I woke up to another morning without remembering what day of the week we are at, slightly off guard from my homebound. Deepak Chopra’s online meditation session came to the rescue where he suggested to invoke the higher intelligence and to get in touch with our true self. Gratification of the good times, of what we currently have and realizing our current state introduces a balance as well as an inquisition of what is and what can be, will be. Yet I do not think that we are at the stage to think the future as we are only realizing the need to acknowledge the “now”. We have to move to an observing state – observing as if we are meditating and limiting ourselves to assess who we truly are so that we can also create who we can be/will be. We are feeling as if life is happening to us and experiencing multiple levels of existential anxiety and Deepak suggest the notion of life happening through us, inviting us to be a witness.
We as human species can adapt and build resilience through experiences and since the beginning of the lockdowns; we are also seeing amazing creative ideas, community engagement, immersive social solutions coming into practice. The assessment is on multiple levels as governments, policy makers, industries, brands, global citizens wake up to new realities and I cannot help but think that whatever that was in excess, not needed, landfilled, devalued is fading out and away and the precious, the real, the valuable emerge as the remains of the day. It is essential that we take the time to contemplate on the transformation with a clear conscious so that we can experience the related awareness which we are facing and evolve to be present as a change agent for the future. We have not been to this future before – it is nothing we have experienced before and the present moment, our perception of this present moment and ourselves will determine our collective future.
This is a period where being conceptual does not apply to understand the dynamics. This is a time where we have to be immersed in the situation and practice compassion and resilience – this is a time where time does not matter as there is no tomorrow as we knew and it is actually time to go back and look at our roots and the higher intelligence that we as humans have accumulated and even formatted so that we can tap into our humanity. We are realizing how connected we are globally, partnerships, solidarity, the essence of the what we need to invest in, the sanctions, the cease-fires, waste management, health management and many more areas of expertise for our common human life.
Last week Paul Polman of Imagine which is a consultancy platform for the C-Suite encouraging a new type of collaboration for systems change; mentioned at an online webinar that %40 of the brands are doing damage to their credibility; putting pressure on supply chains, not paying and cancelling orders. The moral obligations, working better together, actively participating for the solutions, businesses as givers instead of takers and that we are global citizens of the world were Paul Polman`s current business status highlights. The companies have to invest in a stakeholder first approach, and we are seeing such examples as well as the greenwashing which has become profoundly recognizable. The values of a brand determine the dominant decision-making mechanism at a time of crisis and eventually the ultimate total well-being inquiry will drive consumers` decision making. The need to shift to a higher consciousness is not only on the individual level but is for businesses as well.
Deepak Chopra shared a poem which invites us all to contemplate deeper on what is going on for our connected humanity today so that we can decide how we want to co-create the future.
We fell asleep in one world and woke up in another,
Suddenly Disney is out of magic,
Paris is no longer romantic,
New York doesn`t stand up anymore
The Chinese wall is no longer a fortress,
And Mecca is empty.
Hugs and kisses suddenly become weapons,
And not visiting parents and friends
Becomes an act of love.
Suddenly your realize that power, beauty and money
Are worthless,
And can`t get you the oxygen you`re fighting for.
The world continues its life and it is beautiful.
It only puts humans in cages.
I think it is sending us a message :
You are not necessary,
The air, earth and water and sky without you are fine.
When you come back, remember that you are my guests.
Not my masters.
Dr. Dhruv Chauhan
