Don't Hold Back

I’m sure you’ve all heard about Malala Yousufzai, the brave 14-year-old girl in Pakistan who was shot in the head by the Taliban because she refused to give in to their orders that young women should not attend school.

For the past few years, Malala had been writing a blog about the injustices she was experiencing as a girl in Pakistan, trying to awaken and inspire others to take a stand as well. Last November, her blog won her Pakistan's first National Peace Prize.

Malala is a girl with no fear, a girl who has never held back from pushing and striving and going the extra mile. She is someone who was not afraid to risk her life in order to plead for what she felt in her heart was right. Malala’s courage to take a stand and to believe that she could make a difference has touched people all over the world, and she is in our thoughts and prayers as she recovers now in a hospital in the UK.

We can learn a lot from Malala, especially as we head into the energy of the month of Scorpio, because the energy of Scorpio is an energy that can help us to manifest change.

The Bible says that Noah was considered a righteous person. But if Noah had lived at the time of Abraham, we wouldn't consider him righteous because Abraham's Light would have far outshone Noah’s. Why? Because Abraham was involved in helping people improve their lives.

Although Noah listened to the Creator, he didn't go the extra mile on behalf of others. He heard the decree that doomed the world to perish in a massive flood, but he didn't try to do anything to change the Creator’s plan. He didn't plead with the Creator not to go through with His plan, as Abraham had done when the Creator wanted to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, Noah didn't even see that he could have because Noah simply followed orders. And this is a powerful lesson for us.

This month, let's take the opportunity to see where and how we are holding back from speaking up or from making a change simply because we are afraid. Our self-examination may take us out of our comfort zone, but making a change is often not comfortable—or safe. So let’s ask ourselves what in our lives makes us consider that we are too insignificant to make a difference? What in our lives makes us fearful and holds us back from taking action? How can we expand ourselves to be greater beings of sharing? If we can ask and answer these questions and then go on to take some actions this month, then we will really be able to use this Scorpio energy to take us to our next level.

Scorpio is a time for a parting from things that are not real and a time to reunite with the strength that flows through things that are. Most importantly, Scorpio is a month in which we can choose, like Malala and like Abraham, to let go of our fears and to go the extra mile to accomplish those things that bring us closer to the energy of unity, of sharing, of human dignity—and of the spark of Light that resides within each one of us.