"I feel the earth move under my feet. I feel the sky tumbling down..."
Carole King

MARI SELBY: On August 23rd we discovered we are not in Kansas anymore. We were not lost, however we wondered what had gone astray when the ground moved under our feet. Earthquakes happened in California but not here.

A tumbler happened in the Shenandoah Valley over a decade ago and one almost a century before that event. On the 23rd Virginia experienced a 5.9 earthquake. Then 4 days later Hurricane Irene came knocking on our door. These events were a mere echo of the great quakes in Japan and New Zealand, yet they are part of a pattern that shows us that our Earth is changing. [i (Since I am not a geologist, I can't say why this is happening.) We can debate these changes, buy into fear the monger's predictions, feel like victims, or accept that our world is changing.

How do we remain in integrity when we are challenged by the earth's changes or with our personal life changing events?

Integrity within a hurricane, that's just so much chaos. How can we possibly find integrity during such a massive act of nature? Confronted with such power we can immediately feel powerless. When we feel a critical level of powerlessness, primal fear is usually awakened. Yet, during these acts of nature, we still have choices how we react to them. We can choose to see the earth's hurricanes and earthquakes as an opportunity to further our alignment to our soul's integrity. Whether they are our own co-created natural disasters or the earth's powerful forces, we can react out of fear or we can affirm our soul's higher purpose. We can take the easy route and get mad at the earth when a tree falls down on our house during an earthquake or hurricane, or we can respect the awesome power of the earth. We can isolate just as we do in our daily lives, literally quake alone in fear, or we can reach out and recognize that these disasters bring opportunities for community.

The earth's power can bring us closer in our humanity.

When the earthquake hit I was talking to a client on the phone. She lives in southern California and is acquainted with tumblers. First I heard a deep rumbling of our brick house shaking on its foundations, then noticed the hardwood floor waving, and the windows rattling. I said to my client, "I think we are having an earthquake." And she replied, "I definitely think you are having an earthquake! I can hear everything rattling!" She promptly went to Twitter to see if there was an earthquake in Virginia and within seconds found 25 tweets about the earthquake here, including one from ABC news. Being able to discover the earthquake via Twitter is another way the earth is changing.

While the earth was rolling and immediately afterwards I kept asking myself, "Am I scared, or excited? How am I supposed to feel?" I checked in and found my integrity saying, "I'm not scared and l have to finish my call with my client". The floor, house and roof remained intact. I don't know what my choice might have been if there was more chaos, and more damage.

After we finished talking I immediately checked in with my social network and found that the epicenter was 60 miles away. I felt a little shaken up, but mostly excited. I am a passionate lover of the earth, and feeling Her power and majesty in an earthquake was unbelievably exciting. My integrity led me to the threads on Facebook and Twitter that were emphasizing respect and prayers for the earth. I was humbled by the power I felt move through me. I was awed by the immediate outpouring of connection and union with people I have met 'in the flesh' and those that I know only virtually.

In Japan after the earthquake, humanities integrity shone and was focused on helping everyone, making sure the water that was available was shared, that people were not alone, and were able to sleep as warmly as possible. Although the earthquake here in Virginia was a mini version, people still reached out to each other with the awareness that we had just had a close brush with an awesome power. Cell phones were buzzing, and social networks were alive with people checking on each other, and with speculations and information about what really had happened.

Then only four days later Irene made landfall in North Carolina and quickly made her way north and west. Again the social networks were buzzing with people connecting with each other, praying for those in Irene's path, and confirming our union with each other. I am sure there were many people who felt like victims of both the earthquake and the hurricane. I am equally sure my integrity led me to like-minded people who were determined to affirm their soul's alignment. Saturday, August 27th my choice was to appreciate the beauty of the wind, clouds, and rain-squalls that came our way from Irene.

We have no clue how we will react if we are confronted with quakes like Japan, or hurricanes like Katrina. We can only know that the more we exercise choices on a daily basis that lead us to affirm our soul alignment, the more we will know integrity. We can create plans that will take care of our loved ones, ourselves, and our vital possessions. However there is no warning when the earth quakes. The best we can do is accept that the earth is changing and become the calm eye of the storm, rather than the storm itself! Then we can choose how we want to live. Do we choose to live in fear or faith that we are being the best self we can be? By being that best self we will have more choices when unexpected and powerful changes come from the earth or appear in our personal lives.

This week's exercise: Where were you when the earth changes like those in Virginia and North Carolina hit? How did you exercise your integrity during these events? Write down your choices, or share them with friends. When you share your experience, strength, and hope, your choices build community, and grow your own integrity. As the earth changes we will need every bit of that strength, hope, community and integrity.

* I offer a nod and thank you to Dorothy and company, in The Wizard of Oz. Their chant of "Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!" while they kept moving along the yellow brick road, inspires us to face our fears and keep on singing and skipping our way through life.