1st Post: “Flexing Strength with Kindness”

🎶 Zippity-doo-dog, here’s the new blog! The energetic dance in our home has some new steps today, inspiring this first We Be The Change blog post.

Mariah with Ari and Ama (in foreground)

Meet Mariah and her Four-legged Fam

Our adult daughter, Mariah is visiting with two street dogs recently adopted from Baja, Mexico. 🇲🇽 She and her pups live in a 1993 hollowed-out and

customized transport van, solarized with expert help from her dad—my husband and renewable energy pioneer, Chris.

She's vegan, and helps bring the inhumane treatment of animalsto the fore. Her passionate kindness has impacted my eating habits and altered the culinary realms of those for whom I conjure nourishing sustenance. My experiments have been known to build fortitude and character at the dinner table. Actually, they're almost always pretty darn delicious.

Hidden Strength

One of the reasons I chose to feature Mariah in this We Be The Change blog debut is that she epitomizes the cliché: never judge a book by its cover.  You’d never guess from her petite frame that she could whoop many a man in an arm wrestling match.

A while back she worked night shifts doing heavy lifting—stocking shelves in a grocery store warehouse. Though her male colleagues had biceps that dwarfed hers, they sheepishly asked if she’d work less rambunctiously; she was setting the bar too high for them.

Yep, she’s strong. Her practical workout routine includes literal dog lifting when necessary.  Ama is Mariah’s most recently adopted, yet older, dog. I’m amazed at Ama’s sweet demeanor, considering her painful ear condition from someone cropping her ears too close as a puppy.  When Ama's too tired to head to bed, Mariah skillfully gathers and lifts her floppy 60 pounds, and carries her outside to their van home. She says it's how she keeps in shape.

Her current second dog, Ari is the same height as Ama, yet half her weight. When Mariah first met Ari, she was skin and bones with a couple hundred ticks draining her lifeblood. Ari’s visible scar of abuse is the missing fur on her neck from being tied too tight and too long. Her invisible trauma scars are no doubt even more painful. She's nervous but recovering amazingly well.

Clear Boundaries

Our own bigger and furrier adopted rescue, Lilah has been accepting her four legged guests well--even when they occupy her favorite napping spots. But when Ari brought her insecure energy to me for affection, Lilah expressed her dominant displeasure to Ari in no uncertain terms. Boundaries were quickly established. Now Ari grumbles like a crotchety old woman whenever Lilah's nearby. 

With the pack hierarchy settled, I felt inspired to sneak off and unleash my inner wordsmith.

Wha-la: The Blog!

And now, my friends, you are reading the result. I hope you're feeling the love as I give you this warm, multi-creatured welcome to the We Be The Change blog! 

Feel free to visit often for real-life inspirations, meaningful connections, and soulful ponderings.  You’ll also read compelling backstories that, like Mariah’s compassion for animals, move us towards envisioning how we can step up to be the change—from the inside out.

Oh—and watch here for yummy clips and transcripts of the upcoming weekly audio podcast, We Be The Change: Conversations with Conscious Evolutionaries.  These informal interviews could whet your appetite for delicious inner conversations with your evolutionary self.

How Do YOU Flex with Kindness?

What's your version of flexing strength with kindness? Would you consider inspiring us in the comments with what that looks like--and feels like, for YOU?

A Closing Tip

Thanks for reading. And hey, if anyone looks at you funny when you sing Zippety-doo-dog 🎶, consider adding a few woofs or a long howl in appreciation for our four-legged friends. Both Mariah and I would be glad to join you.

Lilah turns to smile at the camera.