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“Everyone and everything is interconnected and interdependent, whether we acknowledge that or not.”
~ Hildy Gottlieb, from The Pollyanna Principles
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When
we acknowledge our interconnectedness, magic happens. Because those
connections are the magic that is around us all the time, if we would
simply notice.
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Practicing with our Interconnectedness
During
the holidays we connect with a lot more people than normal. At the
shopping mall, at holiday parties, at the family dinner table… the
holidays present so many opportunities to practice bringing out the
best in others AND yourself!
Interconnectedness allows their joy to become your joy. To experiment with bringing out the best in people, try this:
- In stores, try asking the cashier, “What has been the best thing about your day so far?”
- At holiday parties, when
you meet new people, try asking, “What are you most excited about in
life these days?” (Instead of asking, “So, what do you do?”)
- At family gatherings,
instead of arguing politics, try asking and listening, NOT so you can
argue back, but to better understand. “Uncle Henry, I get that you hate
X. Can you help me understand more about what is important about that?
I really want to understand.”
It’s
easy to bring out the best in other people, because deep down we all
want to be appreciated and listened to. This holiday season, give it a
try. And let us know what happens!
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| Try this:
A
great place to tell us about what you’ve tried is in Creating the
Future’s “Catalytic Thinking” group at Facebook, where people like you
are practicing bringing out the best in each other! See the group here…
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Experimenting with Interconnectedness and Collective Enoughness
Creating
the Future’s mission is to experiment and learn, to develop systems
that bring out the best in people. Sharing what we learn, how much more
humane could the world be in just 10 years?
As part of that experiment, most of our programs are free or low cost, with liberal tuition assistance when they aren’t.
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| | Because how can we accomplish our mission if money is a barrier to learning?
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| | | | Aligning with our values, we have never applied for grants.
Because
saying “no” to systems rooted in scarcity, competition and
money-as-power dynamics says “yes” to the wisdom that together we have
everything we need.
We shy away from doing most fundraising for the same reason.
Rather
than compete with all the great causes seeking to create a better
world, we feel more aligned with our values when we are helping those
groups succeed than competing with them for funds. |
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| That
makes Creating the Future a living experiment in Collective Enoughness.
People like you, who find our work of benefit, come forward throughout
the year to contribute both what they have and who they are.
The importance of that contribution and participation speaks to the heart of this effort.
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affirms the potential of systems that weave together the myriad
strengths of people who care - that together, we have everything we
need.
It ensures that we can continue to experiment with
alternative funding systems without having to set aside our values to
survive.
And with all those people stepping forward to say, “Please keep going!” it encourages us to do just that.
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| If
you find Creating the Future’s work of benefit, please become part of
that Collective Enoughness, sharing what you can through a one-time or
monthly financial contribution here.
In
whatever way you feel called to practice your own spirit of enoughness
and interconnectedness, we hope you will engage more deeply in this
experiment.
In
the spirit of interconnectedness and interdependence, your involvement
and contribution will be one more bit of evidence that together we
really do have everything we need.
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Creating
the
Future
is a
collection of
people around
the world,
supporting
each other in
a grand
experiment.
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The
experiment:
To
determine how
much better
the world
could be if
the questions
we ask in our
day to day
lives are
bringing out
the best in
each other.
If
everyone,
everywhere, is
bringing out
the best in
every person
they encounter
– and if the
systems that
guide our
behaviors are
built to bring
out the best
in all of us -
how much
closer will we
all be to a
healthy,
humane world
that works for
all of us?
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