Seeking advice! Living in a red-blue stage community.

[Salcedoop]

Hello all! 

I hope you are well. I've been subscribed to Actualized.org for a few months now and I can say it's truly been life changing. I'll try to be very careful to not misuse this platform as a means to justify some of my life's "misfortunes", please excuse me if I do! I think it's easy to fall into that trap, in my case. Anyway, I say this because I'm going to make the claim that I currently live in a low-conscious community, where folks generally lack self awareness. The evidence I base this claim on is in the way life is generally conducted, some examples are: women's/men's roles are fixed, there is a strong expectation for how a lady should speak, act, dress and behave, whereas men get very different treatment and rights; certain topics are taboo such as self-awareness, money, lifestyle, class segregation, cast systems, racism, corruption inside institutions, individual initiative for improvement. Now, one can discuss this topic if making reference to some society/community outside this one, but when wanting to "critique" the dynamics of this town,  it is considered scandalous... although I guess it's always the case with sensitive subjects. 

To wrap it up, I would like to lay out ideas as to how to improve my community's life quality by taking action.  To give a starting point, I live in Mexico, specifically in Guanajuato. Just for background context I'll mention that Catholicisim is heavily practiced here (I myself do not practice it, though I was raised Catholic up to the age of twelve). Within this community there is a notorious class segregation though not widely acknowledged, scores in basic education are low compared to other parts in the country. There is also a trace of cast-like system going on, therefore not much class-mobility goes on; I've found this particular topic to be very sensitive, almost censored. The town is heavily set up for tourism, which I've concluded from personal observation, affects locals' lifestyle in a negative way, for example, excess drinking, littering and other forms of pollution, most noticeably, sound pollution. All of this is not openly addressed by the people nor office.  

Given the above, I have enlisted specific questions which I am very interested in reading opinions for. Though any related comment is more than welcome! 

What strategies to address class segregation do you know? 

What are some ways to detect cast-like systems?

How would you go about raising awareness for racism, bullying or whatever other sort of bigory goes on.  

Does anyone think tourism should be conducted mindfully, that is, with tact, respect and with certain rules for non-disturbance, sort of like the way one respects conservation parks? 

Thank you all, kindest regards!  

[Leo Gura]

Why are you so focused on changing the community?

Sounds like you should first work on developing yourself, then maybe you can worry about uplifting others.

Or is this part of your life purpose to help your community?

Changing other people who do not want to change is usually a waste of time.

With that said, you could for example, run seminars or workshops that teach Spiral Dynamics or meditation as a way of raising the level of consciousness of your community. And it will work if you do it right.

[Solace]

Until you change yourself, you will keep attracting people who have a similar vibration to you. I would say for myself I live in a place with mainly blue and orange people, and I always thought of moving somewhere like a monastery where people are compassionate and kind all the time. But I ended up changing myself and I now view these people with such indescribable love because I know that deep down they are one with me  And I feel it in every moment a deep love that really comes out of nowhere. I say this to inspire you to change the way you look at yourself. You have the potential to be in any situation and feel blissed out and in love with life. 

It all starts with anchoring more love into eventually every moment of your day by remaining heart open, and knowing that everything that arises is here to help you see the unconditional love inside of you, that's always been there waiting for you. So even a person who shouts at you is here to help you grow and evolve, even a bird landing next to you is showing something, guiding you back to your heart.

So I say, develop yourself, and bring more love into your life everyday and see what happens. Find some teachers online who fill you up with love, or even some meditations to help anchor love. 

Everything is perfect. Everyone is perfect. Realise that the man in the mirror is perfect. And by your example, you will make a big difference in that community. They likely won't be at a high enough consciousness to accept you ideas of equality and the dropping of the cultures deepest beliefs, as well as the roles of sexes but your example will give them the opportunity to see what their potential could be.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Solace

[Salcedoop]

@Leo Gura 
To answer the first question: hey, somebody's gotta get the ball rolling around here!
I kid, I've asked myself that question many times and eventually realized that I had two options, leaving which hasn't worked out for reasons I'm not going into now, and inciting change in the community: I don't want to live in a macho-drunk-town anymore. 

I'm well aware that to bring change and uplift others, one must do the work themselves, for sure! I am working on my self development as much as I can with the resources I can get my hands on, youtube channels, downloadable books. I've been having issues with the feeling of isolation lately, it's a real tough-y. 

To answer the second question, yes, part of my purpose is contribution to the community for sure. I want to make it clear that people DO want change, I've lost count of the times I've heard someone say "things need to change around here" or imply it. The amount of complaint going on is unbelievable; also, excessive drinking and restlessness are both signs of out-of-the-charts stress levels. 

It's quite difficult to go about the topic in a direct way, I would absolutely love to teach anyone interested about spiral dynamics, but I don't think that would be well received at all, it's going to be cuckoo talk at this point, especially coming from a young señorita ; )

My approach is offering art lessons and interacting with children... basically they are the only sensible creatures left around here. 

Thank you so much for the response and advice by the way! Your videos are a real treasure. 

[Salcedoop]

@Solace

Thank you so much for your encouraging words, that last paragraph made my day. 

Sharing thoughts and ideas with others helps me know where I'm at because the more I move into uncharted territories, the harder it is to keep going, to keep motivation high and be loyal to the cause.

On a different note, I know what you're talking about when you mention "attracting similar vibrations". I have experienced this for sure. What has been a recurring theme when inhabiting such a transient town -because of the heavy tourism- is the coming and going of the likeminded people. It's difficult to build on that, to build relationships, ideas, enterprises, whatever else.  

At times the feeling of stagnation is so strong, it's painful, that's why I posted specific questions, to actually do something. Growing myself as to set an example is part of that something for sure! 

 

 

[Solace]

@Salcedoop I’m super glad I could help you  

Yes, all change starts from within.

All the best.