Don’t miss the courageous and inspiring video: Voices of Egypt at the end.
When I started this site, I was interested in helping myself and others see the positive shifts that are happening around us even as things can seem bleak and hopeless at times. But something is changing in my view of this lately. I seem to be a recognizing that We Are the Change that is happening. That each of us – you and me- are the creators of a shift, wherever we are. This is the awakening that I am catching sight of, in me and around me. I am not saying that you should change your life. On the contrary. Rather be aware of what is bubbling up in you and don’t push it away. These stories are not a demand to change rather an inspiration to notice your own process.
Here are some signs of the new awareness. The first thing that I notice is the way we are connecting things that haven’t been connected before. In the case of myself when I choose to cover the three aspects of evolution ( human, organizational and planetary) I discovered that I must combine a head and heart approach. To report on human transformation I come into spiritual territory with topics like compassion and love. To follow organizational evolution I need to look at new economic systems and new initiatives which led me to follow twitter! In covering planetary transformation there is a real mixture from new sustainable initiatives and materials, to poetry, beauty, cell biology, ecological patterns and deep connections. These movements between heart and mind might confuse people as we are not used to seeing heart and mind so connected. I didn’t realize I would be doing that but it is emerging as I work.
It is interesting that this is happening elsewhere on the web. The latest link I added here is called Care2, a popular site with over 18 thousand members. It organizes its postings into topics that run the gamut from food recipes to enlightenment. The boundaries are shifting – or perhaps melting. When boundaries merge on a popular website people that don’t normally mix come together . Diversity is created. Diversity is the fodder of creativity. We are searching for ways to transcend differences and use diversity to create a higher goal. What is fascinating is to discover that a new scientific paper has revealed that diversity in our ecosystem can be a key to buffering climate change. This also matches what cell biologist Bruce Lipton says – that the largest evolutionary leap will be to put things together that are usually separated, like science and spirituality. An example of this is a wonderful video showing the similarities between Quantum Physics and Buddhist Principles.
We are starting to get the fact that what is done one place has an effect other places. What we eat affects our health, how we grow food affects our earth and on and on – multiple interacting consequences and impacts. The new consciousness may be that we are recognizing these connections and impacts which up to now have been relatively ignored or even noticed. We are used to focusing on each individual thing as a separate action, separate decision, separate group. The relationships between things are coming to light now in many ways.
From these recognitions come actions – by groups and individuals. Movements start. One movement coming into view is the desire for simplicity. A new aspect of this is a growing movement toward tiny houses – perhaps encouraged by the financial and energy crisis. And some individuals are making drastic changes like selling everything and moving to a simple life far from modern conveniences – like Jane Brunette, a very popular blogger from the UK who recently wrote a courageous article about her choice. And then there is a young man Jon Jandai in Thailand who did a similar thing. After pursuing “success” in Bangkok for several years, Jo dropped out of University to return to his former village life. “Life is easy… Why do we have to make it so difficult?” he says in a recent Tedx talk.
Both of these moves seem to come from a feeling that our deeper self is not nourished in contemporary life. A kind of weariness toward too much materialism gradually sets in. A recent article in the Norwegian news stated that the average Norwegian child has 500 toys. This stirs an uncomfortable feeling of – why are we doing that?? The article notices that the toys are made of plastic, which is of course derived from our precious dwindling oil resources. It asks: Is this the best use of these resources? And what happens to children’s fantasy and imagination? These kind of questions make us more aware and changes our actions.
How can we become creators of a shift, wherever we are? I am reminded of a story I heard long ago from Native American Traditions. It says that every person has a purpose in life, that is two-fold. First to discover their gifts given from the Great Spirit. And second to use those gifts for the benefit of the Tribe.Finding one’s gifts is not easy but passion and a feeling of really wanting to do something is a good clue to follow.
We don’t set out to save the
World: we set out to wonder how
Other people are doing and to
Reflect on how our actions affect
other people’s hearts.
Pema Chödrön
Here are two stories closer to home: one using Circle Practice Approach talked about in the Key Books section and the other using Relationship System Approach mentioned under Key Links.
The first story comes from a friend of mine from the UK, Linda Joy Mitchell, who together with a few friends who are all trained in Circle Practice decided to set up a circle in the middle of a shopping center. People gathered and were brought into a dialog about Real Democracy, right there standing with their shopping bags in their hands. The results were quite interesting. You can see the pictures, reactions and conclusions here.(pdf file-short delay in download). How did they manage to do this? Because they are passionate about getting people to listen to each other and to reflect. They used their gifts by gathering their courage and creativity to do an experiment – right where they live.
The second story comes from an Egyptian Management Consultant, Hesham El-Gamal, who belongs to our Global Resource group for Relationship System Coaching. He brought together a group of diverse factions in Egypt in hopes that they could find common ground. Why did Hesham do this? Because he is passionate about a United Egypt and he has gifts and tools to do something about this. He used his courage, commitment and creativity to try something new. You can read about this story, in the newspaper article: “What happens when you put an Islamist, a Socialist, a Christian, and a Liberal in an Egyptian garden?” by Alfred DePew . I have included his interesting and instructive video below for easy access.
It seems to me that if we wait for the world to agree on how to approach the world’s problems not much will happen. But if we take our gifts, whatever they are and try to figure out how to use them for the greater good, wherever we are, I believe a great Shift will happen!
To get the subtitles in English click on the ‘cc’ button on the little tab at lower part to the right on the video window.
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