Did you know there exists a rivalry between Northern and Southern California?
When I went away to university, I had no clue.
'Where are you from?' people would ask excitedly on meeting me for the first time in the dorms.
'L.A. how about you?' I'd smile and answer.
Their face would fall, their energy would get cold, and they'd say something like, 'Oh, I'm from Millbrae.' Then they would turn their back and go to the next person.
It's all about water, they say in the news--there isn't enough, Southern California takes some from Northern California, and in Northern California they experience drought.
Well, that was my guess. I never really understood it. Except perhaps that Southern California didn't really know that Northern California exists...
But it was more. If you wore Dodgers clothing, that was not cool. People gave you a hard time about it. I quickly learned to dress without identification, to ignore the question by answering it with a joke, and to wear no makeup to fit in.
After we all got to know each other on an individual level, it didn't matter. But at the start, freshman year, it totally did.
One of the examples was when I was making a comment about the sky--I saw a brown inversion layer to the horizon that looked familiar. I pointed it out and said, 'Hey, look! There's SMOG!'
Nothing rankles a Northern California person more than calling smog 'smog'. The voice drops, they shake their head from side to side and say, 'No, that's HAZE.'
'What's 'haze'?' I asked, astonished. It sure looked like smog to me.
'That. That is HAZE. We don't have smog up here. It exists only down there in the south. It's different what we have. That's why it's called 'haze'.'
It didn't make any sense at all. But I tried this one out on at least five different people--my apartment manager ('It sure is smoggy today!--No! That's not smog, it's HAZE!'), friends from the city, acquaintances.
Every time, the same reaction.
In Milpitas, it is called 'Little L.A.', seriously! And that is where I would see the smog, I mean, 'haze'. But no matter what, even when I asked, very calmly, my boyfriend through college, a Northern California native, about it, he wouldn't back down from the word, 'HAZE'....so I let it go.
How does this apply to you? Well, there is a word, that describes a human trait to like things that come from the region where they are from: propinquity. It is a form of bonding. Imagine you are spending a summer learning abroad, and someone you meet is from a neighboring town back home. In Europe, the bond you share is going to be a lot closer than it would be back home. What you have in common is going to make you feel safe and let your guard down because it will be so nice to have someone like you as a friend in Europe. It happens all the time.
The 'HAZE' concept also applies to people who you 'just can't get through to'. For some reason, they have been raised not to like where you are from, to the point of mis-labeling brown pollution in the sky through denial that cannot budge.
In your service to the Light, you are going to encounter both ends of the 'propinquity spectrum'.
Outside of a football stadium, or a basketball arena, is there any purpose to 'rival' anyone else? Even within the sporting events, are the opponents that much different than you?
Divide and separate the masses.
There is only one group who benefits from that.
Love unites ALL.
Next time you encounter someone who believes in the 'party ticket', save your breath. Go deep into your aura, and know, the strongest vibration wins. Whoever is more solid in their vibration is going to have energy impact on the other--it takes a strong Positive Energy to address this one 'head on'. The more love is practiced as a way of life (Imagine Mother Teresa with a crowd), the more people are willing to drop their guard, and open to Light. Does anyone care that Mother Teresa is from Yugoslavia or Bulgaria originally? She took on the customs of her people in Calcutta, that is what she did. And the Love that allowed her to heal others was contagious, infectious, heart-warming, soothing, supporting, and comforting, was it not?
You don't have to be Mother Teresa to work for the Light.
If you have 'geographic beliefs' you might want to reflect on them.
Do they get in your way of reaching out to others?
Chances are it's the 'geographic beliefs' of OTHERS that is impacting you. This is your invitation to 'be the bigger person', and as a spiritually aware individual to put into effect, 'Love Is The Solution For Everything.' Love yourself by saving your breath from trying to change them. And Love them with your aura, with your gentleness, and with your smile.
A one-sided rivalry quickly loses its fun. The strongest vibration will influence the other.
We are Ohana on this planet. Whether we like it or not, there is no place else to hide from humanity. It is everywhere! Rise up to the situation, whenever you see a 'my neighborhood is better than yours' situation.
Is war worth it? All the disruption, all the trouble, all the loss of lives?
We all know who gains from war, financially.
And it's not us.
Smog and Haze don't have to be war, if you don't let it. Little 'wars', once resolved on a personal level, create the energy of Peace. And once people acquire a taste for peace, it spreads.
The choice is yours. It starts with you consistently taking what you choose 'to the next level' in all of your interactions with everyone you meet.
Choose Light. Although you have the freedom to choose whatever you wish, I encourage you to see the spark of Light from Creator/Source/Divine/God/Goddess, that is within you, and let it burn away the smog and the haze so the sky is blue and gorgeous in all of 'California' in your heart and the hearts that are around you in your world. Life is too short to get caught up in the 'differences'. Why not embrace them, and focus on 'what is connection' between all of us instead?
Aloha and Mahalo,
Namaste,
Reiki Doc
