Let's Shift the Consciousness of Congress

By Theresa Gasper

There came a point when I simply cared too much to remain on the sidelines.

I’m not sure how I got there, but I’m here now and I’m all in.

I try to connect the dots, to find the first one and go from there to explain how all this unfolded. It seems like every time I get back to the beginning, there’s yet one more dot to go back to. So how do I begin the story of my journey to run for U.S. Congress, especially after I’ve spent most of my adult life telling people I would never run for office?

Let’s start somewhere in the middle. During a trip to the Galapagos in 2015, I was stunned by the fact that I could step over a sea lion nursing her pup and she’d look at me with passing interest. There was no fear. You could stand eye to eye with a bird and almost imagine it inviting you up to visit its nest. I was in awe of their lack of fear toward humans. This was the way nature was meant to be.
 

Theresa in Machu Picchu, Peru.

On the same trip, we went to Peru, where our guide was forever talking about Pachamama, a word that meant nothing to me until I started taking don Oscar’s courses through the Shift Network. Now Pachamama — a goddess revered by the Indigenous people of the Andes — is an integral part of my life and spiritual practice. I came home and felt something had changed within me, but couldn’t describe it. If I had to try, I’d say it had something to do with knowing life just didn’t have to be the way I always thought it was.

It was through the Shift Network’s Shamanism Summit in 2015 that I stumbled upon John Perkins, whom I was familiar with after reading his book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, years prior. I had to find out how an economic hitman becomes a shaman, so I listened to an interview and learned about trips he was offering. I signed up for one to Guatemala in January of 2016.

After a series of guided journeys on that trip and a random conversation with a new friend while walking toward the pyramids, I realized that for years I thought I was a quitter. In a variety of areas in my life, I would find myself way out in front of the crowd, struggling to bring them along, and finally giving up because I was burned out, only to see them or someone else reap the fruits of my labor.

In my mind’s eye, I saw a train — a friend used to tell me that when the train leaves the station, there are three places you can be: onboard, on the platform waving goodbye, or throwing yourself on the tracks. This friend said that the masses will only get on board right before the train leaves the station.

Then it dawned on me, I’m the one laying the tracks. I put the tracks down so the train can ultimately leave the station on its journey. My job is to stay ahead of the train so it can always make forward progress. When I returned home I started a blog called “TG’s Train of Thought.”
 

In November, I was visiting my daughter in Colorado. While she was at work, I ventured across the street to a little business that offered reiki, tarot card readings, massage, and more. It was right after the 2016 election, and I had spent so much time trying to comfort my friends that I hadn’t had time to process the results on a personal level.

Since it was “walk-in Friday” with whatever practitioner was available I walked in and asked for a reading. The woman I saw told me she saw me in a march, leading women who were silent. I had a huge set of wings, larger than an eagle’s. I was to be the voice of all of the women behind me... and she said Rosa Parks’ name kept coming up. She said I would be protected, and that those who I expected to have my back would not, while those who I couldn’t imagine, would.
 

Our visit with the Kogis in Colombia.

In December, I traveled to Colombia on a trip led by John Perkins and Daniel Kouperman to meet with the Kogis — an Indigenous ethnic group — in their village in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range. The Kogis, who consider themselves to be the Elder Brothers, say that now is the time to meet with the younger siblings to essentially tell us to get our act together before we completely destroy Mother Earth.

While in Colombia, there was also a lot of talk about the presidential election and how it could have happened. Several people told me I should run for office. I ignored them. During one of our last ceremonies with the Kogis, I received the insight that sometimes the water would be smooth, and sometimes very rough, but I would always be protected. I realized that I had ended up doing so many things that I had said I would never do in my life, so I decided I was just going to wade out into the middle of the proverbial river, go with the flow, and see where it led me.

As we walked down the beach, I snapped a photo of the ocean, just as the water smashed against a rock — the water in the photo looked like wings. I took it as yet another sign that I was on the right path in my journey. I created a meme with the photo, using words from a course in Feminine Power taught by Elayne Doughty.
 

 
Going with the flow led me to the January Women’s March in Washington D.C., with a friend and my soon-to-be daughter-in-law. In February I was back in D.C. for Marianne Williamson’s Sister Giant Summit. In a conversation with a woman named Charlotte whom I met at lunch, I said that I would love to meet Marianne and hear the lessons she learned about her 2014 Congressional run. Charlotte told me she was there as Marianne’s guest and they had been friends for 20 years. Later that night, she introduced us. I told Marianne I was thinking of running for Congress and she said she’d do anything she could to help.

The next day I posed a question to the media panel. After Marianne wrapped up the panel, she asked me to stand up and asked if I was the same woman she met yesterday that said she was thinking of running for Congress in Ohio. When I said yes, the room of 3,000 erupted, sprung to their feet, and cheered wildly. People started coming up to me to get my card and give me theirs; one woman even handed me a check, saying she wanted to be the first person to donate to my campaign.

I looked at the check number and it was the year of my birth, 1961. A few minutes later they announced that “today would have been Rosa Parks’ 104th birthday.”

There are so many other stories and dots I could share, but this is the gist of it. Interspersed throughout were many lessons learned from don Oscar, Michael Stone, John Perkins, and so many others from The Shift Network courses I’ve taken.

I truly believe we are experiencing the rise of the Feminine energy as predicted in so many Indigenous prophecies. I tell people that since women are 51 percent of the population, we need to occupy half the seats at all levels of government — not to take over, but to restore balance… to teach the world that compromise, collaboration, and cooperation are not “four-letter words,” but rather how you get things done, and how women in particular get things done.

Nine weeks into my campaign, I struggle daily to maintain balance. I try to balance the staffers on my team who worked on recent delegate races in Virginia with local talent… to get them to work less and me to work more... to balance their procedures with my instincts.

People are tired of money in politics, but the reality is that a campaign is like a business. You need money to pay for the staff, their insurance, office space, equipment, supplies, print materials, the internet, social media and ads, etc. The process is focused on money, and my job right now is fundraising. There is a methodology to it, a standard operating procedure.

In the standard playbook, everyone is a potential donor, and I’m expected to make a hard ask for a specific amount of money on every call. Sometimes, based on the direction of the conversation or the tone of a person’s voice, my instincts tells me not to follow the playbook. The playbook is based on metrics, and my conversations are based on empathy. Sometimes the two don’t go hand and hand. I try to balance the two by shifting the focus from either/or to both/and.

Where I struggle is when there’s a focus of fear of scarcity rather than belief in abundance. Sometimes the focus is on “what happens if we don’t make our fundraising goal?” instead of trusting that if we do the right things for the right reasons, including the hard work, what we need will come to us when we need it most.

I’ve learned that anxiety and fear around money blocks the flow of abundance. I’m used to having faith that the Universe will manifest what I need, when I need it most — realizing of course that I have to put the work in. But I cannot remain true to my authentic spiritual self by dehumanizing, monetizing, or objectifying human beings as donors.

I believe my purpose, as with many of you reading this, is to assist in the universal shift in consciousness….especially in the realm of politics. Marianne’s Sister Giant conferences were deemed “the intersection of spirituality and politics.” She said many of us in the metaphysical or spiritual world think politics is too toxic and negative, but maybe that’s because we haven’t been bringing our love and light to the arena.

I have the privilege of knowing women who are running at various levels of government — city, county, state, federal — and it warms my heart whenever I’m with any of them to know that if we all get elected, we will be able to do great things for our community because we already know, love, and respect one another.

I tell people I’m running because I care too much to remain on the sidelines. I care about the health of our families, our community, our nation, and our democracy. I believe that Trump is a disruptive force that is destroying institutions and norms in order to provide the white space for us to create something new, something magical, something far better than what we have manifested for ourselves so far.

It has been suggested that I should imagine marching in a parade and draw upon that energy for strength. I imagine some people performing, some marching, some riding along in cars, and many on the sidelines cheering.

All are needed to create the celebratory energy of a parade, but my hope is that I’m showing people how to get off the sidelines and get involved. I know in my heart and soul that this path is not just about a Congressional seat, it’s about shifting the culture and energy in D.C. into one of collaboration, or what Shift co-founder Stephen Dinan would call “transpartisanship”.

It’s said that men run for power and women run to change things. There are over 400 women running just for Congress in the U.S. this year. If we get half of the seats, we can change the culture, and then we can change the system.

We will restore power to WE the PEOPLE.

If you know of an ethical, caring person of integrity running for office, you owe it to your country to do everything in your power to get her (or him) elected — with your time, talent, or treasure — even if she/he is not from your political party. If your representative isn’t running this term, or if they are in a safe seat, consider donating to races around the country.

Get involved. Pay attention. Bring your love and light to the arena. More than anything, be a voter. Make voting part of who you are. We are all in this together.
 

Theresa Gasper is a small-business owner with deep roots in the community in Dayton, Ohio. The youngest of four siblings, she’s been married for nearly 25 years to her husband, Dave; their three adult kids live around the country. Dave’s only concern about Theresa running for office is that she’ll win and he’ll have to be the primary caregiver of “her” two cats. Theresa has taken numerous online courses through The Shift Network and is a Peace Ambassador. Theresa is running for U.S. Congress in Ohio’s 10th District. Click here to visit her website and to donate to her campaign.