Inspired by President Obama's Inaugural Address?
I was so inspired by President Obama's speech that I wanted to share my last article in the Huffington Post. I hope you enjoy!
We are at the dawn of a new era. A dear friend of mine put it beautifully when he said “the past has relinquished its hold on our future”.
So what are we going to do now? What am I going to do? What are you going to do? The time for hopelessness and helplessness is over. The future depends on us – me, you, all of us working together to transform our civilization from the painful, unnatural, conflict-filled, destructive world it has been for centuries into the hopeful, inclusive, loving sustainable, flourishing civilization it can be. It is time for us to put our highest aspirations to work to co-create a brave new world. We are the pioneers, explorers, and the inventors of our time. Our journey is like no others before us for there are no blueprints, maps, or precedents for us to follow. There are no experts, no great leaders, no hero’s to save us – there is just us! The old days of looking for someone outside ourselves to save us is over. It is time for us to look within to discover and unleash our individual and collective power to co-create a beautiful world.
Are we capable of this daunting task - yes we are great enough, we are smart enough! Reflect on a time that time in your life when you felt free, you felt loved; when your spirit soared and your joy overflowed. Remember that moment when your creativity ran wild and you were filled with bountiful hopes and dreams for your future. It may have been a moment in your youth when you felt anything is possible. It may have been that day, that moment when you fell in love. It maybe that magical day that you just took a walk in the park and flirted with butterflies. I believe these joyful, wondrous moments are divine insights giving us a glance at our potential.
Do we have the courage to dream, imagine, and envision a brave new world? If we tap into our highest aspirations of the world we want to live in – what would it look and feel like? When I pose these questions people often get overwhelmed – changing the world is a daunting task. But what if we did what the late, great tennis player Arthur Ash called upon us to do – Start where you are!
If we ask ourselves - What is my greatest, grandest vision for my life? What would my ideal world look and feel like?
• For my family?
• For my community?
• For the organization I belong to?
• How would I be using my talents and gifts?
What is the one action, the most powerful thing I can do today, the first day of the new world, to advance my vision of my ideal world for the benefit everyone I care about.
Our opportunities today are endless. How amazing would it be if we could see our dreams as possibilities and our possibilities as pathways to creating our brave new wonderful world? It is time to revisit our definition of success. If we asked ourselves “What matters to me most in life and designed our lives from that perspective – what would our lives become? David Cooperrider, the co-founder of Appreciative Inquiry asked me a very interesting question – What would you dare to try if you new you would succeed? – Fascinating question.
A friend, Debra Jones, told me a wonderful story about letting go of our fears. It is attributed to a Hoopoe Indian elder. The Hoopoes and many indigenous peoples across the globe have “tribal stories” and metaphors to help explain our times, This elder called it “The Quickening,” referring to the phenomenal pace and depth of change we are all experiencing as we journey into the new world. The metaphor this Hoopoe elder used is a river moving swiftly down a mountain. We are swept up in the current. Many of us panic and try to hold on to the side of the bank, but by holding on we are bruised and battered by the current and debris in the river. However, when we learn to let go and move with the natural flow of the river, we float buoyantly along, discovering new and wonderful sights, sounds and experiences. Our vision and values becomes our guide to an otherwise uncharted frontier: They show us the way of the future.
Our greatest obstacle lies within us. When we find the courage to overcome our fears and envision a positive future, we will liberate ourselves to soar. We have been taught to doubt and limit ourselves and to question the potential of others. We give the cynics and the pessimist of our world too much of a platform, to tear down our hopes and dreams.
There will always be cynics and pessimist. The danger comes when cynicism becomes the norm. In recent years our societies have come very close to that collective consciousness. Pessimism is the greatest obstacle to creating our dreams. It is often clothed in what people call “realistic” or “practical”. Have you ever had a great idea you were excited about and when you shared it with a friend, a “boss” or a family member, they burst your enthusiasm with a series of: “Yeah Buts”- “Yeah but your dream is too big”, “Yeah but, where are you going to get the resources “or “Yeah but will they let you… By the time they finish with their “yeah butts” you are filled with doubts, your energy has waned and you feel defeated. It is important to dream big and it is equally important to surround oneself with people who will support your dreams no matter how big you dream or how often you change your dreams.
Remember this powerful quote by Helen Keller, a blind, deaf, author, teacher and self proclaimed political activist:
“Believe, no pessimist ever discovered the secrets
of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land,
or opened a new heaven to the human spirit”.
Overcoming obstacles is a part of the process of achieving our dreams - it is a critical part. The greater our purpose the greater our apprehension – that is exactly when we know we are dreaming big, bold and audacious enough. Fears will always raise its ugly head; our job is to wrestle them to the ground, moment by moment. Once we realize that the obstacles, setbacks and false starts are all a part of the journey, we can approach our dreams without fear, shame or guilt. When we learn a new sport, a new dance, or rehearse a play, we rarely get it right the first time. We know it is a learning process so keep tying until we get it right. How we feel about our “failures” is what really matters. Although society has conditioned us to fear only the individual can free oneself from fear.
The good news is there are a growing number of people around the world viewing the world this way. A shift in consciousness is rippling across our world is creating new visions and new archetypes of how we can live, learn and prosper together. This culture of hope and courage is most evident in our young people. They are fundamentally different than past generations. Technology has given them access to a plethora of information, the opportunity to learn and grow unfiltered and unencumbered by gatekeepers and boundaries and the ability to connect and communicate numerous times a day with people all over the world. They understand the power of connections and we see them connecting with likeminded people to make change happen. They are not seeking or following the norm, they are creating it. They share a “can do” attitude and are not afraid to take risk. Most important they are hopeful.
I use to think that the issues in our world are of such enormous magnitude that only the most optimistic and visionary people could even dream of tackling them. Issues like grinding poverty, hate, prejudice, environmental degradation, and pervasive conflicts. But the “pockets of hope” that I have witnessed and written about around the world has taught me a great deal about what is possible. One young man in a Puerto Rico community in a Chicago community expressed his view of the future.
“There are all of these pockets of hope
developing all over the world. Pretty soon
there will be so many pockets of hope,
that there will no longer be pockets –
it will just be”
Our time requires we find the courage to authentically align our actions with our highest aspirations for living a loving, healthy, happy, successful, prosperous, joy-filled life. It is time we come together and use our collective strengths, perspectives, talents and experiences to create the world we all desire.
I heard a fable that tells the story about a time when the survivors of the great flood came together and made a plan to renew civilization. They decided to separate into four groups and set out in four directions to rediscover the world. The goal was for each group to bring their rich discoveries back for the benefit of all. One group went east, another west, one group went north and the other south. The group that traveled north learned to be highly efficient, organized, highly analytical and conservative -the practical side of life. They developed the skills and perspectives they needed to navigate through their bitter cold environment and limited resources. Those who went east discovered the challenges and beauty of the dramatic topography, from the enormous mountain ranges to the vast deserts in the east. They learned to work in sync with the ominous topography that overshadowed them, which invoked the mystical side of life. The group that went west faced seemingly endless bodies of water. They learned courage, perseverance and independence for they had to navigate through the unpredictable oceans with no assurance they would find land on the other side. The group that went south developed the art of celebration, dance and song. Family and community became the center of their life. Theirs was a world of vast resources, beauty and warmth. All of these discoveries, perspectives and skills were gifts that could have benefited everyone when they reunited - But something went horribly wrong.
As time went by, each group forgot that their mission was to explore their part of the world to bring their beautiful discoveries and the learning’s back for the good of the whole community. Each group began to form their separate culture and norms. Soon their norms became their beliefs, and their beliefs became their truth. They began to judge the other groups, and soon their judgments turned into hate and hate solidified their separation from one another. Eventually they began to venture out into the other groups territories. They fought and killed one another for their version of the truth; each group believing their truth was the truth. The community mission was long forgotten and prejudice, war and conflict became the way of life.
We have spent thousands of years learning to separate ourselves from one another and from our planet. We are only now beginning to understand that we are deeply and inextricably connected, interdependent and part of a greater whole. I am beginning to understand that the way out of my problems is the same way out of yours. I was talking with my dear friend Peter Senge and he made a statement that rings true “start anywhere and you will end up everywhere” - everything and everyone is connected ion a deep level. The ripple effect our actions: how we treat people; our economic decisions; how we use energy; what we spew into the air and water; are more visible, occurs quicker, and a has greater impact than ever before. What happens in Newtown, Syria, Darfur, Gaza, Iran, Afghanistan, London, Paris, Mumbai, Ecuador, Detroit, and Rio de Janeiro or anywhere in our world fundamentally affects all of us.
"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us the universe, apart limited in time and space.
He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings
as something separated from the rest,
a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting
us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison
by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all
living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
Albert Einstein
The good news is hope is starting to emerge, person by person, in groups and communities around the world. A shift in consciousness is rippling across our world is creating new visions and new archetypes of how we can live, learn and prosper together. People are seeking new ways to transform their lives, organizations, communities and their circumstances. Unprecedented numbers of people are banning together to address the global issues and problems of people in communities they have never met; issues like poverty, AIDS, clean water, education. The number of social networking groups connecting, learning and working together with likeminded people to solve problems is amazing. The rapidly evolving social networking internet technology has become a powerful tool for social, environmental and political transformation and it is unstoppable!
This rapidly emerging mindset is rooted in transcendent positive values that most people treasure regardless of culture, religion or circumstance - love, compassion, a sense of belonging, and the opportunity to learn and grow. People want to contribute their gifts towards things that matter to them most. There seems to be a growing desire or need to live with a sense of purpose - to be deliberate about how we shape and live in our communities, our organizations and our institutions. We are developing whole new level of accountability and responsibility.
I often think of the caterpillar as it goes through its journey to become a butterfly. It serves as a great metaphor for me during these times. Just before it goes through its transformation, the butterfly lives in a cocoon of it’s own making. Things must look very scary to the caterpillar – its world is dark and deteriorating; messy, ugly and even life threatening. Soon, however, a butterfly emerges, but only when the caterpillar has learned to release itself from what it was, so it can become what it is meant to be next. When I walk through a field in the springtime I see some cocoons that have turned into coffins, but mostly I see beautiful, colorful graceful butterflies enjoying the next stage of their lives.
My dream is that we discover and release the phenomenal power that lies within each of us, and individually and collectively and that we put that creative energy to work to develop the lives, families, organizations, communities and the world we desire. If we choose to use this powerful force, we can make expediential leaps in the development of humankind. We can become powerful DreamMakers and leave a beautiful legacy for our children, our grandchildren and future generations. This is our right and our responsibility. It is the beginning of a brand new world – What it becomes is up to us.
We are at the dawn of a new era. A dear friend of mine put it beautifully when he said “the past has relinquished its hold on our future”.
So what are we going to do now? What am I going to do? What are you going to do? The time for hopelessness and helplessness is over. The future depends on us – me, you, all of us working together to transform our civilization from the painful, unnatural, conflict-filled, destructive world it has been for centuries into the hopeful, inclusive, loving sustainable, flourishing civilization it can be. It is time for us to put our highest aspirations to work to co-create a brave new world. We are the pioneers, explorers, and the inventors of our time. Our journey is like no others before us for there are no blueprints, maps, or precedents for us to follow. There are no experts, no great leaders, no hero’s to save us – there is just us! The old days of looking for someone outside ourselves to save us is over. It is time for us to look within to discover and unleash our individual and collective power to co-create a beautiful world.
Are we capable of this daunting task - yes we are great enough, we are smart enough! Reflect on a time that time in your life when you felt free, you felt loved; when your spirit soared and your joy overflowed. Remember that moment when your creativity ran wild and you were filled with bountiful hopes and dreams for your future. It may have been a moment in your youth when you felt anything is possible. It may have been that day, that moment when you fell in love. It maybe that magical day that you just took a walk in the park and flirted with butterflies. I believe these joyful, wondrous moments are divine insights giving us a glance at our potential.
Do we have the courage to dream, imagine, and envision a brave new world? If we tap into our highest aspirations of the world we want to live in – what would it look and feel like? When I pose these questions people often get overwhelmed – changing the world is a daunting task. But what if we did what the late, great tennis player Arthur Ash called upon us to do – Start where you are!
If we ask ourselves - What is my greatest, grandest vision for my life? What would my ideal world look and feel like?
• For my family?
• For my community?
• For the organization I belong to?
• How would I be using my talents and gifts?
What is the one action, the most powerful thing I can do today, the first day of the new world, to advance my vision of my ideal world for the benefit everyone I care about.
Our opportunities today are endless. How amazing would it be if we could see our dreams as possibilities and our possibilities as pathways to creating our brave new wonderful world? It is time to revisit our definition of success. If we asked ourselves “What matters to me most in life and designed our lives from that perspective – what would our lives become? David Cooperrider, the co-founder of Appreciative Inquiry asked me a very interesting question – What would you dare to try if you new you would succeed? – Fascinating question.
A friend, Debra Jones, told me a wonderful story about letting go of our fears. It is attributed to a Hoopoe Indian elder. The Hoopoes and many indigenous peoples across the globe have “tribal stories” and metaphors to help explain our times, This elder called it “The Quickening,” referring to the phenomenal pace and depth of change we are all experiencing as we journey into the new world. The metaphor this Hoopoe elder used is a river moving swiftly down a mountain. We are swept up in the current. Many of us panic and try to hold on to the side of the bank, but by holding on we are bruised and battered by the current and debris in the river. However, when we learn to let go and move with the natural flow of the river, we float buoyantly along, discovering new and wonderful sights, sounds and experiences. Our vision and values becomes our guide to an otherwise uncharted frontier: They show us the way of the future.
Our greatest obstacle lies within us. When we find the courage to overcome our fears and envision a positive future, we will liberate ourselves to soar. We have been taught to doubt and limit ourselves and to question the potential of others. We give the cynics and the pessimist of our world too much of a platform, to tear down our hopes and dreams.
There will always be cynics and pessimist. The danger comes when cynicism becomes the norm. In recent years our societies have come very close to that collective consciousness. Pessimism is the greatest obstacle to creating our dreams. It is often clothed in what people call “realistic” or “practical”. Have you ever had a great idea you were excited about and when you shared it with a friend, a “boss” or a family member, they burst your enthusiasm with a series of: “Yeah Buts”- “Yeah but your dream is too big”, “Yeah but, where are you going to get the resources “or “Yeah but will they let you… By the time they finish with their “yeah butts” you are filled with doubts, your energy has waned and you feel defeated. It is important to dream big and it is equally important to surround oneself with people who will support your dreams no matter how big you dream or how often you change your dreams.
Remember this powerful quote by Helen Keller, a blind, deaf, author, teacher and self proclaimed political activist:
“Believe, no pessimist ever discovered the secrets
of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land,
or opened a new heaven to the human spirit”.
Overcoming obstacles is a part of the process of achieving our dreams - it is a critical part. The greater our purpose the greater our apprehension – that is exactly when we know we are dreaming big, bold and audacious enough. Fears will always raise its ugly head; our job is to wrestle them to the ground, moment by moment. Once we realize that the obstacles, setbacks and false starts are all a part of the journey, we can approach our dreams without fear, shame or guilt. When we learn a new sport, a new dance, or rehearse a play, we rarely get it right the first time. We know it is a learning process so keep tying until we get it right. How we feel about our “failures” is what really matters. Although society has conditioned us to fear only the individual can free oneself from fear.
The good news is there are a growing number of people around the world viewing the world this way. A shift in consciousness is rippling across our world is creating new visions and new archetypes of how we can live, learn and prosper together. This culture of hope and courage is most evident in our young people. They are fundamentally different than past generations. Technology has given them access to a plethora of information, the opportunity to learn and grow unfiltered and unencumbered by gatekeepers and boundaries and the ability to connect and communicate numerous times a day with people all over the world. They understand the power of connections and we see them connecting with likeminded people to make change happen. They are not seeking or following the norm, they are creating it. They share a “can do” attitude and are not afraid to take risk. Most important they are hopeful.
I use to think that the issues in our world are of such enormous magnitude that only the most optimistic and visionary people could even dream of tackling them. Issues like grinding poverty, hate, prejudice, environmental degradation, and pervasive conflicts. But the “pockets of hope” that I have witnessed and written about around the world has taught me a great deal about what is possible. One young man in a Puerto Rico community in a Chicago community expressed his view of the future.
“There are all of these pockets of hope
developing all over the world. Pretty soon
there will be so many pockets of hope,
that there will no longer be pockets –
it will just be”
Our time requires we find the courage to authentically align our actions with our highest aspirations for living a loving, healthy, happy, successful, prosperous, joy-filled life. It is time we come together and use our collective strengths, perspectives, talents and experiences to create the world we all desire.
I heard a fable that tells the story about a time when the survivors of the great flood came together and made a plan to renew civilization. They decided to separate into four groups and set out in four directions to rediscover the world. The goal was for each group to bring their rich discoveries back for the benefit of all. One group went east, another west, one group went north and the other south. The group that traveled north learned to be highly efficient, organized, highly analytical and conservative -the practical side of life. They developed the skills and perspectives they needed to navigate through their bitter cold environment and limited resources. Those who went east discovered the challenges and beauty of the dramatic topography, from the enormous mountain ranges to the vast deserts in the east. They learned to work in sync with the ominous topography that overshadowed them, which invoked the mystical side of life. The group that went west faced seemingly endless bodies of water. They learned courage, perseverance and independence for they had to navigate through the unpredictable oceans with no assurance they would find land on the other side. The group that went south developed the art of celebration, dance and song. Family and community became the center of their life. Theirs was a world of vast resources, beauty and warmth. All of these discoveries, perspectives and skills were gifts that could have benefited everyone when they reunited - But something went horribly wrong.
As time went by, each group forgot that their mission was to explore their part of the world to bring their beautiful discoveries and the learning’s back for the good of the whole community. Each group began to form their separate culture and norms. Soon their norms became their beliefs, and their beliefs became their truth. They began to judge the other groups, and soon their judgments turned into hate and hate solidified their separation from one another. Eventually they began to venture out into the other groups territories. They fought and killed one another for their version of the truth; each group believing their truth was the truth. The community mission was long forgotten and prejudice, war and conflict became the way of life.
We have spent thousands of years learning to separate ourselves from one another and from our planet. We are only now beginning to understand that we are deeply and inextricably connected, interdependent and part of a greater whole. I am beginning to understand that the way out of my problems is the same way out of yours. I was talking with my dear friend Peter Senge and he made a statement that rings true “start anywhere and you will end up everywhere” - everything and everyone is connected ion a deep level. The ripple effect our actions: how we treat people; our economic decisions; how we use energy; what we spew into the air and water; are more visible, occurs quicker, and a has greater impact than ever before. What happens in Newtown, Syria, Darfur, Gaza, Iran, Afghanistan, London, Paris, Mumbai, Ecuador, Detroit, and Rio de Janeiro or anywhere in our world fundamentally affects all of us.
"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us the universe, apart limited in time and space.
He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings
as something separated from the rest,
a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting
us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison
by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all
living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
Albert Einstein
The good news is hope is starting to emerge, person by person, in groups and communities around the world. A shift in consciousness is rippling across our world is creating new visions and new archetypes of how we can live, learn and prosper together. People are seeking new ways to transform their lives, organizations, communities and their circumstances. Unprecedented numbers of people are banning together to address the global issues and problems of people in communities they have never met; issues like poverty, AIDS, clean water, education. The number of social networking groups connecting, learning and working together with likeminded people to solve problems is amazing. The rapidly evolving social networking internet technology has become a powerful tool for social, environmental and political transformation and it is unstoppable!
This rapidly emerging mindset is rooted in transcendent positive values that most people treasure regardless of culture, religion or circumstance - love, compassion, a sense of belonging, and the opportunity to learn and grow. People want to contribute their gifts towards things that matter to them most. There seems to be a growing desire or need to live with a sense of purpose - to be deliberate about how we shape and live in our communities, our organizations and our institutions. We are developing whole new level of accountability and responsibility.
I often think of the caterpillar as it goes through its journey to become a butterfly. It serves as a great metaphor for me during these times. Just before it goes through its transformation, the butterfly lives in a cocoon of it’s own making. Things must look very scary to the caterpillar – its world is dark and deteriorating; messy, ugly and even life threatening. Soon, however, a butterfly emerges, but only when the caterpillar has learned to release itself from what it was, so it can become what it is meant to be next. When I walk through a field in the springtime I see some cocoons that have turned into coffins, but mostly I see beautiful, colorful graceful butterflies enjoying the next stage of their lives.
My dream is that we discover and release the phenomenal power that lies within each of us, and individually and collectively and that we put that creative energy to work to develop the lives, families, organizations, communities and the world we desire. If we choose to use this powerful force, we can make expediential leaps in the development of humankind. We can become powerful DreamMakers and leave a beautiful legacy for our children, our grandchildren and future generations. This is our right and our responsibility. It is the beginning of a brand new world – What it becomes is up to us.
May all your beautiful hopes and
dreams come true in 2013!!!
Michele
Michele Hunt
Transformation Catalyst
Email: michelemariehunt@gmail.com
Website: www.dreammakers.org
Author of DreamMakers: Putting Vision & Values To
Work,
Foreword by Max De Pree, Former Chairman and CEO of
Herman Miller, Inc. and DreamMakers: Agentes de Transformação - published by
QualityMark, Brazil
Comments
Post a Comment