The Obama Effect: A New Dawn

“All around us, Washington is glowing, not just from the flood lights and flash bulbs of thousands of people already here to watch history, but seemingly lit from within.”––Anderson Cooper reporting on the Inauguration of President Barack Obama, on CNN

There’s was a lot that moved me as I watched history being made this week.

There was President Obama himself, of course. The way he sat on the podium looking upwards in silent contemplation as Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman and two others played a beautiful arrangement of “’Tis a gift to be simple.”

And then the way he looked at his wife, Michele, as they danced their first dance together at the Neighborhood Ball. A total heart melter. (How Beyoncé held it together while singing the most sublime rendition of “At Last,” I don’t know).

There was the swell of millions gathered on the Mall to witness this remarkable moment. The gasping sight of millions of flags fluttering all at the same time.

And the news commentators from the major networks, equally dazzled, who were saying things like…

• “It reaches you down deep down in your soul.”

• “I’ve never seen anything close to what I’m experiencing.”

• “There is an ebullience, a happiness, an enthusiasm, and a joy that is really extraordinary and I think transcends anything I’ve ever seen on one of these Inauguration days.”

• “The reaction from around the world is similarly awestruck…Look at this amazing picture in Nairobi, Kenya. Look at the celebration…unbelievable!”

• “The positive energy just lingers here on the Mall.”

And then those who experienced the palpable presence of their ancestors, like Tanya Lee Lewis, wife of movie director Spike Lee: “They walked along with us as we were walking in. I swear I felt their presence.”…And, of course, Abraham Lincoln himself, overseeing the whole thing from his marble perch.

There was Oprah’s panel of guests the day after, eloquent and heartfelt as they shared…

• “The light of the new age is here…For me it’s empowerment. He’s [Obama] saying ‘you matter; you are involved, this is your universe, this is your world.’…I feel I have walked into a new age. I feel like I’ve walked into a new time. –-Forest Whitaker
• “All the little things add up to the big thing.”––Jon Bon Jovi
• “Not only does he hear us but he feels us. When I hear Barack Obama, he talks to my soul.”––Gayle King
• “I am still vibrating…I’m still trying to take it all in.”––Oprah

Perhaps it was Oprah’s guest Doris Kearns Goodwin, notable historian and best-selling author of the book Team of Rivals who, who best summed it up for me:

“It makes you bigger to live in this time…We have lifted some of those weights today…When the magic of leadership reaches down to peoples’ definition of themselves; I think that’s extraordinary.”

Could it be….that, just maybe…our world is WAKING UP…even just a wee little bit? Could it be that we’re ready to bust free of old beliefs, realizing that living small is unsupportable? Is it true that “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”?

Yes I believe we’ve crossed a threshold into something totally new to the human race. I believe we are now realizing our true nature. It is us, and the time is now. It is time to carry our truth brightly. To live BIG. To fully embody what I call Your Spacious Self.

Yes, that is what this week has been about for me.

How was it for you?