware of this, and so they stumble along blindly on the road to nowhere – a paved highway which they themselves bulldoze and make smooth so that they can get faster to the big, empty hole which they'll find at the end, waiting to swallow them up."As my seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Simpson, told me so many years ago, "Dreams do come true, you know." She was referring to day time "dreams", our conscious aspirations, as well as the night-time ones.The secret knowledge described by Lame Deer is no secret to most of the people we erroneously refer to as "primitive." Throughout the world, these people understand the power of dreams. When we honor our dreams we empower ourselves. In all the places I've traveled -- Asia, Europe, Himalayas, South and Central America -- in the company of so many indigenous teachers/dreamers, I have learned the power of dreams. These guides have taught me that all power, dreams, energy, balance, and health originate in the Earth. If we are to survive as a species we must set as our highest priority the preservation of Earth herself.As you know I founded the organization Dream Change – http://www.dreamchange.org , a world wide grass roots movement of people from diverse cultures and backgrounds that is dedicated to shifting consciousness and promoting sustainable lifestyles for the individual and the global community. The objective of inspiring earth-honoring changes in consciousness is accomplished through programs that educate and foster environmental and social balance. DC was originated to encourage new ways of living.With Dream Change's Director and my co-workshop facilitator Llyn Roberts, I've taken groups of people to many different places and been blessed at every turn in living my dreams while fully awake. Every culture on this planet believes in the incredible wisdom of dreams or comes from a heritage that once believed in this. Dreaming -- setting our positive intents -- and then taking actions to materialize them are the most powerful things we do in life.Individual dreams affect the courses of our lives; collective dreams determine the futures of civilizations.I'm determined to spend the rest of my life dreaming and working toward a just, sustainable and peaceful world for my grandson. I believe we can restore rainforests, polluted lakes, promote sustainable energy, and help the world's starving people feed themselves.The choice does not lie with our political leadership, no matter what the party.The choice and dream is ours to create and we are up to the challenge. Llyn Roberts SHAMANIC REIKI (O Books), along with my latest book, HOODWINKED (Random House), is available through all the stores.You can also order our books through your favorite Internet shop – although if you go throughhttp://www.dreamchange.org , a % of the sale price will be contributed to the nonprofit I founded nearly 20 years ago.Please share this email with all your lists and please follow me on Twitter - @economic_hitman .I'm also looking forward to seeing you at one of the many upcoming speaking events. The list for all events can be found on my website – https://johnperkins.org , as well as on my Facebook Fan Page – John Perkins Author .Many thanks and blessings,John Perkins