Wednesday 11/9 2016. Weird fact: 9/11 but the other way around, and fifteen years later. We were painting the mural at Point B, in the South of Myanmar. With three out of the seven members of this team being American, we closely followed the election process. More and more states became red, a sign that Trump had won most votes. Disbelief. Meanwhile we kept working on the mural, under every circumstance we want to keep creating a world we love. Halfway through the day it became clear, Trump would be the 45th president of the Unites States. This cannot be true? But it was true.

For us it was difficult to understand that there were so many people who had voted fór hate. Fear instead of love, separation instead of unity, moving away from each other instead of becoming more close. We discussed the fact that in our network we hardly know anyone who would vote for Trump. And maybe this is part of the problem, we don’t know each other’s reality, we are too much surrounded by people who have the same thoughts, opinions and visions. It makes sense that we become close with likeminded people, but this also seems to become problematic.   

After the Brexit, this was the second slap in the face this year. For a moment it made us paralyzed: What will happen when Trump really brings into practice his bizarre ideas and plans? What new alliances will be formed, and what would the consequences of that be? How come that people such as Trump, Putin, Wilders and so many others have become so powerful?

Soon after this, we felt that actually this could be thé wake-up call the world has been waiting for. In order to change, things need to shift dramatically first. Not always easy or painless, but necessarily. Prince Ea created a spot-on video, in which he compares the situation the world is in with the human body. The human body that is sick:

The body knows that you won’t change, if you are comfortable,
And that is why it has created a mechanism called sickness.
If we didn’t get sick, we would die without warning.

When you get sick, your body is sending you a message saying:
‘Hey! Pay attention to me! Care about me!’
What I’m trying to say is: Our country is sick.
And this election is just another symptom.

We can take the pills they’re going to give us to suppress the symptoms,
Or we can get to the root and start paying attention to our body,
That we call ‘humanity’.

What if this election is a blessing in disguise?
Why?
Because people don’t change, when they’re comfortable,
If we got a candidate that made us comfortable it wouldn’t have made us change,
It would have made us sleep.

And it is time to wake up, from some very deep illusions,
We can’t truly change the world, by changing the rulers,
Thank God, for Donald Trump, to wake us up,
Because these pains are here to evolve us to our next level of consciousness,
And as the world gets closer and closer to where it can cure everything,
And simultaneously closer and close to where it can kill everything,
The choice is ours: Fear or love…
It is up to each of us, to be the change we want to see in the world. 

For a second the election results left us paralyzed, but soon after we realized this is a huge call-to-action. We can already see how people are speaking up against the hate, in Facebook groups such as Pantsuit Nation, people from different ethnicities, backgrounds and sexual orientations share stories about love, tolerance and respect. Stories that were not shared before. Now they are, because they’re called to be heard. This gives hope, hope for a countermovement that will show that love is so much stronger than hate.

Before we started this trip people asked us whether or not we had done research about the question if there is a need for more trust, because this is one of the things Follow your Sun is about. We ended up not doing a rigorous research ourselves, but nevertheless the findings seem to be out in the open because of what is happening in the world. Open a random newspaper, read the first article you come across, and it’s very likely that the article indicates that there is an enormous need  of more trust – in ourselves and in each other. We strongly feel we don’t have to convince anyone about this, that the world is ‘sick’ is extremely clear to us. We already knew this, which is why we started Follow your Sun in the first place: because we feel that changes are needed, that we need to start living in a different way and that we need to start taking more care of ourselves and of each other. We feel that what happens in the world at the moment, is nothing but a confirmation that Follow your Sun is meaningful and needed.

We need to go back to where it all starts: with ourselves. We don’t have any time to lose, the time is now! We believe we will ‘get better’ – sticking to the metaphor of sickness in the human body – when we start living from the gifts we all have to contribute to this world, when we dare to use our unique talents for ourselves  and for the world around us. This means we might need to step out of our comfort zone, and that we need to start making other choices. This isn’t always easy, but it is needed in order to create the conscious generation Prince Ea is also referring to.

We wrote our Sun philosophy as an answer to the question how to practically realize this conscious generation. A conscious generation is build from individuals who consciously decide to follow their Sun. Following your Sun, for us, us about integrating four aspects: 1) Your natural talents, 2) Your passions and/or interests 3) Your core values 4) Your vision for your world

  1. When you are aware of your unique talents, and when you see these talents as gifts for yourself and for the world, you develop trust in your own being.
  2. Then it remains important to keep paying attention to your own Sun: hence, a Sun can’t shine without being charged with energy. By creating time for your passions and interests, things that give you energy, you will automatically also lighten up your environment (surroundings kan waarschijnlijk ook, maar doet bij mij iets ‘fysieker’ aan?)!
  3. Your core values are extremely important. When you need to make a choice or decision, it is helpful to think of the things that are important to you and that you want more of in your life. For example, are endurance or self-reliance essential to your life, or cant you live without freedom or adventure? When you closely listen to these values and when you try to align your choices according to these, you stay true to the most authentic version of yourself.
  4. The last aspect of your Sun includes your vision for the world: according to you, what needs the world more of? By looking at yourself as an active creator of your own world, you develop trust in this world and in the future, because you are the one designing it. Instead of giving someone such as Trump the power over creating our lives, we choose to take control again ourselves. In that way the big and crazy world, becomes our world again. We reclaim ownership and use our unique talents to create the world we love.

Integrating these four aspects will lead to discovering your Sun: the life you want to live. In the Asian culture we are surrounded by at the moment, the collective is extremely important. This means that when we explain locals about Follow your Sun, it makes sense that they sometimes have difficulties understanding why we focus so much on the individual. Nevertheless, we believe that the collective, our society will benefit if we start from the most authentic version of ourselves. Things that make you, you. That is your power. Don’t play small, but allow yourself to be that shining Sun that we all are, deep inside. Allow yourself to practice your unique talents and to share those with the world. You will notice that you won’t only lighten up your own world, but also the world of those around you. By being the most authentic version of yourself you will inspire others to do the same. This energy, such as any other energy like anger or hate, is contagious. So be aware of the energy you send into this world. Every thought you have, every choice you make will have its influence on your surroundings. When you realize everything is interconnected, and that you have an unique and important role to play in this whole, the magic of life can unfold: following your Sun. An endless and interesting journey. We are building a conscious generation as an answer to these complex and ever changing times, and we are excited to invite you to join this movement.

Trump and all others, thanks for this wake-up call! Tomorrow we’ll fly home after eleven wonderful and inspiring weeks in which we learned so much. We cant wait to continue following our Sun, and hopefully we are able to help you in doing the same. Remember: the time is now!

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