‘For things to change, first I must change’ Gandhi
I started the year blogging about self, and I will end the year doing the same thing. But why have I been talking about self for the entirety of 2020?
Because everything that we hated about 2020 and everything we desire for 2021 begins with self - it’s time for a self-revolution.
We don’t need better tech, we don’t need better rockets in space, we don’t need better machinery, we don’t need better cars, we need better humans who know how to take responsibility for their self-knowledge and use this to make authentic and robust connected communities.
The common definition of community is ‘a group of people living together and practising common ownership’
This definition is lacking a few key human need fundamentals, so I am just going to give myself permission to create a new definition of community for 2021.
My Fortitude Community vision is ‘a global community of people who value real human connection over all things and use this connection to create brilliance in humanity’.
We have revolutionised enough as a race to survive, innovate and grow, now we need to focus on how we do those things and become the type of humans that provide for the needs of society right now. I am not talking about basic survival needs here. I am talking about the being side of human existence. I’m talking about connecting ourselves at our being level. Learning to connect with the things that drive brilliant humanness from the inside out.
To do this we have to start with self, we cannot create real human connectivity well and with long term robustness if we do not focus on the internal work first. We need to get crystal clear on our own values, purpose and identity. We must do this if we are going to stand any chance of being able to connect humanity at the level it needs in 2021.
We need humans that know how to BE brilliantly human with one another, and not by exception, as a norm of our day to existence.
But what is BEING BRILLIANTLY HUMAN.
Each of us will have a personal take on what human brilliance looks like but there are some core elements that will be the same for all of us:
· Love
· Awareness
· Kindness
· Compassion
· Connection
· Meaningfulness
Here is the revolution side of what this blog is about – if we don’t create this for ourselves with authenticity and robustness first, we won’t be able to create this for others well and with permanency. If we don’t start with self, then we cannot and will not be able to create the levels of human brilliance we need in the world right now. We don’t need to re-learn about how to ‘go again’ with an external care initiative, doing these things for others, we need to learn how to do this for self. And here’s the best bit of this, when we fundamentally shift the balance and begin the work of becoming brilliant with self, the positive impact on others is a by-product that happens naturally. When we understand how to harness the natural by-product of self-brilliance and channel it towards others, we will begin the self-revolution ground swell of human brilliance.
Ok so that all sounds rather grand and far reaching but what does it mean for you, today, reading this blog?
This is your chance to start your ‘self revolution’.
Self – one’s particular nature or personality; the qualities that make one individual or unique
Revolution – a dramatic and wide-reaching change in conditions, attitudes, or operations.
It’s our nature or personality that we have the opportunity to revolutionise, but it doesn’t start with us looking at others and saying, ‘oh they need to be better at…’, it starts with self and us looking inwardly and asking how can I be better?
The revolution part here isn’t just about how can we be better for others, we’ve been taught how to do that already. What we need to start learning is how to begin with self so that the positive ripples we create through our actions are from authentic and robust foundations – and goodness me, if I have seen anything missing from Humans in 2020 it’s authenticity and robustness.
If 2020 has proven anything it’s that many of the things that we considered to be a given part of life have been taken away from us by external factors. The virus, the lockdown, masks, vaccines and our ability to simply connect as humans have all been decided for us by things externally, the government, the WHO for example. Whether we like it or not, we have mostly had to comply with decisions that have fundamentally altered the way we live and exist as humans.
There is one arena though that remains in our control and it is SELF. Our internal self, our minds, our hearts are still available for us to master and shape. What we need now is a society full of self-aware, self-conscious, self-centred, deeply decent humans and it starts with you.
Humans have been left after the events of 2020 with a huge deficit. Our basic needs of connection, belonging and certainty have been rocked to the core. Wait, no they haven’t, they have been taken away from us. Which means we have a gap to fill and we can either fill the gap with the same old shit from before or we can begin a revolution that brings back your basic needs but in a significantly better way.
How do I fill the human needs gap starting with self?
It starts by understanding the Gandhi quote at the top of the blog. ‘For things to change, first I must change’. The change that we need to see in the world is that we all put being a brilliant human, starting with self, at the very top of our learning list.
I have spent 2020 getting crystal clear on the Fortitude content that WILL help you. It has been created after 43 years of living a life driving for possibility in what seems like an impossible world and 20 years working in the human side of business. I have created it from the lessons I have been taught and experienced about what it means to be a brilliant human in this world.
The content is only good though if it is being used and shared and benefitted from. I can’t start a revolution on my own – I need YOU.
Follow me on Instagram @whatsposs to join in what promises to be an amazing journey.
Come the revolution
All the love
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