It’s been 12 hours since the TEDx Brisbane event wrapped up, and my mind has been racing ever since. I even dreamed about TEDx, so profound and challenging is the experience of spending a day with a community of such amazing people. This was my second TEDx event. It’s always an intense day, a roller coaster of emotions, a tsunami of powerful ideas and emotions that wash right over you.
I haven’t quit my job yet. Juanita Wheeler, the godmother of TEDx Brisbane, suggested we needed to wait 72 hours before doing anything rash. Sage advice I think. She never said anything about blogs though, and since I love words, I decided to try and put pen to paper to capture my TEDx experience.
Here’s what I’m reflecting on this morning, 12 hours later, having slept on it all.
This morning I went into my office and wrote on the blackboard above my desk, “You have the power to change stuff.”
We are all procrastinators at heart. Because change is hard work. It’s hard to break old habits. It’s hard to embrace new ways of doing things, new ways of thinking. It’s even harder to see things from another person’s perspective.
Turns out, if you do anything for 10,000 hours you become an expert. But you don’t need to be an expert at everything, and you don’t need to be an expert right now. You just need to start. To do the work. To make a change.
‘Affluenza’ is quietly killing our planet. We need to respect our stuff, as much as we respect others and the earth. Every time we spend money, we help shape the economy and contribute to the fabric of our culture. So make a simple change and buy more of the stuff that helps the world, and less of the stuff that doesn’t. It’s not rocket science.
Where ever a problem exists, there is a solution just waiting to be discovered by someone with the passion and patience to find it. Art plus science equals innovation. And the most intelligent design works with nature, and goes with the flow instead of against it. Use that power to solve your biggest and smallest challenges.
All people are worthy of respect, but not all ideas are. The best ideas are the ones help us all to flourish, and to live well. And we all win.
Where there is great suffering, there is also great hope. The human spirit is strong, and capable of far more than we can ever imagine. Whether it’s facing illness or disadvantage, great tragedy and sadness, or simply standing in front of a few hundred people to talk about yourself, humans can and will triumph. We will find a way. We will stand up.
In the face of these challenges to the heart of who we are, to what we believe in our soul, it can be hard to know when to stand up, to be an advocate, to be brave and say something. Or when to go with the flow, to be in the moment and to just let it go.
Rather than this polarity, this impossible choice between two things, we need to find our duality. It’s not one or the other. It’s not black and white. Your way or my way. We need to find the capacity to hold more thoughts, ideas and beliefs in our hands, hearts and minds.
Whether we choose, in the moment, to take a stand, to stand up and be counted, or to let it go, we must find more love in our hearts. We must realise that it’s not necessary that we all see eye to eye, all of the time. We must simply find more love. That’s when we move from empathy to impact.
We all have the power in our hands, hearts and minds to do this. To solve problems, face challenges, to live more and to love more.
We all have the power to change stuff.
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