Gratitude Post: Change our vision, change our future (19/02/11)

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There are days when I thank God for a child's imagination. Sometimes, I think, in order to really imagine life as good as it could be, we have to look at it through the eyes of a child. When I was younger, I was often criticised for being too idealistic. I was told, all too often by adults, that my hopes and views of the future, and of other people were "unrealistic" and the result of living in in La La land. And today, whenever I talk to people about my hopes and prayers for unity and peace in the world, people say:  "I'll believe that when I see it" .

Well, here is my question: What if you have to believe something before you can see it? Take an athlete - it's well known that confidence in their ability to succeed is essential to all Olympians, and many athletes will tell you that they spend time visualising winning before they start a race - a positive vision is a MUST for success. Indeed every inventor, every great scientist, artist, and revolutionary from Albert Einstein to President Lincoln had to visualise a goal before it happened. Martin Luther King couldn't have known a black man would be elected as President of the U.S.,  but he believed in the potential of the black man in America, and refused to place any limitations on that potential, despite a torrid of doubters and nay sayers. Some might say well, "people like Martin Luther King were different -- they were special people." But they were human weren't they? Flesh and blood, just like you, and me: the same frailties, the same potential. They just weren't willing to accept the status quo, that's what made them different. They had a vision of something beyond their reality, the hope of how things COULD be.

So, if their visions for the future created so much positivity in the world,  and those visionaries were not that different from us, then we might ask ourselves, what visions are we selling to ourselves ,our future, our children? Every day, news and media is swamped with stories of hopelessness, unemployment, tragedy and unfulfilled potential.  I don't for one minute believe that that's all there is to sell. There are hundreds of positive stories out there.But they never get airtime, or room on the front page, because they're not significant enough. It's crazy really. A mother wouldn't say to her little boy:  " you know what son, there is no good in the world. Life is hopeless, heartbreaking and relentless, and  that's all you will ever know, or ever experience;  and you don't stand a hope in hell of changing anything because you have no potential, and are basically doomed." Any kid who heard that, would be paralysed. They would probably never try to make a positive change in their life, because they would cease to believe change is possible.  No mother in their right mind to do that to their child. and yet, as a society, we do to it to ourselves every day. While idealism is laughed at, society is fed on a daily drip of pessimism, sadness, and hopelessness. And hopelessness is a quicksand really, since without hope, we cannot have vision, and without vision, we do not have the drive to take action, and without action, we CANNOT change the status quo. So, next time something strikes you as idealistic, or impossible - my suggestion is -don't laugh it in the face, just indulge for a moment, and take a leap of faith. Feed that vision with the mind of a child - the child within you. Because, like all children, the child within you knows that all things are possible, and the status quo that the human race has created so far, can be recreated, and changed.

written and posted by Nadia O'Connell (19/02/11)

Personal thought of the month February 2011: Beautiful Imperfections.

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In many different ways, society puts pressure on all of us to be perfect -- to be the best of the best, the end product. We are urged to have a perfect body, to be top dog at whatever job we happen to do for living, as if the  the point of life is to be an instantaneous success. But if that were the case, why were we not born knowing everything we needed to know to ensure that we were "a success" in the first place? Why were we not born with a degree in our hand, or with that perfect job to walk into the day after delivery? why? Because we needed to learn; we accept this - which is why we build schools for our children to go to. We accept this for our children - and then the minute we hit puberty the goal somehow gradually shifts from being to learn, to perfection. To have the perfect body and go out with the perfect guy/girl and achieve the perfect exam results. Suddenly, falls, failure and mistakes aren't much of an option, and the pressure is on to be the finished article. But hang on a minute -. I don't want to be "finished". Who wants to be finished?  I want to keep learning, and growing and discovering this beautiful world God gave us with fresh eyes. Isn't that the joy of life? Isn't that the most precious goal? Some folks may not agree with me, and  that's ok cos we all have our take on life - but if we do want to keep on discovering  life then we kinda have to be okay with learning from it- and that means not beating ourselves when we make mistakes, or cringing when we're faced with our own 'imperfections.' in the mirror. Why not be grateful for them instead? Personally, I'm beginning to appreciate importance of embracing the imperfections of life, because there's a BEAUTIFUL gift in every one of them. 


written and posted by Nadia O'Connell