My core values are love/justice, community, and transformation. Other values that are important to me are self-determination, equity, and diversity.
In the future…
I will be known in my community as loving, supportive, strategic, and visionary. My community will be diverse, interdependent, and creative. The planet will be resilient, free, and successfully balance chaos and order.
In the future…
I will be known in my community as loving, supporting, strategic, and visionary. In my work towards justice for the planet and people, the legacy of my work in my community will show that I am loving* and care deeply about supporting others. That support will be visible from the micro (1on1) to the macro (facilitation of large groups). I will be trusted as someone who thinks critically and moves effectively towards systemic goals in systems of all sizes. I will be known as someone who creates space for vision (the visions of others as well as my own) by being aligned with myself and inspiring others to be aligned with their truest selves.
My community will be diverse, interdependent, and creative. My community will have many different types of people (ability, race, gender, class, culture, age, location, etc.) who understand that our unique differences and wholenesses combine our inextricable connectedness into a joyful magic. Our interdependence on each other and the broader more-than-human world will be a source of our creativity. We will harness this creativity (as well as love) to move towards a world in which we understand what it means to be human and how our gift as a species creates a responsibility which we are bound to fulfill. Our presence on the planet will improve life for all beings.
The planet and places humans live will be resilient, free, and hold both chaos and order. Life will be understood as change and our species will know when to hold on and when to let go. Ecosystems at all scales (including the ones humans create and modify) will have the complexity and biodiversity to handle shocks while continuing their capacities to carry life. But not just any life; non-self-terminating life, life that is increasingly able to experience liberation† and freedom.‡ Humans will recognize, accept, and align with the reality that all successful life is a perpetual dance of chaos and order.§
† “Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose - and commit myself to - what is best for me.” Paulo Coelho. The Zahir. Personal definition of freedom: knowledge of whom I belong to (those who have come before, those have yet to come, and those who are here now) and how.
‡ My personal definition of liberation: joy untouched by fear. Drawing on the words of Nina Simone via “Freedom Is a Feeeling! Freedom Is No Fear!” – Nina Simone – New York, 1968, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPD8f2m8WGI.
§ “But it is also a world that seeks order. When chaos erupts, it not only destroys the current structure, it also creates the conditions for new order to emerge. Change always involves a dark night when everything falls apart. Yet if this period of dissolution is used to create new meaning, then chaos ends and new order emerges.” Margaret Wheatley. Leadership Lessons for The Real World. 2006. http://margaretwheatley.com/articles/leadershiplessons.html