Being The Change

Doing vs. Whining

Change is in the air…and I’m not just talking about seasons. So what are you going to do about it, whine and resist, or get on board and do something?This is the threshold where many (myself included) start the posting parade of leaves on the ground, lamenting about summer days gone. Yes, there is a bit of whining that goes on, but it is poetic in its own right. Change is change and with it comes both enthusiasm and resistance; part holding on and letting go.I typically hold onto things with both hands and go kicking and screaming into the next, cautiously excited. Once there, I settle in and embrace what is unfolding around me: Crisp air, comfy sweaters, roasted veggies, fires in the fireplace, etc. But I’m not there yet! I want late summer night dinners on the back porch, flip flops and sun-kissed shoulders. It also shifts gears for me energetically with work. As I let go of my lazy-days-of-summer mode, I slip into a newly infused productive mode and quietly start to feel energized. It helps that the resident teenager is headed back to school and with that comes some jarring new, non-negotiable scheduling constraints. While abrupt at first, once I acquiesce, I embrace a new flow.And that’s how change goes down. Sometimes we know it’s coming — we see it on the horizon — and other times we can feel that it is thrust upon us, taking us off guard. The seasons are metaphors for life and all of its accompanying plot twists and turns. We may not get to be the architect of all that unfolds, but we are in control of how we relinquish our power to it. And I’m sure I needn’t remind you that not all change is synonymous with adversity (though letting go of summer can feel like that…I just had to get one more complaint in there! HA).Change is so much bigger than seasons and wardrobe switch-overs, however, it is about our thoughts, ideas and beliefs — the core from which everything else emanates. This recent US presidential campaign has highlighted the very best and worst of humanity, but it has also shone a light on that which needs our attention. It has made me take stock of my own ideas, the opinions I have held to tightly. It has also made me examine the need to create room for letting go of some preconceived notions I picked up along the way. And nothing will shift your perception and inspire you like spending time in the company of young people.Just when I was wondering if our world was going to hell in a hand basket, I had the opportunity to spend a day with 360 millennials from 85 countries, who have gathered to take on the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The event was the creation and brainchild of World Merit and its founder and Best Self Magazine co-creator, Chris Arnold. I was invited to partake in a panel to mentor these young people as they prepared for their presentations to the UN. They are the change-makers, the new thought leaders and the movers and shakers — in other words, the hope for the future. And you know what? Millennials have been given a bad rap. Yes, they speak a different language, yes they communicate differently, and yes their relationship to technology is far more intertwined than we can fathom — but from the looks of it — that new language is much needed.Their eyes are open and the reality is that we haven’t created a fabulous inheritance for them. They see the change that needs to happen. They yearn for authentic connection, solutions and experience and they are rising up. They aren’t whining, they are doing — doing something about being the change they want to see in their world. And to contextualize this a bit, one must note that many of them had come from corners of the world where they had stared poverty, war, inequities and great tragedy in the face.And in the spirit of the “bumblebee effect” (whereby the theories of aerodynamics and physics state that the bumblebee should not be able to fly — yet despite all odds, it does because no one told it that it was impossible), here are a few take-aways to ponder how we can impact the world around us:• Peace is simple• Doing good is good business• What are you wasting for?• Anything is possible with a vision to change and the guts to act• There is room for all of us, embrace each others differences• We are better together — it takes a village• LOVESome change is uncontrollable. We can whine about our current circumstances: our relationships, our jobs, our bank account balances, the presidential election, our bodies, the weather — or we can do something about it.I can’t become a millennial, but I can take pause from my everyday routine and thinking long enough to recognize where I’m resisting, where I’m holding onto things that don’t serve me, where I’m complaining rather than taking action. There’s always space for a new perspective. And when we create the space to listen to our young people, when we listen with ears that have a willingness to hear…we create expansion in ourselves.I grew up in a “why because I said so” generation. It was the standard response I received whenever I pushed back. Sometimes I think we’ve got this whole parenting thing backwards. We have much to glean from the wisdom of our youth. It is often quite astounding. And before the world tells them who they should be, amidst their inexperience and exuberance there are many jewels to be gathered.And how do we tap into our best selves when we feel stuck and our default is to whine?We simply create space for change.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

~ Mahatma Ghandi