A Blessed Solstice

2009 has been an extraordinary year, begun with a surge of hope for an inspiring leader, followed with a steady stream of unwelcome financial and political news and the groans of a tanking economy. Here we are at the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, drawn to sit around fires, light candles, and offer gifts. And to reflect:

• What has been the gift of this year?
• And what might the gift of next year be?

Penning this solstice note together with my dear colleague, Lisa Marshall, we’re noticing that we’re feeling especially tender this year. And wondering about the impulse to keep pushing on, hoping to stave off vulnerability: while understandable, it seems more dangerous than ever. Not only is it arrogant - as in, not possible - that desperate drive tends to obscure the very best aspect of being human: the desire to contribute to others.

So, writing today, we invite your curiosity. What if, in these shortest days, we take a moment to appreciate that our fellow humans everywhere counter the dark with lights and feasting rituals, to bring back the longer days and easy living of summer? What if we open to the recognition of how very vulnerable we all are?

This could be a powerful context for entering 2010: with a fresh eye for the wisdom, talents and abilities that we can exchange – the raw material of commerce that we trade in support of each other. Our brains are programmed to look out for others’ vulnerabilities. Concern for the wellbeing of ‘our people’ trumps fear and uncertainty, and even makes us well. We evolved that way - it’s part of being in the tribe. Think about how people responded to the downed plane in the Hudson River in January. Not only did citizens mobilize in minutes, the whole country was galvanized with a surge of optimism.

But - brain science illuminates - our natural response to fear and uncertainty for ourselves is mental paralysis. The brain is organized NOT to do anything new in such moments. Unfortunately, that’s the opposite of what’s most needed. At this moment of economic uncertainty, habitual thinking is our greatest threat. What’s required are new questions, new paradigms and new behaviors.

What would it take for you to bring your curiosity to this tender time? What story might you let go in order to birth a new one? What questions might drive beyond your fear? Have you made room for something new by eschewing the dream of ‘returning’ to an old game? The hope of somehow getting ‘back’ to something, some kind of ‘business as usual’?   

We’d like to be in a world next year in which we all co-inspire to spark curiosity, optimism, and new thinking, with new focus:

• Might a new economy be emerging? If so, what might your community need?
• How might the new be different than the failing economy - the one in which we grew up?
• What might the rules of a new game be? What should they be?

And what might you bring to ‘your people’ under these circumstances? What would you like to bring?

Perhaps the gift of this tough recession is that of embracing our very vulnerable human-ness. Focusing on what others need is how value gets invented. It’s the basic engine of commerce and community. People have been doing it for 300,000 generations. We can do it again. 

Another world is not only possible,
she is on her way. On a quiet day,
I can hear her breathing.
~ ARUNDHATI ROY

Tender blessings to you and yours,

Marsha & Lisa

 

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