Just when we get our lives set up the way we want them, BAM! Things change. Isn’t that the truth? But change is good, right? Well, only if it’s the kind of change we like—the kind that doesn’t disrupt our lives. But what if it’s all-encompassing, overwhelming change the likes of which we’ve never experienced before? What do we do then? That’s what we’re faced with right now.
How will we respond to what’s happening to our world? We can deny it, resist it or fight against it, but what does that accomplish? We can be dragged into the future kicking and screaming or we can join with our neighbors to build a new future.
What’s coming down the pike is too big for the individual person to handle alone. In order to adapt, we have some heavy duty homework to do. First, we need to understand what’s happening. Next we have to get over the shock. Then we need to come together as a community to find creative ways to adjust to our new normal.
We will be challenged to keep our cool while the world is coming apart around us. We will need a clear vision and courage. We will need each other.
When we face the future together, an inner transition will begin to blossom. Many of our beliefs, self-concepts and expectations of how life works will need to be altered as they bump up against our new reality. Individualism may be one of the first self-concepts we release. Yes, I mean in America, land of the free and home of the brave individualist. Extreme individualism won’t cut it in our new normal.
We need to replace individualism with community. How do we do that? Charles Eisenstein, one of my favorite authors, says, “It’s really hard to create community if the underlying knowledge is we don’t need each other.”
Let’s start thinking and talking about it.
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