Personal Imperative

In asking ourselves what is important, what do we value and how is what we are doing affecting our well-being, sometimes pictures and music are worth a thousand words. Why do human systems always seem to trend to maximal scale? Sustainable systems should self-organize to a scale that optimizes economic prosperity while respecting ecological limits. We have an article on this topic published in Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy, Spring/Summer 2009, Volume 5, Issue 1.

I am privileged to work with wonderful younger people; it also ensures critical diversity in my life. One of those people is Rebecca Foon, a planner who works with me from Montreal, who is also a wonderful cellist. This music video is a birthday song for Lhasa, who died of breast cancer over a year ago. Music brings such joy and beauty, pause a moment and listen. 

How do we develop systems of governance, education and health that connect, not disconnect us from what is important to our humanity, that bridge the divided selves we have become as a result of the solitudes, silos and stovepipes of our current institutions. The most critical solitude to blow away is the artificial separation between reason and emotion. This video, which talks about a new revolution in consciousness, discusses the new humanism based on three principles: 1.

I got up very early this morning, around 5:00 a.m. and have been watching the light come up through the trees, the blue of the sky begins to emerge, looks like it will be a beautiful day here at the lake. Having the privilege of living by a lake in a forest, makes me pause for reflection, makes me slow down in ways that I can't in a city. How much we take for granted, until it is gone, and some things we cannot afford to take for granted, the worms, the pollinators that are so essential for life.

Who gets to frame the question, and who gets to decide who the stakeholders are at the table largely determines the process. I find it interesting that in the year 2011, there are still silences that are undemocratic and violate due process. Due process, fairness and distributive justice contribute to a vital, informed and engaged election. This video shows how important it is to reframe the issue to move people to greater action.

Get out and vote now in the next Canadian election. Why, watch this TedTalks now, the antidote to apathy, peole do care, but they are actively discouraged from engaging, through a process of 'intentional exclusion'.

Play is the glue that binds us together, it allows us to explore the boundaries of our inner and outer world and rediscoer unexpected connections, a hotbed of creativity. Play is an adaptive wild card, will we make the most of our playfulness?

In my last conversation, I talked about generational gaps, well, this video is one of the most informative, strategic and innovative conversations on where we stand with respect to gender gaps, also brilliant communications by the COO of Facebook. What are the messages we tell ourselves, what are the messages we want to tell our daughters, about work/life balance. What are the messages--1. sit at the table, 2. make your partner a real partner, and 3.

Diversity, diversity, diversity. When will we learn? Einstein stated it very clearly, when are we learn that doing the same things over and over again and expecting different outcomes never works?

Watch this video about an Icelandic financial company that survived the recent financial crisis. How, by adhering to principles, skills, vision and values? What values?
1. risk awareness
2. straight talking
3. emotional capital
4. profit with principles.

This poem makes me think about how important the reconciliation of the personal imperative with the ecological, social and economic is. My thanks to my colleague, Paul Gilbert.

Reconciliation

The sharp edge
of anger
slices through
our ancestors.
We thought
we chose to
decide our fate.
Ha!
The blackness of
such arrogance
is a scar,
a tear in
the universe.
Thinking to
move forward
we fly backwards
soaring madness.
Look in the