#MicroPoetry|June ’18 Reflections

What if we shifted, took a step away to see things differently, paused and listen in a new way? Too often change and the #SocialGood are reduced to individual acts or choices. Sometimes – though indeed wonderful – the individual is held up when something great happens in a way that is both worthy of celebration and limiting or dismissible. If the “hero” does it, it becomes easy to relinquish any choice to repeat that great action. What if, however, we did not foster individual acts, but celebrated collective ones? What if we shift our focus was away from heroes to communities?

History Is a funny thing. Often, we focus on milestones and dates of importance. In respect to leadership and moments of justice making, often the moment becomes more important than the works, sometimes years, decades or longer, that took to reach ‘success’ or ‘justice realised.’ This verse explores that it is the learning that arises from challenge and obstacles that ultimately made possible the moment that is remember. Without the tenacity of constant learning through challenge, however, such moments would never come to be.

The act of listening is never passive, nor is it neutral. That to which we attend, when we engage with one another, helps us either see what we want or make space to hear something new. This dance between debate and understanding always is present the moment we begin to speak. In this musing, I explore the choice we make each time we begin to speak …

What does consciousness mean to you?
How does it connect to being aware?
If awareness and consciousness are connected, what happens when they are nurtured?
This #MicroPoetry explores the idea that consciousness, as it dawns or we awaken to it, actually demands of us a recognition of our interconnectedness. That revelation, in turn, leads to choices that are often about advocacy and justice. These acts, however, are not intellectual in nature, but originate in the recognition that each part of creation is Beloved, including ourselves.

I love the idea – the game – of trying to imagine that which has yet to be dreamed. I have found this exercise helps generate creativity and it often begins by recognising that in the past there lies a resource longing to be explored. This activity, however, is never intended to repeat or replicate what was, but to bring forward the best of what has been done in ways that continue the experience/intention without getting stuck in replicating. This verse dives into this idea in a way that intends to foster space to go “hmmmm …”

We are the sum total of the choices we make. These choices often involve others and – in turn – others’ choices often involve us. In this interplay of co-caring and co-creating, often there are times when we offer care and assistance to one another. And – sometimes, perhaps frequently – they are forgotten. Not out of malice not selfishness. Rather, life continues to unfold and memory becomes distant. In this musing, I explore such moments as ‘greatness’ and celebrate them, even if forgotten.

Failure – it’s one of those words worth reclaiming. In fact, failure, when embraced not as a goal, but as the experience toward a goal, I have found a helpful and invigorating way to continue to fashion that which we dream into something, tangible and concrete. This verse plays with the challenge that – perhaps – we should not fear failure, but recognise it s as the milestones toward creating something new.

Leadership and learning – in my experience – are intimately bound. For those called to nurture people and organisations, families and communities, to recognise and model life-long learning is just one way that the model of being a leader helps others recognise in themselves those similar qualities. Often people discuss capacity building in communities, both as a collective and individual pursuit. Such capacity – or resilience – I believe is what this musing endeavours to bring forward and celebrate.