.....a clean sheet

Yogis,
When I step back to look at this unprecedented time in which we now sit, an image of a clean sheet of paper keeps coming to mind. A chance to re-write how we do things.

In reality we always have that opportunity. Every day is a new now with nothing set in stone, but it typically does not feel that way. We have our heads down, walking well worn tracks and believing we know what comes next. That we are in charge. But then BAM!  This all happened. One moment we felt in control and the next we were floating unattached from all that felt ‘normal.’

We are sitting poised to begin a new journey. Which way will we go?

The easiest thing is to jump back into those tracks and trudge ahead. Back to the ‘normal’ we had previously lived. Although you may recall, at that time everyone kept saying the way we were living was unsustainable. Or we can clear a new path…..

Our main obstacle is our limiting beliefs. Fences in our mind that have developed over time and tell us what is and isn’t possible. They create artificial boundaries that keep us tied to ‘how things are done.’ Let’s take the fall schools discussion as an example.

We are coming up with two options. The first is full online schooling. Now I don’t know about you, but when I was working at Xerox, if I had even two full day trainings involving my computer, I was a basket case by the end. And then there are those who simply cannot learn in that format because their brains aren’t wired that way. Ok, option 2. Send them to the school buildings which are indoor, shared areas and require adults to be with them and then send the kids home to breathe on parents and grandparents. Hmmmm…….

Fences in our mind.

Then there are the college kids. They may feel they need to take a gap year. But what do they do? No options for backpacking through Europe or joining Habitat for Humanity. There must be new options. Ways of being we haven’t even explored.

What if we decided that for one year we throw out the curriculum and its incessant demand for rising test scores and instead have teachers guide students in life projects? Perhaps older kids could spend some of their days with small groups of younger kids teaching them about nature, building or sewing? Or maybe we develop some loose national framework of issues our country faces and hand it over to the children and let them come up with plans and ideas using their individual strengths?

Take down the fences. No boundaries.

Many said we couldn’t work from home. Politicians believed the only way to solve the traffic issue was to build more lanes. We believed we couldn’t cut down on gasoline use. Aha says the pandemic! Those limiting beliefs uprooted in an instant showing us that indeed we could.

I can see the potential but don’t have the answers, but there are those out there that do. That aren’t bound by our ways. Let’s all look for them, give them the tools and put our doubts aside. Who knows what might happen!

Opening the mind for inspiration,
SARAH