Why is it FREEDOM that you want?

We have protests in our country against the processes the government has put in place to deal with the COVID virus.

Some are organised rallies.

Some are secretive, slurring whispers.

Some have formed into cult-like groups with secret meetings and war-cry slogans that name themselves to each other.

And some are just you and me, quietly expressing our concern.

We want our FREEDOM back.

Why?

I think it’s because all of the things we are being denied are the things we did to maintain our sanity, our mental health.

We hung out with our friends at the mall, at the pub, at the café that sells baby chinos and smashed avo on toast.

We walked in the park.

We gazed at the sea, at the sky, at the clouds, at the sunsets.

We went out and about at times and to places we chose (or at least that’s the story we tell).

We went to jobs that makes us feel useful, gave us a status of sorts, a place in the world, gave us the ability to think for ourselves,

instead of having to juggle the lives of our children, in a job with very little status in that outside world, no recognition and no training in skills, be they hard skills OR soft.

We have to give up sports – wither pitting our own skills,

or analysing and vocally and bodily expressing ourselves about the skills of others.

All of it

All of it

was aimed at keeping us sane, happy, hopeful

on an even keel,

safe, esteemed, useful, with a stable routine of sorts,

able to vent, with mind and body,

maybe even feeling fulfilled.

watching the game

going to the pub or the café

visiting the park or the beach

were just things we did

And we gave ourselves all sorts of reasons

But rarely did we articulate the need for good mental health.

Well, I certainly didn’t, although I was beginning to understand.

Now as I watch this word FREEDOM being bandied about, I see.

Because freedom of choice is one of our basic mental health allies.

Because nature and sport and the arts and social life are some of our basic mental health allies.

And they or access to them has been restricted.

And suddenly FREEDOM is a useful rallying cry for people denied something they didn’t even know they needed,

took for granted, maybe

But had never thought about much until it was taken away

And FREEDOM is a useful word to rally and to protest.

Protest against authority

Generally, the government who has taken this role

And government, I find, has not made mental health its priority in the past

I don’t think we as a society,

Nor our representatives

Have understood mental health until the last century

And certainly not in any compassionate way.

Nor have we understood its impact on the decisions our leaders have made.

If we are deprived of the things we took for granted

Whether they be parks and restaurants and sport and access to the outdoors

Or whether they be what we call privilege and power

the ability to use and dominate resources,

be they natural or human,

FREEDOM is a useful rallying cry.

Some are organised rallies, with fists in the air.

Some are secretive, slurring whispers.

Some have formed into cult-like groups with secret meetings and war-cry slogans and maybe even an item of clothing that name themselves to each other.

And some are just you and me, quietly expressing our concern,

our need for stable mental health.

I finish with a question

In the face of this situation

this situation of leadership

of compassion and understanding

What is the revolution YOU are leading?

And what story are you telling?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Because that’s what I do – support those of us,

of you who are quietly creating support for a different way of life,

a change to the system,

a way around the system,

a support for those of us who have been left behind by what the system needs to do

Maybe you are into things like reducing your carbon footprint or your use of plastic.

Maybe you are supporting homeless people, donating the services you normally charge for.

Maybe you are charging for services and those services provide the health, the transformation, the skills, the mindset

that no government or system is providing

or you are providing it in a way that the system just does not accommodate.

My services are for you.

 

Because we need you.

 

We need your leadership in that field,

 

even though you may be ONLY in business

ONLY doing the right thing

ONLY getting your pet peeve satisfied

ONLY doing the thing you KNOW to be right

needed

justified

You have the opportunity, perhaps even the responsibility

to lead.

My story services use the art and science of story to allow you to define your leadership, your value

and to present it to the world in a way that will get results

allow you to progress in business, in your career, in your community

to get results

and to give us all the benefit of what you bring.

So if that’s something you need,

something you might be willing to be brave for

something you want to step into.

Let me know and let’s get started!

 

 

 

, , , ,

Saying Goodbye to a TERRIBLE, NO-GOOD, VERY BAD Year

And I have just watched another piece of social media madness telling me what a BAAAAAAD year 2016 was,

All those celebrities died.

America elected Donald Trump.

We went on making terrible decisions about our planet and its future.

We went on making terrible decisions about ourselves and our contribution to the economy.

We went on making terrible decisions about other humans and how they should run their countries, their lives, their relationships.

WOE IS ME!!

Yes, we learn from our mistakes.

I KNOW that.

But we will not learn if all we do is wring our hands and shiver with horror at how horrible it all is or was.

And that’s what it’s about isn’t it?  That shiver, that little, closet ripple, that little flow of adrenalin. We can indulge in it because it’s safe.  These things are not me, not us, and we can share in that little shiver, indulge in that little ripple, together.

After all, there’s nothing we can do about it.

and

It’s not really about us.

In the latest video (quite drastically edited from the original, but well done, nonetheless), the one that finally stirred me to write this piece, a man wakes up after being asleep for the whole year.  His minder lists the achievements throughout the year.  The man grunts.

His minder lists all of the dead celebrities.  The man grunts, and is noticeably moved.

A gorilla who was shot is added to the list with the additional statement that “No-one is safe.”

His minder prepares to top the list

“There’s one thing I haven’t told you yet and it’s really, really bad.”

The man’s response?

“We’ve run out of ham?”

The answer, of course, was Donald Trump’s election, and yet somehow it was a let-down after the possibility of the loss of ham.

Not me, not us, not anything that concerns me, really.

Shall I add the war and killings and genocide, the rapes of the environment and of humans?

Man’s inhumanity to man, woman’s inhumanity, humankind’s inhumanity?

People not being the best a human could be?

“After all, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

and

“It’s not really about us.”

In the way of all stories, it always is about us, and there is always something we can do about it.

You will know why it is about you, about us, and what you or we can do about it – your personal lesson from the story, the one you need right now

what you need to learn about death and dying

what you need to learn about humanity and being the best human you, me, we can be.

Right now I have to work on evolving into the best human I can be, in order to contribute to the best humans we can all be.

And right now, I need to learn how we can use story in order to lead us all to being the best humans we can be.




I end as I began – with social media – one of the most powerful storytelling platforms that we have – 




and return to that video,

which in the end, 



turned out to be a wonderful story – 



because it made us all return to just what mattered in 2016 – 

and that’s the ham, and Harambe, 

and how we can only really change the world with compassion 

and from within our own lives.

The Video I watched is here  and the original is here .