A tiny drop in the pool (reflections from attending Wisdom2.0)
“STOP, LOOK, GO”
Simple words we all heard
many times as children, before crossing a street... Yet when spoken by Brother
David Steindl-Rast, they become a beautiful invitation to connect and engage
more fully in our lives and to revolutionize the very concept of revolution
with gratitude at the forefront, and a strong network of small communities as
the foundation [see Brother David’s Ted Talk here: http://www.ted.com/talks/david_steindl_rast_want_to_be_happy_be_grateful.html]
This simply brilliant call
sums up how attending the Wisdom 2.0 conference in February has validated,
cemented and energized a conviction that life is all about each and every one
of us finding out the best possible way to use our talents and passions to add
our own tiny drop in the giant pool of change the world is so hungry and ready
for...
Wisdom 2.0 is a yearly
conference held in San Francisco for 5 years now
and which has also grown into multiple related events in other parts of the
country and in Europe as well. This year’s
4-day flagship event gathered 2000 participants and dozens of speakers from
widely diverse backgrounds at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis from February
14th to the 17th.
Founder Soren Gordhamer wants
the conference to address the great challenge of our age: “To not only live
connected to one another through technology, but to do so in ways that are
beneficial to our own well-being, effective in our work, and useful to the
world”… “Wisdom 2.0 strives to bring this conversation to the world in an
accessible, innovative, and inclusive way”. [ see videos from the conference
here: http://wisdom2conference.com/Videos
]
Within the fist two hours of
the conference alone, we were introduced to a 10 year old entrepreneur who set
on a mission, 2 years ago, to end childhood slavery by selling lemonade and has
so far, raised over a million dollars toward her goal [see her Ted Talk here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBZc3t4BIhY]
, we took a moving tour of many ancient cultures of the world through the eyes
of humanitarian photographer Lisa Kristine (see more at www.lisakristine.com) and we had the
privilege to attend an intimate talk with Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda (in
office since 2000) who spoke of his country’s difficult history of conflicts
including the brutal genocide of 1994 and of the efforts to achieve national
development through an ambitious program called Vision2020 launched shortly
after he assumed the presidency and which consists of a list of goals to be
achieved before the year 2020. These include reconstruction, infrastructure and
transport improvements, good governance, improving agriculture production,
private sector development, as well as health and education improvements.
One of the many initiatives
which were quite interesting is the implementation of a National Day of
community service, whereby, one day a month, everything but essential services
is closed and all members of local communities are invited to collaborate on
various civic projects, whether it’s setting up community gardens, improving
schools or parks, cleaning streets, etc…
The Rwandan situation is not
without its fair share of challenges and controversy but seeing and hearing,
later in the evening, the first ever Rwandan women's drumming group, including
women from both Tutsi and Hutu ethnic backgrounds, perform traditional drumming
with such joy, unity and passion certainly gave us all hope and belief in the
human potential for healing and continued evolution.
Technology is certainly
becoming a critical part of our evolution and Research Psychologist Larry Rosen
gave a fascinating presentation about how our brain reacts to all the modern
technology, constantly pulling for our attention and how the remedy to avoid
its potentially damaging effects is to train our mind to focus and attend, to
reset our brain, and to be aware of and selective in the choices we make...His
book "iDisorder: understanding our obsession with technology and
overcoming its hold on us"
discusses the research related to the damaging effects of technology and
how we can avoid them while still benefiting from all the advantages and
possibilities modern technology offers.
Later on, Jon Kabat Zinn, who
has been so instrumental in the scientific recognition of the benefits of
mindfulness over the last 4 decades, spoke of how mindfulness should never be
heard or understood without the word "heartfulness" as well, for in
all asian languages the word for heart and mind is the same. He added that we
should not only do this work of learning and practicing mindfulness for our
brain or to age more gracefully, but that we should primarily do it to NOT miss
our own life since, really, all we ever have is the present moment to fully
articulate and enjoy our humanity. (a basic Google search on "Jon
Kabat-Zinn" will reveal enough books, quotes, articles and YouTube videos
to keep you busy a while.. the man is omnipresent when it comes to anything
related to the teachings, clinical use, and scientific study of mindfulness)
Arianna Huffington (of the
news organization, the Huffington Post) challenged us to redefine success and
reconsider if the old two legged stool of "money and power" is or
ever was adequate and if it isn't more than time to introduce a "Third
Metric" in our measure of success, one that includes well-being, wisdom,
wonder, gratitude, compassion and giving... [ see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/third-metric/
for more on the Third Metric]
She shared her personal
experience of a severe burnout about 7 years back when she had recently been
named one of the 100 most influential people by Time magazine yet found herself
unconscious in a pool of her own blood on the floor of her office after
collapsing of exhaustion and sleep depravation, splitting her chin as she hit
the desk on her way down...
Now you may be thinking: yes,
but that is the price to pay... hard work, dedication and perseverance are what
makes successful achievements possible! It defines the American Dream! We are a
nation of hard working driven individuals, etc... And yes, we are... But the
notion that we are our best and our most productive, creative and successful
under intensely damaging levels of pressure is being challenged by solid
research findings and at the very least, worth reconsidering...
Think for instance of the
language we use so casually at work... Combat and Warfare language... "We
need a plan of attack" "Have you done some Recon on this?"
"This project is mission critical" "Let's gather the troops"
"This is only half the battle"... Even terms that have become fully
integrated into the business language originated in the military; senior
officer, strategy, campaign, force (as in sales force), division, operations,
resources...
Now is there anything
fundamentally wrong with that language?
Well, perhaps, the next time
we hear or use such language, we can pause to think of the 22 war veterans who
take their own life every day in this country... A sad and painful statistic
Congressman Tim Ryan (D, Ohio) shared with us as he discussed various
initiatives featuring mindfulness and aimed at providing better support and
tools for key target groups from veterans, to children, teachers and leaders...
Perhaps we can make an effort to use a language rooted in collaboration, in
creativity, in contribution, in support and in trust... and who knows? It might
even turn out better results than the adversarial approach...
It might even foster a better
sense of community at work and beyond... That was the topic of a presentation
by Zappos' CEO Tony Hsieh. Zappos, an online shoe and clothing retailer
established in 1999, became extremely successful by focusing on their Products,
Customer Service, and Company culture. Although they were acquired by Amazon a
few years ago, they remain an autonomously managed entity and since their
recent move to downtown Las Vegas,
where they renovated the prior city hall campus as their new home, they have
extended their mission focus to include Community with an emphasis on 3 C's:
Collisions, Co-Learning and Connectedness.
Collisions are these random
encounters that trigger discussions and productive sharing of ideas;
Co-Learning refers to the sharing of talents and abilities of individuals in a
given group and Connectedness relates to the number and depths of the
relationships individuals share with others in the given community. Research
indicates that productivity and innovation increase significantly when these 3
ingredients are present in a community... So Zappos is bringing this vision and
approach, not only to its own corporate culture, but to the city of Las Vegas
itself, via a new initiative managed by an independent company called
"Downtown Project" which is investing 350 million dollars in small
businesses, tech startups, education, arts, culture and real estate to
transform downtown Las Vegas into "the most Community-Focused large city
in the world" and make it "the Co-Learning and Co-Working capital of
the world"... Lofty goals for sure, but when you consider that we are
currently at about 50% of the human population of the world living in cities
and that this number is projected to increase to 75% within our lifetime, this
experiment seems well worth the investment and may very well prove to be a
valuable model for many more cities to emulate!
Eventually, as we start
redefining success by adding a Third Metric to the equation and by focusing on
community, the concept of individual purpose typically enters the conversation
as well: "How can I better contribute to my community? How do I measure my
success?"... and to that effect, Justin Rosenstein (famous for coming up
with the "Like" button during his days as a software engineer at
Facebook) invited us to find the intersection between activities we find
stimulating or exciting and projects or endeavors that help humanity thrive and
make the world better... suggesting that it is in that intersection that we can
best find a true sense of purpose... and that does not mean we need to quit our
job, become activists and end hunger, violence and abuse in the world within
the next 12 months... although thinking at a large scale is encouraged, the
process of implementation needs to start at a much smaller scale... perhaps
just looking for ways we can better align our everyday life with our own values,
at work and at home... and whether or how that sense of purpose can be fully
expressed in our current career and/or community is a question we each must
find the answer to, but carefully applying Brother David's recommendation to
STOP (and take a moment to breathe and ground in the present), LOOK (and notice
what you can be grateful for as well as opportunities to contribute or effect
change), and GO (take action from a grounded and purposeful place) can
certainly help figure out what our next small steps should be to get closer to
what Fred Kofman, (author of "Conscious Business; how to build value
through values") defines as being "Really Happy", as opposed to
being "Un-Really Happy"... whereby Un-Real Happiness is dependent on
getting that next promotion, that new car or house, that next high or buzz,
that next break, that next achievement, that next vacation, that next
"external" thing... and Real Happiness is that joy that Brother David
defines as NOT depending on what is happening but which is, rather, fueled from
within...
And who better than Eckhart
Tolle (author of "The Power of Now") to help us better understand how
to access that inner potential for happiness and joy? ...Instead of a
traditional meditation, Mr. Tolle calmly lectured us into a very effective
"Journey into the Now" taking us along into a deeper and deeper level
of presence as he casually explained and illustrated the steps; starting with
simply becoming aware of our surroundings through sense perceptions, to
acknowledging what is and appreciating what is... already triggering a shift in
our consciousness which becomes less likely to be drowned in thoughts and
distractions when focused on this act of acknowledging and appreciating what
is... then, a state of alert awareness can be reached as the grip of the
"mind stuff" loosens and that results in elevated
"presence" …This initial shift is already a huge step for most of us,
so caught up we can be in our constant barrage of thoughts about the past, the
future, our fears, desires, worries, plans, our buzzing smart phones, etc....
But from this alert awareness, we can move further and feel this sense of
presence extend to within, to a sense of our own aliveness which Mr. Tolle
invited us to experience by holding our hands up so they do not touch anything
and closing our eyes, asking our self "without moving my hands and without
opening my eyes, how do I know that my hands are still there?".... And if
you try it right now, you can probably experience your own sense of being alive
as a tingling or some form of pulsing energy in your fingers and hands... So,
learning to anchor into that inner presence is key to managing the flood of
thoughts that invariably pulls for our attention and keeps coming at incredible
speed and intensity, no matter how mindful we are, and the key to remaining
aware and present is to accept the thoughts as mental events and to rely on
that anchor into the body, using the breath and inner presence, letting the
thoughts come and go as they will when observed instead of being followed...and
with that, eventually, comes the realization that there is a space, however
short and subtle at first, but a space indeed, between thoughts; that the sky
that is our mind and inner experience is not fully covered by the clouds of our
thoughts... And that, in those spaces we
can catch a glimpse of our own spacious awareness, our true essence and Self...
So whatever the method we choose, the more we practice being present in this
way, the easier it becomes to reach this inner presence and the more profoundly
connected we become to our true essence, to our very experience of life right
now, moment by moment...
The value and importance of
being truly present is a theme that was key in two fantastic presentations
focused on parenting and I would think any parent or person interested in young
children will delight in watching the first one by Rachel Macy Stafford, also
known as the Hands Free Mama [read her blog at www.handsfreemama.com]. Her
journey into parenting and transformation into a self proclaimed "Reformed
Rusher" who had to learn to remove the giant ticking clock she felt she
always carried around her neck ,is heart warming and a fascinating challenge to
our modern day glorification of "Busy" and obsession with
"checking things off the to-do list" as fast as possible, forcing
ourselves into what Arianna Huffington had earlier labeled a "constant
time famine"...
The second parenting themed
presentation I attended, probably has value to any human being, parent or not;
Dr Shefali Tsabary, Clinical Psychologist, Author and Speaker, attacks the
topic of pain and suffering head on with a wealth of wisdom, knowledge and
experience, delivering thought provoking impact in the most effective and
captivating way, inviting us to reexamine our perception of and relationship to
pain and even destruction and death itself... Watch her talk and you will never
look at a Disney fairy tale the same way again...
The weekend was packed with
so many powerful and inspirational talks and presentations, it could easily
take several such articles to barely come close to doing it justice... and,
there was so much more than the presentations and talks as well... from the
pre-conference meditations, yoga and other activities offered in the morning to
the evening celebrations and all the opportunities to make connections and
interact with other participants... from the many break out sessions and
opportunities to host a discussion of your choice to the numerous wall-sized
boards we were invited to creatively express our ideas and thoughts on and to
the wonderful art gallery that occupied the main hallway of the conference
area, including a huge collaborative art piece by ArtIsMobilUs
(artismobilus.com) which everyone was invited to participate in.
There was even a protest
during Google's live presentation on the main stage, by a group trying to bring
attention to the problems lower income residents of San Francisco are facing while real estate
keeps getting purchased and repurposed by wealthy individuals and organisations,
causing a wave of evictions and shortage of affordable housing in the city...
This and other discussions that took place in break-out sessions highlighted
how much work we have yet to do to bring about a better balance in our society
when it comes to access to resources and better inclusion of all members of
society... So many inspiring people pioneer projects helping under served
populations like inner city at risk youth (see the Holistic Life Foundation of
Baltimore, MD at hlfinc.com for a great example) ,
inmates (see Boston based YogaHope.org for another
inspiring example), homeless people (see urbanministrycenter.org of Charlotte,
NC or better yet, watch the center's executive director's Ted Talk here: http://youtu.be/pxO08Vg85Og) , etc...
So my biggest takeaway from
this amazing experience at the 2014 Wisdom2.0 conference is that we each have a
responsibility to figure out and decide how we want to live our life and
contribute using the assets, talents and passions that make us the unique
individual we are... For some it is on a very large scale and for others it is
much more subtle in scope... some may put all their passion into raising their
children to become well balanced, caring and compassionate adults ready to
bring their own unique contribution to the world, some may coach, teach or
volunteer and others may strive to provide the most engaging work environment
and experience possible for their employees and peers...but whatever form it
takes, making the effort to find the work we cannot NOT do is certainly worth a
moment to consider and think of the possibilities...
I remember hearing Apolo
Anton Ohno (eight-time medalist in the winter Olympics), giving an interview on
NPR a few years ago, in which he talked about how, every night, before going to
sleep, he mentally reviews his day asking himself whether he truly gave his
absolute best, taking an inventory of his actions and noting both the peak and
less than optimum performances… not with the intention to beat himself up or
feel down about it, but to hold himself
to a higher standard...
I like to think that with
practice, we can get closer and closer to being our most skillful self every
day... that we can find the best possible combination and use of our specific
abilities and talents to put our own tiny drop in the giant pool that is our
world... Each and every day... Making sure we take time to "STOP, LOOK,
and GO"
...What's your little drop?
