WHAT ARE YOUR IDEAS?

I just yesterday returned from New York City where I attended World Pulse Live and the Social Good Summit. With a full mind and a full heart, I spent the day soaking in the tub, napping and sitting in my backyard.

I had to do nothing.

Exactly the opposite of what you would "think" one would be inclined to do after being emboldened by the stories and conversation about how we can connect and make the world a better place.

But here's the funny thing: the voice that came out of the nothing-ness, quite different than the one in my head telling me to write up a nice compilation of gleanings from my trip, is urging me to put this out there right now, before I can get in my own way.

A theme that emerged in New York is that WE ARE OUR OWN SOLUTIONS. Technology is not the solution. It is the tool. As I was contemplating this yesterday, I thought,

HAS ANYONE EVER ASKED THE WOMEN THEIR IDEAS FOR CREATING SAFE, HEALTHY BIRTHS?

The way maternal mortality is addressed is about outsiders (with their own limited perspective) coming in and providing a solution (let's pay the women to deliver in hospitals, give them a phone that gives them pre-natal information, etc).

I'm not saying these "solutions" are "bad". But I'm saying this is what I know:
As a doula, I always trust in the ability and capability WITHIN the mother. I'm not a solution to a "perfect" birth, I am simply a tool that can assist a mother in accessing information AND her natural wisdom, so that SHE can be empowered and give birth in freedom.

We rely too heavily on our minds for solutions. Social activism can no longer come from that place. We have to change the paradigm to one in which our minds serve our hearts.

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOUR HEART IS SAYING. Can we use this platform, this technology to serve us in connecting what is working in maternal health, to what our hearts are telling us?

This has to go beyond complex discussion with blame and judgement for what is not working. This has to go beyond what someone else tells me I need to deliver my baby.

I am asking you to share here what you think (with your heart) would improve maternal health in your community.

Will you comment? because I think it's time to shift this paradigm from solution providers coming into your community, to YOU claiming YOUR power, collaborating with community members and social activists. TOGETHER we can co-create a world where every woman rises in birth.