The individual, transformed, will perceive
new meaning to his life, to events,
to numbers, to interactions between people.
~ Dr. W. Edwards Deming
The global realities we’ve faced in the past few years have led us to a feeling of disillusionment. But most of us face the breakdown of previous beliefs many times throughout our lives. As we leave our youth, disillusionment is all around, crumbling our childhood wonder and replacing it with a cold reality.
The work of midlife, (age range 35-74) and for each new adult developmental stage to follow is to accept and confront these profound realities. For many, mid-life disillusionment comes with the realization that you lived life exactly the way you were supposed to…but you did not feed your Soul or build lasting relationships, whether personal, in your community, or otherwise. I hear this all the time: “I got everything I wanted and I still don’t have what I need.”
As we age into older adulthood, it is more and more common to let go of what no longer serves us to move towards more life…towards our truest desires, to fully live our true self expression of the why we are here at this time choosing anew to live it our way. Thus the mass “Great Resignations” we are confronting in the U.S . I’m not deterred by hese mounting resignations as I know they will lead us into “Great Reinventions™” our signature greatness DNA. These times require new vision and approaches
Change comes whether we like it or not, so the sooner we learn how to let go, the easier it will be to cross into what business futurist Ian Morrison calls the “second curve of change into the future.”
Many of us find ourselves mired in youthful choices, trying to hold onto the “life is good” phase between the old and the new curve. Our attempts are futile. The time between is fleeting. We must discard what was illusory. What is required of us is to position ourselves for the future by dealing with what’s on our plate!A number of global and national disasters from earthquakes to tsunamis to hurricanes and terrorist activities—and now the 2020 pandemic that is eviscerating our economies and devastating our way of life as it wreaks havoc and enormous losses of life have forced us to wake up to a shocking reality that we too are vulnerable. What we need to do now more than ever is to ask ourselves and those we serve, “What really matters?” Each of us has to tend to the state of our Souls and the Soul of our state… and the planet.
Those of us in our 40’s, 50’s and 60’s are returning to the values of our youth. Our younger generations are having to pioneer new scenarios not yet imagined. Many of us abandoned oldies but goodies lost our spirits when we left “flower power” behind. Too many of us forgot that love does matter. Most are searching for a connection to something greater than we are. Many are burned out, disappointed, and longing to tap “free spirit” again. As we face worldwide crises and our dearest held values are assaulted everywhere, we are reconnecting to Soul.
It’s time for the “New Normal.” We seek the gentle days of “flower power” and the visionary power of “We Shall Overcome.” We want our freedom back. What else is there really? What we need to do now more than ever is to ask ourselves and those we serve, “What really matters?” All we really know for sure is that our time is fleeting. And that our planet is in a critical stage of development: It will either dissipate or jump to a higher level of existence. But will we?
The paradigm is shifting right before us with the Coronavirus pandemic changing life as we know it. As countries around the world begin to reopen, tensions are high. We’re facing more global problems than ever before, beyond the pandemic—climate change, humanitarian crises, persistent gender inequality, global obstacles to new voting rights, and escalating global and local government breakdown and increasing terrorist attacks.
Petty tyrants of the world leverage the impoverished and disenfranchised to justify keeping themselves in power. If only we could return to being a beacon of freedom and inclusion. We’ve blown it in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’ve blown it with our allies, leaving them holding the free world together. We thought we had it covered. We didn’t test for Covid-19 fast enough. A strong growing middle class would have nipped right-wing insurgency in the bud. Instead, like elsewhere, there are the have-nots all waiting for a new “ism” to rescue them.
As we go through an epoch change, the “we versus them” mentality gets stoked to the max. Fear drives people to over-manage, to over-control, and to operate from overreacting instead of responding.
It’s the same here, just a different venue. We too have whittled away our middle-class. Our arrogance and righteousness has gotten us into trouble…again. Perhaps we were asleep. Thinking it couldn’t happen here. Not again. Not the free world. But there’s no hiding from it now as we are truly in a Darth Vaderesque fight for our very way of life. Everything our country was founded on must prevail or we will all disappear in the gap.
Worlds are clashing. Religions are vying for domain and dominion. Psychopaths are coming together to plan and accelerate the demise of our way of life. Democracy, dictatorship, or theocracy: Which is it going to be?
In the clutch, I’m still a “human possibilitarian.” I look for patterns and trends to find the way future forward.
Then I remember: always a crisis, then a resolution. We are at the gap. Are we learning from our mistakes and missteps? Can we let go of our adolescent “Wild West” pioneer mentality? We are a mature nation and citizens of a new global village. We have to decide who and what we want to be about. This might be our last chance. We can choose breakthroughs. That means all of us giving life our all—and doing it together. That means each of us reaches for our own greatness. It dissipates or evolves.
Everyday I hear about the impotent rage we feel. Pent up frustration. Fear. Information overwhelms. Success intoxication. Total exhaustion. Not enough satisfaction. Time is going faster than ever. Too many of us are stuck in first gear or have burned too much rubber.
For those of us who have reached the summit of success, who live “the good life” and have achieved even a modicum of self-actualization, we are the ones who can change the course we are on.
It is time for the “New Normal.”
“Flower power” may be a thing of the past, but we can now turn that power into a vital force for our future.
We can either seek revolution or evolution. I prefer the latter. Extremists always prefer the former. We are facing a significant worldview-shifting structural change. Which way will we choose?
With our visions firmly before us, we can widen the field of human possibility. Many of us have begun creating the “New Normal.” Have you?
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