Like so many of you in our community… I am shocked-horrified-deeply sad-angry-ALL-the-feels over the invasion of Ukraine. 

I’ve also been having a lot of conversations…  

Convos with the team and our clients, of course.  And also on Facebook. 

Over the weekend in a Facebook conversation, I promised to share some avenues for providing meaningful support to peeps in the Ukraine, beyond energy work. 

I’ve got that for ya here in this post. 

First, though… a word about help, and an invitation regarding how to approach the Desire to help. 

Over the weekend, a few people asked me what I thought they could do.    

I also saw quite a few “I truly don’t know what to do… who can help me figure out how to help Ukraine?” posts in my feed. 

I saw a lot of “love and light” style posts and responses. 

“It’s going to take more than energy work,” I said.  (Which really WAS meant to be a bit of a pattern interrupt, because I know the Leaders I saw asking that question already know darn well that it takes more than energy work.) 

And a few peeps asked, “What do YOU suggest, then, Elizabeth?” 

 To which I respond…   

 Actually… what do YOU suggest? 

 What do YOU think? 

 What are YOU gonna come up with to “do” or not do? 

 I’m not trying to be snarky, or flippant.  I’m inviting you to notice the energy behind these questions, and the subtle transference of ownership (and therefore Creative Power). 

I don’t know everything.  It’s okay to NOT know.  Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and you ask the internet when you want to know something. 

AND… 9 times out of 10 that I’ve seen this question posed in the past 4 days… that HASN’T been the energy behind the question.   

As we all know, energy MATTERS.     

It’s only human to feel shocked and powerless at times like this (especially in the immediate first days after something goes down, like this past Friday and Saturday). 

My invitation?   

Be kind to yourself, move through the feels… and stay firmly in your Creative Power seat. 

Watch for those micro-leaks.  It’s times like this that Leaders are the MOST invited to be in our leadership energy. 

Every single person reading this is already capable of coming up with 100 meaningful ways to help… if you CHOOSE to.  Or at least start with frickin’ Google. 🙂 

Whatever you decide to do, please have it come from YOU.  It’s an important act of Transformational Leadership. 

We were MADE for times like these, yeah? 

Here are some ideas…. 

1. WHAT do you know?  A.k.a – take a hot minute and educate yourself on the conflict.

First, seek to understand. 

Before “doing” anything, get up to speed on what’s going on, why, and the historic context of it all.  There are tons of great videos on YouTube breaking it all down, PLUS, like, you know, articles on every major news outlet. 

On that note, also take some time to find Ukrainian sources of news, both independent and not.  New Voice of Ukraine, Kyiv Independent, etc. 

Also – if your bullshit meter hasn’t already been fully turned on over the past 2 years, now’s the time. 

2. WHO do you know?

You are surrounded by people who are either Ukrainian, Russian, or have deep connections to Ukraine and Russia.  Your clients are also surrounded by people who are either Ukrainian, Russian, or have deep connections to Ukraine and Russia.   

Reach out to them.  Check in with them.  Let them know you’re thinking of them and you love them (if that’s true / appropriate).   

Don’t know anyone?  Actually, you do.  These are large countries and your social media reach is vast, even if you’ve been telling yourself for the past ten years that you have an audience size of, like, 10 people or something. 

You can never go wrong with a check-in post.  “How’s everyone doing in light of world events?”  I wrote two of them yesterday. 

3. Assume you know nothing. Get curious.  Listen.

Conflicts like this affect people in many ways … and you have NO IDEA how it might impact someone you care about. 

One of our clients confessed that she was “hyper-sensitive to being tone deaf.”  Pretty sure we can all relate.   

The solution to “tone deaf”-ness, “what do I do” and soooo much more…. is to get curious, listen and assume you know NOTHING.   

For example, yesterday I learned that someone I have the pleasure of connecting with every day took TWO study abroad trips when she was in her teens and early 20s: one to Ukraine, one to Russia.  Her undergrad degree was in All Things Eastern Europe.  She’s around my age, so we remember the days of Regean and Gorbachev and the Berlin wall coming down.  

To say that this is affecting her strongly is an understatement. 

I had NO idea.    

Be curious.  Listen.  Assume you know nothing. 

(This, by the way, is a best practice for things like coaching to epic results, leading your team, figuring out why your offer doesn’t work, troubleshooting a br0ked email server, marital bliss, and about two thousand parenting challenges I could name.) 

4. Find more people to love up.

You are surrounded by people who could benefit from your loving up right now.   

Don’t know anybody?  Please stop telling yourself that.  Then look up Ukrainians in your town (like where they hang out, for example), Ukrainian businesses in your town, Ukrainian businesses online. 

Here’s one possibility: Etsy.  Go to Etsy, look up businesses based in Ukraine, and buy something.  Search “Ukraine” on Etsy and buy something.  Then reach out to the sellers and ask them how they’re doing. 

(Gotta credit my old friend Kelly-Sue for that one.  Brilliant.) 

5. Check your biases and keep up with your practices.  

Speaking specifically to white peeps, for a sec…  

One thing I’m painfully aware of – aside from the fact that, y’know, we could be staring down WW3 – is that this is a conflict between white European nations, with a bunch of other white nations circling around coming to one side or the other. 

Meanwhile, endless conflicts and suffering among Blacks, people of color, indigenous people, the list goes on… go unnoticed. 

Last month was Black History Month – did you post about that?  (Note: I didn’t.  Oof.) 

If our goal is connection, service, expansion of consciousness, inclusion, equality – all those things we SAY we want – then we’d do well to use white conflicts as an opportunity to further unpack our whiteness and become better, more inclusive human beings.

6. Donate money. 

This is an easy one.  Do your research.  If you read the Akashic Records, ask the Record Keepers to help you vet, and to show you which one is most aligned for you. 

Links to a couple of lists: 

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/ways-to-help-ukraine-conflict/ (Contains a lot more than donation lists.  Thank you, James Wells.) 

https://ukrainewar.carrd.co/  

7. Ask to be shown.

Ask to be shown what is the highest, best and most aligned way to help.  Ask to be shown who needs you.  Ask with sincerity, be ready to SEE it, and you’ll be shown.  I’ll even promise. 

8. Uplevel your Frequency.  Anchor yourself in your Divine Nature.  Take 5 minutes a day to NOTICE that your Highest Level is ALREADY turned on.

If we’re gonna talk about Frequency, and energy… it goes without saying that we get to take ACTION to uplevel ours. 

Frequency always operates on the non-physical first.  Say it is true, and on the upper planes, it is. 

Your game as a human is to anchor that Frequency IN.  And that requires action.  What energies are you activating at this time? What are you going to DO (yes…. DO), in the physical, to activate and anchor that? 

And for sure – take a hot minute or 5 every day to notice your Divine Nature and bask in it, to strengthen your connection to What Already Is. 

Now is also a great time to actively see the Divine Nature in others.  Thou Art Goddess… and so is everybody else.  Show up with them that way.  

9. Surrender to the fact that you are more powerful than you think you are.

If there’s one thing I hope this post does for you… it’s to remind you of how much agency you have. 

Humans are powerful by nature.  Period, end of. 

Personally, I feel powerless over this conflict.  I feel that we’re marching towards WW3.   I feel that it’s a continuation of warfare that has been directed at the human race by some very dark forces over the past 2 years plus. 

I feel shock and disgust and confusion and sadness for the Ukrainian people, and the Russian people too – most of whom do not support this war.  

AND yet I’m still warm and cozy and tucked out of danger… with my yarn stash and Crock-Pot tower (don’t ask!) and Wifi and bird feeders and my two best snuggle buddies at my side. 

I have a lot of power.  So do you.  So does Ukraine and Her people. 

Collectively, as Leaders… we get to feel the feels… notice how resourced we are… and snap the hell out of it. 

10. Surrender to the fact that there’s actually NOT a lot you can do.  

Times like these are great at activating our need to fix, our conditioning to DO, and our ego-driven wish to save the day. 

We are not the saviors.   We are the change agents.  We are the magicians.  And we NEVER operate in a vacuum.  We are never the ones to “do it all.” 

Transformation of ANY kind is always a team sport. 

Release the need to DO, or fix. 

Instead, ask: What’s my role?  What am I being asked?  How am I called to contribute? 

Am I ready, willing, able and committed to say YES to that? 

If so… get into action, and let it be done, done, done. 

* 

On that note, I hope this list and transmission was a service to YOU. 

Let’s keep it going.  What would you add to my list? 

What are YOU choosing to do… or NOT do? 

If you’d like, you can let me know in the comments of the original post. 

I believe that we were born to be a part of this iteration of the collective, and the work we’re all up to.  Transformational Leaders were made for THIS time, this Now Moment. 

Love & magic & cheering you on… 

Elizabeth