My condolences to the inventor of SMART goals. You know the one who recommended we rally around projects that are Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Time based?
REALISTIC!??? **** G.A.S.P.***
I can hear all you inspired changemakers shudder in unison.
If human beings only set sights on what they thought was achievable, we’d probably still be huddled around each other (cause even the concept of a fire would have been unrealistic) in a dark cave somewhere, trying to agree upon the words of kumbaya.
It is precisely the act of being completely unreasonable that makes inspired change possible.
Michael Neill (one of my all time favorite coaches) says that when we think something is “impossible” it only means that we can’t see the path from here to wherever we want to go. It doesn’t mean that it can’t be done.
INSPIRED LIFE STRATEGY!
Create your IMPOSSIBLE GOALS list.
The only criterion: The goals must be what you really really want – so unreasonable and inspiring that they send a chill down your spine.
As Michael points out, it’s an uncanny law of nature – its easier to get what we really want than what we convince ourselves we can get.
Have you ever consoled somebody with “don’t worry, everything will be alright” or “things will workout – don’t give up hope” and felt a sense of utter emptiness in your words, no matter how well intentioned they were? That you were trying to impose a fabricated, highy improbable fairy tale that nobody – not least the person in pain - was buying into?
We’ve all been there. Even looking back on our dark nights of the soul – was it really hope that kept us alive?
Hope is defined as ”the general feeling that some desire will be fulfilled; to intend with some possibility of fulfillment.”
Don’t get me wrong. In the battle between despair and hope, I will fight to death for the latter. They don’t call me an optimist for nothing. Hope is beautiful, uplifting, inspiring and a mesmerising image of what could be.
However, inherent in the definition of hope is the notion of some nebulous, unpredictable future tense. And this is what makes is so fragile – prone to crumbling easily to the vagaries of our circumstances, thoughts, moods and emotions.
Trust in the present moment on the other hand, is unwavering, unshakable. It implies a complete confidence that no matter what is going on, we have all the patience, courage, wisdom and love to meet it fully.
In Buddhist practice, this is referred to as taking refuge in life as it is, moment by moment. Confidence in the present leads to confidence in your path – wherever it may take you. Suffering dissolves, when we remember who we are – a loving awareness, an already complete presence.
Consider this Zen gem:
If you want to know the Buddhist law
Drift East, drift West
Entrusting yourself to the waves
That’s all well and good, you might say, but what does it mean in practical terms?
INSPIRED LIFE STRATEGY!
Our lack of trust in ourselves stems from a “trance of unworthiness” that we are conditioned to believe is true. Constantly sensing that “something is missing” or “not enough”, we lean into the future for something more, taking false refuge in the illusion of “perfectionism.”
Embrace the messiness of your life instead. Say yes to the mess! Take it all in.
Pick a short or long term goal you’re working on.
Make a shift from seeing it as a ”goal of aspiration” to a “goal of revelation.” In other words, as you meet the challenges it presents you with, view them as opportunities to tap into the unlimited inner wisdom you ALREADY have.
In case you’ve been living in seclusion, or just haven’t gotten around to it yet, here’s a treat for you!
Grab a cup of tea and watch The Story of Stuff – an incredibly articulate, funny, and creative description of – well – stuff! You know, everything around us. How does it get to us? What goes into making it? What is all that production and consumption doing to our planet?
Besides the content of this 20 min film, just the energy and passion of author Annie Leonard for environmental health and justice is inspiring!
MAKE AN INSPIRED CHANGE!
Share this video or host a screening with everyone you know!
Consider all the Stuff you possess. Is there anything you can part with (read: recycle) today? Whatcha waiting for?
Stressing and fussing over making lemonades is SO 20th century!
As 21st century inspired changemakers, we let go of the delusion of control, relax and practice Radical Acceptance. A completely unabashed, unapologetic (read: free of fear and guilt) surrendering to the present moment. Just as it is. Right here, right now, warts and all.
Though this concept of letting go is one of the staples in ancient eastern traditions such as Vedanta or Buddism, it’s often misinterpreted as either despondancy, despair, apathy, fatalism, inaction or some combination of these attributes. In fact, surrender is anything but!
Twentieth century mechanistic world view models (which we all grew up with and sadly have become habituated to) trap our thinking into a very linear projection of cause and effect. A leads to B leads to C. I have made this plan, and if I follow the steps, it will lead me to this specific outcome that I want.
Fortunately for us, all the events of our lives can’t be neatly mapped out on a two or even three-dimensional spreadsheet. From the rising of the sun, to the vagaries of the economic markets, to the birth of a child in a faraway land – everything we do, say, and think – everything – is intimately, intricately, and definitely connected to everything else around us. We can plan and plot till the cows come home, but A does not always lead to C.
How liberating! No, really. Can you imagine what a boring, robotic life we’d have if we knew exactly what was going to happen next or if life turned out as we had planned? Granted that also means we run into unexpected pain, but herein lies the fun!
Letting go of the blinders we’ve become so attached to opens us up to what physician and philosopher Deepak Chopra has popularised as the “field of infinite possibilites”. That gooey, delicious, quantum mechanical broth of probabilities that has the potential to make anything happen!
To get up to speed on basic quantum mechanics and how it may relate to Buddhism, watch this primer:
The catch (you knew this was coming) to accessing this infinite creativity is being OKAY with the present moment. Not fighting against it. Not sighing in despair (apathy is just another form of resistance). Just a non-judgemental observation of what is.
INSPIRED LIFE STRATEGY!
Fancy a lemonade? Just F**k it already!
Have some fun, loosen up a bit. Take a deep breath. You’r'e here. You’re alive. And that’s a miracle. Honor your intention, and look forward to the next moment of inspired action that is waiting to come your way.
Check out John Parkin’s brilliant (love, love, love it!) philosophy for living as an enlightened F**kiteer at his Tuscan retreat The Hill That Breathes.
Meet aerialist Ueli Gegenschatz . Skydiving, paragliding, BASE jumping, sky surfing, freeflying……this Swiss wingsuit donning daredevil does it all.
And how! Watch as he sets a record for the longest flight distance in a wingsuit ever, even beating the passenger aircraft that took off with him!
A pioneer extreme athlete, he is driven by more than just stunts & adrenaline – his is a desire to perfect human flight.
Along the way he has jumped off the Eiffel and Petronas towers, off a bridge from a moving truck (yes, you read that correctly) in Turkey, and the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountain peaks (watch all this on his website videos).
MAKE AN INSPIRED CHANGE!
I’ve always been fascinated by skydiving and having done it myself, I believe everyone MUST jump out of a plane at least once in their lifetime! Besides the adrenalin rush, it’s one of the most powerful lessons in mindfulness and if you’re lucky, you will get a tiny taste of eternity!
If skydiving is not your cup of tea, what is the most daring/adventurous activity you’ve always longed to do? What are you waiting for – set a date to make it happen!
Meanwhile, get your heart pumping with some more Ueli:
Sometimes its all too much! All that talk about climate change and fossil fuels; the heaps of statistics and the dismal picture of our combined shaky futures.
What’s a changemaker to do?
MAKE AN INSPIRED CHANGE!
Kick back, relax and watch this presentation by inventor Saul Griffith at the Long Now Foundation.
Its entertaining, comprehensive, and will get you from energy illiterate to expert in 90 minutes!
Imagine having a “nutrition” label on all the products you use and activities you engage in daily - from reading the New York Times to using your laptop to drinking a glass of wine.
Except instead of “fat” and “carbohydrate” percentages, it would breakdown the power being used each step of the way!
Though “energy labels” are still a few years away, genius and prolific inventor Saul Griffithhas created a method to calculate your current daily energy consumption!
WattzOn is a free online tool that you can use to calculate and keep track of the power needed to maintain your lifestyle. You can compare it to the world wide average and get tons of fun insights on how to cut back on whatever is sucking up the most energy.
The philosophy behind this shift is that no matter what source of energy we use – fossil fuel or renewable, ultimately, we cannot sustain our current levels of energy consumption. Using Watts allows a scalable calculation (yearly, monthly, daily usage) and makes personal accountability simpler.
It takes into account the Embodied Energy of a product - the total energy that went into the production, transportation and purchasing. It is also a more accurate measurement, compared to the vastly variable carbon footprint measurements available today.
MAKE AN INSPIRED CHANGE!
My average daily energy consumption is 1,496 watts!
That’s the equivalent of twenty five 60W incandescent bulbs runnning 24/7 . Or 4 liters of oil per day. Or one solar panel measuring 49.9 square meters.
The average WattzOn user clocks up 2,999 watts per day.
May be its his boyish charm and good looks. May be its his English accent. May be its the fact that in 2004 he trekked solo on foot to the North Pole, becoming the youngest explorer in history to accomplish this feat. May be its his impressive physical fitness – a keen long distance skier, ultramarathoner, mountain biker, and of course, polar explorer.
Mostly I feel connected with the intention behindBen Saunder’sexploration – to test the limits and push the boundaries of human potential.
He is also a great witness to the earth’s changing climate, blogging and reporting the evolving landscape during all of his spectacular expeditions.
His TED talk is one of my favorites and never fails to inspire!
MAKE AN INSPIRED CHANGE!
Ben overcame the challenges of being a “podgy kid at school that was always picked last for the football team” as well as polar expedition failures, not to mention the herculean task of generating funding for his exploration. He is currently training for his 2011-12 Scott Antarctic mission – the longest unsupported polar trip in history.
What are the challenges you are currently facing on your life adventure?
Take a fresh look at your situation – through Ben’s eyes. Brainstorm three ways you can push the boundaries of your perceived limits.
Though that bizarre world seems remote, its mind boggling to consider the effects of climate change on polar ice – and how intricately our futures are tied to theirs.
“In late summer 2007, reports of ice melting were coming at a frentic pace. Experts were ’stunned’ when an area of Arctic sea ice almost twice the size of Britain disappeared in a single week…..
……Nearby, the Greenland ice sheet was melting so fast that huge chunks of ice weighing several billion tons were breaking off and sliding into the sea, triggering minor earthquakes……….
…….If we cannot stop this melting of the Greenland ice sheet, sea level will eventually rise 23 feet, inundating many of the world’s coastal cities and the rice growing river deltas of Asia. It will force several hundred million people from their homes, generating an unimaginable flood of rising-sea refugees.”
Take a minute to re-read and meditate on this.
Discuss it with a friend. Read more about it. Come up with at least two ways you can cut back on your fossil fuel dependent energy consumption this week.
Hands down, one of the most inspiring and influential duo in my life have been architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart.
Creaters of the Cradle to Cradle design philosophy, they blew me away with their vision of seeing a “world ofabundance, not limits”. I am completely drawn to their maverick idea that “design is a signal of intention” and theirs is to shift the current endlessly destructive model to one that “loves all children, of all species, for all time”.
Rather than making humans feel guilty, the C2C concept celebrates human creativity, culture and productivity, integrating nature’s effective design principles and integrating business and the environment.
Scoffing at the traditional “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra as just a “downcycling” spiral, C2C design focuses on making products such that they enter either the “technical” or “biological” nutrient cycle once their life is over. This way they can be completely used in another avatar again rather than ending up in a landfill. In other words, the goal is to eliminate waste completely and turn into food. This is “eco-effectiveness” as opposed to the herd mentality of “eco-efficiency”.
The new breed of eco-effective designers are constructing buildings that, like trees, produce more energy than they consume and purify their own waster water; factories that produce effluents that are drinking water and – a personal favorite – ice cream wrappers (biodegradable and embedded with seeds of endangered species) that can be freely littered into the earth where they dissolve and sprout new life! Whoa!
In one of his interviews, Michael joked that given a choice, would you strive for your relationship with your significant other to be merely “sustainable” or something greater? Similarly, in a world running amok chanting “sustainability”, he challenges us to shift our notion of what is possible.
Like the industrious ant or the generous cherry tree, could humans use their ingenuity to become integrated natives of the planet rather than isolated consumers?
Hope is beautiful, uplifting, inspiring and a mesmerising image of what could be.