So much to say here…I’ll start and edit later.

 

The belly is the location of the 3rd chakra (this blog is from/by/about/through there). “Located in the area of the solar plexus, navel, and the digestive system, the fiery third chakra is called Manipura, the “resplendent gem.” Associated with the color yellow, this chakra is involved in self-esteem, warrior energy, and the power of transformation; it also governs digestion and metabolism. A healthy spirited third chakra helps overcome inertia and jump-starts a “get-up-and-go” attitude so it is easier to take risks, assert one’s will, and assume responsibility for one’s life. This chakra is also the location of deep belly laughter, warmth, ease, and the vitality received from performing selfless service.^[1].”(From Wikipedia)

I am drawn to the work of this chakra, now.  It’s not like one ever finishes with the first two…just last week I was slammed back into the Earth with the realization of the basic need for acceptance/oneness of all things (1st chakra) in order to build a foundation for intimate/ultimate relationships (2nd chakra) and so on.

When I read the description for the Executive Director of CPT, I said “yes” right away because the central foci of this job are things that I want to learn well (fundraising and friendraising, organizational development, and undoing oppressions).  I also saw that all of the pieces of this job require me to do my own work.  All the work I am doing externally I am also working out internally.  I seek to do this in a differentiated and sustainable way…I’m just saying that I see them as super-connected.

And, unearthing the connections of this energy center with the concepts of Hod and Netzach.  Time in the Altapurra mountains of Spain and the Mojave desert of California resurrected those resonances for me.

Also, I had an eating disorder once.  I wrote about it here, on page 20. It had a lot to do with my experience growing up Mennonite and transition from high school to an all-black women’s college, identity, the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and food politics.  I fully recovered through experiences at Mennonite World Conference and in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

The healing is happening. Coming from both the locations of the center and the margins.

If you’re hungry after this post and want to eat near la ciudad que me vio nacer you can! And you can probably talk to some people who know me from middle and high school) check out these great spots.  Many of these places weren’t around when I lived in that location, but provide some great yums upon returning home these days!

And, the food goes into my belly!

 

P.S. Here is a series of pictures that put Earth in perspective of the Observable Universe. Our location is important and very minute.

Update from 2018: This link will take you to a book about climate refugees. Where you live should not determine whether you live, and with climate change accelerating, we have even more new questions about location. Here is what the authors write:

“Global climate change and global refugee crises will soon become inextricably interlinked. A new tsunami of climate refugees flows across the earth. We are now at the moment of truth.

Climate change is with us and we need to think about the next big disturbing idea – the potentially disastrous consequences of massive numbers of environmental refugees at large on the planet. In 2020 the United Nations projects that we will have 50 million environmental refugees mostly from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. How will people be relocated and settled? Is it possible to offer environmental refugees temporary or permanent asylum? Will these refugees have any collective rights in the new areas they inhabit? And lastly, who will pay the costs of all the affected countries during the process of resettlement? Environmental refugees are a problem beyond the scope of a single country or agency.” John R. Wennersten and Denise Robbins, from the book