Greetings from Grass Valley my friends, 

I've been camped out on the Yuba River for the last few days, preparing to receive a group of men for some wilderness medicine circles, some sacred sweating and some cold river cleansing.

(2 spaces left if any solid gentlemen desire to enter the deep for a weekend.) 

This writing is intended to transmit a simple message I've been receiving from the medicine of the Yuba River: the way we evolve is by owning our projections. 

It is both easy to blame, and idealize. Regardless of whether we are projecting negative or positive emotion, unmet expectations of others and the world originate within personal reality frames—our internalized beliefs. 

Internalized beliefs most often rest on unchecked assumptions about the way everything supposedly operates. Where did these beliefs come from and why do we carry them? 

It's a tricky game because much of the time we have a highly elaborate system of justification for our beliefs. When things do not operate the way we believe they should, we react, supporting our self-righteousness with misappropriated 'facts.' 

It's easy to get things twisted up in knots, so the real question is: how can we be more honest with ourselves? I think the simplest answer is to recognize that we are projecting... all the time.

When we can catch ourselves in the act of projection, we create an opportunity to halt the emotional circuit which is driving us to self-justify. From there, I prefer to ask my intuition about what's real. After that, perhaps it's time to sit down and think things through, seek counsel or... let that shit go. 

Sending everybody Earth blessings, 

Jordan Mockingbird 

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