It’s Time to Check In

Dear Canadians, 

 

Life can be an overwhelming loop of daily events. Throughout the day we are exhausted by the daily to-do’s, the pressures from work, the back and forth of family shuttling, the real life drama’s, the need for self care, fun nights out, critical moments and emergencies and the boring and never ending list of chores. Life is full. 

 

When we are stretched to capacity we begin to “check out” at the slightest hint of down time. We scroll through our phones, we buy things on the internet, we sit through a series on Netflix. Our society, is full of delightful distractions that help us check out.

 

The more we participate in a system that encourages us “checking out,” the more we lose ourselves. We lose critical thinking and self awareness. What I would love to offer is, it’s time to check in. It’s time to build our skills of awareness, self reflection and critical thinking. Each and every time we choose to check out, instead of check in, we lose our ability to reason, think for ourselves and strengthen our connection to intuition and inquiry. 

 

Checking in, involves somatic and mindfulness practices like yoga, breathwork or movement. It means listening to all sides of a conversation without holding firm to opinion like a lifeline. It means tapping into your intuition, reading through provoking material, asking powerful questions of self, other and systems, and taking a stand for the things that matter to you…. instead of checking out.

 

There is a system being intentionally built, and it demands your attention. The system is one of complacency, distraction, and control. We are no longer the sovereign, mysterious and unknowable humans that we think we are. Our daily actions are predictable and easily influenced. Our habits and trajectories are hackable. 

 

For years now, we have been building a system that encourages you to conform. You are encouraged to stop thinking for yourself. You are shamed into taking sides of arguments that you don’t even agree with. You are being taught that in order to be a good person, you must conform to the group. Gone are the days of open dialogue, round table discussions, public debates and dissenting opinions. 

 

The proof is in the censorship. Censorship of media, censorship of experts, dissenting opinions, and the ways in which we are being publicly and aggressively divided.

 

Previous generations fought with their lives to bring us freedom of choice, freedom of speech and the constitutional rights we enjoy today. They lost their lives for these causes. They fought against those who tried to tell them to think a certain way, or be a certain way because deep down in their guts they knew that there was another way. A better way. They fought for women’s rights, the right to vote, the right to go to school, the right to medical freedom, the right to work, the right to free speech, the right to be free from harm. 

 

We are taking this for granted because of our desire to be comfortable and for our desire for things to go back to “normal.” 

 

It is comfortable checking out.

It is comfortable to not cause conflict or ripples. 

It is comfortable when you don’t take a stand.

It is comfortable when you let someone tell you what’s best for you and just go along with it (against your better judgment).

 

We are building a dangerous system that encourages you 

• Not to think
• Not to argue
• Not to ask questions
• And to SHAME others when they do the opposite 

 

I don’t think we realize how much of our opinions actually belong to us. We are oblivious and complacent to the censorship of the dissenting opinion, what’s happening in the world around us, the corruption in our systems, human history and the new divisiveness that has been created to pit one against the other. 

 

We have created a system where:

 

• Experts in their field are censored and smeared
• Presidents are removed from communication channels 
• Neutral words are banned from social channels
• People are forced to choose between putting food on the table or bodily autonomy
• Your basic rights and freedoms are contingent on your compliance 
• A system where all it takes is someone to say “discredited” to wipe out, real and true information

 

Now, if you have complied, you may not see any issues with this. Most of us (myself included) complied for the greater good. We complied to help other people. We also complied believing that now, we will get our freedom back.

 

But to that, I have to ask this one very important question…..

 

Why would you get it back?

 

Once you have relented medical freedom, free speech and bodily autonomy what else will be expected of you? Once a system has been built that controls the world with a click of a button, a system where your daily movements, opinions, and ability to do basic activities like leave your house, go to work or put a post on social media, is here and working, without a fight from the greater public….

 

Why would that ever go away?

 

This is not an article of conspiracies but an article of what has already happened.

 

These systems are getting tighter.

The restrictions…. worse, not better. 

The complacency of the public…. worse, not better. 

The censorship of ALL dissenting opinion….worse….not better.

The bottom up methods of control where you police your peers, where businesses enforce the governmental laws, where you create the cage in which you live in……worse.

 

Perhaps the system, as we have created it, was meant for good.

Perhaps the reason for the system is good… right now. And the people who control it are good too. Maybe there really IS only misinformation and those with dissenting opinions are wrong.

 

But what if they’re not? What if those in charge have ulterior motives and those who speak out really do have something important to say? Or what about the next issue, the next argument…. do you really want a system where you are not allowed to choose what side of the argument you want to be on? You can only be told what to believe. You are no longer in charge of your body. You are no longer in charge of your kids.

 

What happens too, when there’s a new government, a new face in charge, of a system that keeps you silent, stuck and checked out….with a simple click of a button.

 

Where do we go from here? 

 

It’s time to ask questions. 

It’s time to check in with intuition. 

It’s time to invite in, dissenting opinions and open dialogue. 

It’s time to demand transparency and honesty in the media.

It’s time to demand the removal of censorship and encourage free speech and thought. 

It’s time for transparency, in regards to conflicts of interest and corruption.

It’s time to stop and listen to your peers with compassion, not disdain. 

It’s time to pause, look around, and see the dangers of what a system like this could lead to. 

 

The bigger picture? It demands your attention.

 

With grace and grit,

Karla Treadway