When a Talk about Nothing Turns into Something …
Sometimes, when you are talking about the most important things like global connection, gratitude, living in a time of great transition, challenges, the necessary changes we will need to make in our lives, and acceleration, the universe helps us out a little ….
It’s Friday, July 5th, and time for our weekly HumansFirst zoom. Our host Kevin Monroe didn’t plan a topic this week because he assumed we would be a small group due to the holiday weekend … (and especially since those Canadians he invited didn’t show up!).
So we started the call as usual, talking about what we’re grateful for and somehow we started talking about how technology has enabled us to have these amazing global connections and conversations.
We were talking about the special nature of the people in all these new groups being formed. How everyone is being very collaborative and generous. Giving rather than taking.
@Erik was in a restaurant with a sign behind him that said, ‘Changing the way people see other people’, which our host Kevin really loved. Probably because it’s such a perfect foundation for the unexpected conversation we are having about the power of global connection. Clearly, we need to stop looking at each other as individuals with all our differences and human flaws, and rather focus on the perfection of the whole. The perfection of us coming together as parts that are rediscovering how beautifully we fit together.
We were talking about this being a great period of transition and Kevin Monroe said, “Raise your hand if you are in serious reboot mode,” — and I think all 17 of us raised our hands.
Arlene Mendoza was talking about leaving the corporate world after 13 years of a very successful career, because she wasn’t aligned with the values of the company anymore. And after taking time off to travel the world, she has found a beautiful little neighborhood with a real community.
Someone said — “you had to suppress part of you that didn’t suit the company, and then one day you decide — I don’t want to live like that — we all took dramatic action to do something different.”
Garry Turner — “We were taught to live in a box”, and this actually starts at home.
@Erik — “I’m realizing my humanness — now people are embracing the fact that we’re human. And it’s messy, etc. but now there’s a lot more clarity that we can just work with that.”
Kevin Monroe —”I’ve been doing the same kind of work for 12 years — but the last six months it’s accelerated. Acceleration of significant connection — and doing work that’s having greater impact and more meaning.”
Dawna Jones — “The movements started in 2012— it has really accelerated in the last year — but not just the groups — now we’re seeing the groups connecting with one another — agile is taking off now … to be on the map we need to be a part of this new world.” (I loved that part!)
Dawna said she is involved in many groups that are working on figuring out how to deal with the world’s challenges, and I suggested that we can fix all our problems with meaningful human connection.
Mike Vacanti — “We need to learn how to help each other be strong and help each other with our initiatives. We need to connect with openness and willingness — to give, not take, bring more and have that sharing mentality — abundance, not scarcity. That has amazing possibility — that frame of mind really makes me smile … I see it happening and it gives me hope — some great change that can happen …”
Garry Turner wrote in the chat — collaboration over competition.
And then I spoke about how different competition will be in the next stage. When we stop competing for egoistic reasons but rather to help lift each other, we will discover a very powerful new source of fuel.
Kevin Monroe said a friend of his called this, making a “mad dash to the back of the line.”
I think my colleague, director Joseph Ohayon, explained it well when he said that we’ve entered the last stretch of “egoistic socioeconomics”. Then he goes on to talk about the new source of fulfillment that will follow it — discovering our positive human connection:
And we can always count on @Tetyana to say something deeply profound about how we can strengthen connection through culture and spirituality. (Spaciba!)
Dawna Jones — “The conversations about tapping the big challenges we have today — assumes there are no cultural differences. They are focused on making countries conform to these policies— and ignoring the fact that the countries have fundamental different needs.”
Then Dawna really blew me away when she said, “This is the kind of connection you build new worlds out of,” referring to our HumansFirst weekly hangout.
She even suggested creating a multiplayer game for countries to collaborate on issues. “The global community is so far removed — so locked into linear thinking. There is so much opportunity to really instigate something bigger.”
Kevin Monroe —”The abundance loop. Scarcity vs. abundance — so much at stake.”
@Dawna — “Yearning and anxiety — people know they’re supposed to be doing something. How can you use anxiety to navigate, to make a different decision and choice?”
Cyndee Lake — “Compassion — if we can’t extend it to ourselves … it’s difficult to extend it to others. We need to go inward, to give outward.”
@Kay — “We’re talking about the challenges of change … everything is accelerating —but it’s important to also slow down — if there is too much acceleration we shut down. We need to think about that balance in this world of rapid change. In this side gig world — everyone feels they need to be on all the time.”
Kevin Monroe — “Gratitude is key to the shift — comes out of abundance. Gratitude — you are worthy and have much to be grateful for ….So many people in today’s world don’t feel loved — don’t feel like they belong.”
That is such a key point that Kevin made toward the end of the call, the need to reconnect everyone.
So what are the key takeaways? What can we do to fix the world’s greatest challenges?
#1 — Let’s start speaking about what our better world will be like. Let’s have more of these important discussions. We are the only part of nature that can discuss and plan for a better future.
#2 — The power of global connection. Since we are all parts of the perfect whole, having these discussions with diverse groups of people will help us find the best solutions.
#3 — Let’s be grateful to be living in an exciting time of such great transition. Right now things may be a bit foggy like any time of great transition, but it will clear up soon.
#4 — We will need to make big changes in our lives, and especially how we treat one another. There is no way around it. At this stage in our development we will need to come out of our comfort zone to collaborate on our better future, together. We will gradually move away from focusing on our egoistic needs, and discover that the greatest fulfillment will come from our concern for others. Rather than trampling one another to reach the top of the pyramid, we will invest our energy in lifting each other up.
#5 — We can accelerate time. Clearly at this point, change is inevitable. We know we have to make some significant changes, so why not get started right now? Why put off for tomorrow, what we can start today? Once we start focusing on our future stage and how to get there faster, we will actually experience a sensation of being above time — and suddenly, we will feel a great sensation of peace washing over us (like Cyndee Lake spoke about with her story.)
#6 — What needs to change in our world? Nothing much except our intention (thanks Erik). We can do all the same things and enjoy life, but do it knowing we need to be concerned for the whole.
Why? Because we are living in an interdependent world, so we need to condition ourselves to love and care for others as we do for ourselves. Even if we do this artificially at first, habit will eventually become second nature.
“A prosocial resurgence combined with UBI has the power to make a significant gear shift in society. In order for that to happen, human relations, usually viewed as a byproduct of people’s professions and education, now need to be placed at the center of our attention. The motivation to contribute to society would need to change, from a monetary motivation to a purely prosocial, pro-connective motivation: one where we would regularly vitalize each other with examples of how we rise above our egoistic tendencies, thinking about, connecting to and benefiting other members of society. This would serve as a source of constant motivation, encouragement and ultimately, pave the way to a society of united, happy and confident individuals.” Michael Laitman
