Being the Change You Want to See

Be the change you want to see in the world. Mahatmas Ghandi

This week a friend sent me photos showing the results of the violence in Gaza and in Lebanon. These images reminded me how fortunate I am to live in a part of the world where I don't worry at all about being blown up. Attached to this slide show were the words, "The world must change."

Last night I was sharing with Ruben how bothered I was about Obama's focus on funding and promoting abortion services abroad when there are so many extremely serious problems in the country he was just elected to lead. To my way of thinking, this decision implies an ugly imperialism and I'm disappointed.

So what is one to do about violence in the world? I know complaining is not the answer. I am not complaining. :-)

I don't have the entire answer, just a smidgen (to use Nancy's Taste and Savor lingo,) and it's a question of responsibility. How can I act to make the world a more peaceful place?

I am told that Buddhist teaching advocates focusing your attention on solving the problems on your own street, the forty houses to your left and the forty houses to your right.

I know Mother Teresa always told people to establish peace in their own homes first. Her second advice was to comfort someone in your own town, letting them know they're not alone.

So, bringing peace to this world means being peace. I'm not sure exactly how to do that, but I'm confident there is more I can do, before criticizing others for not doing their part.

New Perspective on Creativity

If you're like me, you think being creative is for hobbies and extra-curricular activities, while being proactive is for business. Really think about what it means to be creative at work.

Last night I was reading an e-book, Happy Pocket Full of Money by David Cameron. In one part he was describing the act of being creative using similar language to that usually denoting what it means to be "pro-active."

I first ran into, or absorbed the concept of being proactive when I worked with the Stephen Covey Group in Caracas in the early 1990s. Stephen Covey's first habit of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is simply: Be Proactive. What he means is that we don't wait to live a life of reactions to events, but we design our lives and work to merge our vision with reality.

Being pro-active is really more of an attitude, or way of being, rather than an activity.

David Cameron explained the same wisdom in terms of an attitude of creativity, in contrast to reactivity.

I think this is a valuable insight to broaden our understanding of what it means to be creative. This is on my mind because I'm developing an e-course entitled, "Creative Communication @ Work." My use of the word "creative" really does mean being proactive, not being creative in the sense of sending purple emails or wearing black nail polish to work, although I have no problem with either of these options.

You will not be surprised to know that I like the word, "creativity" much more than "being proactive." The former is much more humane sounding and the latter sounds more like business jargon to my ears. If you tell me to be creative, I'm excited; if you tell me to be pro-active, I feel pressure to perform. Ahhh, the power of words.