I think the first time it really sank in was when the facilitator of our iDEFEND General Assembly approached me to ask if I would talk instead to the speaker later who at that point was answering her last set of questions, and I said, without hesitation, “No, I want everyone to hear this.” Three months ago, I most probably wouldn’t have done that. But that was before I came across Mel Robbins‘ book The 5 Second Rule: Transform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage (5SR).
How Does the 5 Second Rule Work?
So what is the 5SR? It is a personal growth tool to force yourself to stop worrying or being indecisive and to take action instead. How exactly does it work? All you have to do is say 5-4-3-2-1, and Go! Take action!
In the first part of book, Mel Robbins tells us how she came upon the idea of the 5SR. It was a very difficult part of her life. She was drinking too much, had trouble at work, and was having problems with her marriage. In the mornings, when the alarm would ring — so she can begin her day, take care of breakfast, and the kids — she would repeatedly press the snooze button. She was caught in a vicious cycle of worrying and dread.
One night, in bed while watching TV, she saw a NASA rocket blast off after the usual countdown, and that’s when the idea struck her. She would countdown herself to take action. The following morning, when the alarm rang, she 5-4-3-2-1 herself to get up without pressing the snooze button. And the rest was history. It completely changed her life. In all aspects of her life, she chose to use the 5SR to stop drinking, fix her relationship with her husband, help her husband get out of his business debt, find her passion as a life coach and speaker, and help hundreds of thousands of people with their lives. And, recently, it helped mine.
It was as if there was a personality change. Now, not to toot my own horn (magbuhat ng sariling bangko), I already was comfortable talking to people, and found my role as a connector among individuals and organizations in my advocacies. I was already comfortable as well in my own skin. During meetings and forums, I would share my thoughts at opportune moments. However, during this particular general assembly, it was different. It was as if, I added another level to my powers — “lumevel-up,” in Filipino slang. I did not hesitate to share my thoughts, question assumptions, etc. Kung walanghiya ako noon, mas naging walanghiya pa ako ngayon. (If I was shameless then, I was even “more shameless” now).
So why does the 5SR work? According to Robbins, the 5SR is a metacognition tool — metacognition refers to the state of being aware of what’s happening to your mind or thought processes — to force yourself to access your prefrontal cortex where rational processes/thoughts and conscious decisions occur. Instead of thinking of excuses or being caught in a loop of worry, you are forced — by counting 5-4-3-2-1 to take action, GO! Our brain doesn’t want the unfamiliar — its primitive way of keeping us safe. However, our brain doesn’t know that we already live in a different context. The 5SR is our way of short-circuiting, as it were, that evolutionary impulse to survive.
Activation Energy
In the book, Robbins explains that activation energy — coined by the legendary psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience — is the reason why making change is so hard, and that the 5SR starts the process of breaking down this obstacle. She says:
Activation Energy is that “initial huge push of energy that’s required to change, — whether it’s to get a stalled car to move forward or yourself out of a warm bed in the morning.
When you start to count 5 4 3 2 1, it is the beginning of a chain of reaction that not only awakens the prefrontal cortex, but also gets you ready to make that physical “initial huge push” that’s required to change.
The more that you believe that you are in control of your life, your actions and your future, the happier and more successful you’ll be. A bias towards action which the 5SR develops is guaranteed to increase your feelings of control over your life.
At 18:57, Mel Robbins mentions the 5 Second Rule in her TEDx Talk
Health
Physical Health
If you have been putting off exercising for some time now, just 5-4-3-2-1, put on your shoes, go to the gym or take that first step, and start brisk walking or start jogging. Just 5SR, and put one foot forward in front of the other!
Or if you are tempted to eat that large slice of cake, just 5-4-3-2-1, and grab that banana or apple instead.
Mental Health
You can use 5SR as well to stop worrying. And if you have anxiety attacks you can try 5SR to conquer it. All you have to do is reframe it. According to Robbins who suffer from the condition, when you have panic attacks, you experience the same physical or biological reactions — you heart beats faster, your palms and armpits get sweaty, etc. It’s the same feeling you get when you just had a near-accident, except that you didn’t have one. Robbins says that when she experiences this, she tells herself that she’s just getting excited. By doing so, her brain now has an explanation of what’s happening to the body, and the mind will begin to calm down.
Robbins says you can also use anchor thoughts to fight off worrying and anxiety. If you’re worrying about giving a speech, for example, just tell yourself the satisfaction the audience members will feel when you’ve shared your knowledge. Or when travelling, and you are worrying about getting into an accident, just start thinking of something positive that you will do once you reach your destination, such as enjoying your time with family or experiencing a new adventure.
Relationships
In relationships, say what you have to say to your family or your relatives. Tell them how much they mean to you. Or just be present when they need you. You may not be given the opportunity to do so again. Just 5SR, and say it or do it!
Career
You can use the 5SR to explore what you want to do with your life. Use your curiosity to start researching or Googling that hobby or skill you have wanted to try for a long time. Then 5-4-3-2-1 yourself to attend that seminar or workshop to explore that hobby.
Going back to my iDEFEND GA, it was not only me who noticed my more confident self. There was a female advocate (from the parish community who helps relatives of drug war/extrajudicial killings) who told me “Natutuwa ako sa iyo.” (“You amuse me.”) I asked why. She told me I was so hyper. I told her it must be the Zykast I was taking for my coughing (hyperactive airways condition). Her male companion joked that whatever it was, that I should continue taking it. I told them briefly about the 5 Second Rule. (Just to make sure, that it was indeed the 5SR, I Googled and it was not the Zykast. 🙂 )
Reporting at the iDEFEND GA. (Photo by Jenny Linares)
My iDEFEND colleagues also noticed my active participation during the discussion. I told them about the Bullet Journaling I was doing — which I shared in my first post — but not about the 5 Second Rule. So I’m telling everybody now. (Speaking of journaling, just learned that Mel Robbins also designed a 5 Second Journal to help you become “the most productive, confident, and happiest you.”)
If you want a massive shift or change in your life, and if there’s only one book you would read this year (but better to read more!), you should buy the 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins. You won’t regret it. You will be inspired by: how an employee mustered the courage to talk to their CEO after being given another chance, and consequently the chance to move up the corporate ladder; how a teenager who unexpectedly passed away inspired others to seize the day and celebrate relationships; how a college student up and walked out of his law class, and enrolled as a Physical Education student in another university; and more stories of taking risks and overcoming self-doubt: people from all walks of life finally taking steps to achieve their dreams.
The 5SR is all about gaining, as Robbins says time and again, a bias towards action, it is about taking small steps — what Anne Lamott calls taking it Bird by Bird, in her eponymous book — to gain courage. Over time, these small moments will make you gain confidence, empower you, and will embolden you in other aspects of your life. So try the 5 Second Rule, if there’s something that you’ve been putting off for some time now that has the potential to change or improve your life, just 5-4-3-2-1 and Act! Would love to know how it goes.
If you have enjoyed, learned something from, or were insipired by this article, kindly consider donating or please contact me at filipinocreative@gmail.com — your way of providing me a basic income 🙂 — so that I may continue to research and write more such articles.
I also found out that he had written a book called Utopia for Realists. I bought the book, and it was so riveting that I read it in less than two days. It was like reading an activist Malcolm Gladwell, replete with fascinating anecdotes and data/evidence-based stories. The book actually discussed three topics: Universal Basic Income, 15-Hour Workweek, and Open Borders (advocating for passport/visa-less employment in another country, as opposed to the prevailing practice now which started during World War I to keep spies out). In this interview with Trevor Noah, Bregman talks more about the 15-Hour workweek, aside from his book and Basic Income. He also mentions the bullshit jobs that millions of people find meaningless.
UBI in Utopia for Realists
In the book Utopia for Realists, I learned that UBI or a fixed income to be received monthly by everyone — without any conditions — to meet his basic needs (this 10-minute Youtube video by our dear friends from Kurzgezagt explains the concept well), was proposed in some form by Thomas More in his book Utopia, Thomas Paine, Martin Luther King, the conservative economist Milton Friedman, and was even almost passed by the U.S. Congress during the time of President Nixon, if not for the objection of the Democrats in the Senate who said that the amount was not enough.
The story about how Pres. Nixon was also persuaded to amend the bill because his adviser Martin Anderson showed him a six-page report about the Speenhamland system in England at the end of the 18th century and the start of 19th century. The report was based on sociologist Karl Polanyi‘s classic book The Great Transformation, in which Polanyi described the system as a failure. The report made Nixon amend the bill which eventually led to its demise. The twist was that, later on, historians found out that Polanyi had based his assessment on erroneous and falsified data. Such stories left you wondering about the roads not taken in the history of humanity.
One important assertion by Bregman is how the poor make poor decisions because of the scarcity mentality. When one is pressed for time, money, etc., his or her ability to make wise decisions diminishes. For example, a study by behavioral scientist Eldar Shafir of sugarcane workers in India who harvested their crops only half of the year, showed that their IQ diminished by 14 points before harvest time.
An excellent video explanation by Kurzgesagt about Universal Basic Income (UBI)
UBI Addresses Inequality
Bregman also showed two graphs. One graph showed per capita GDP in the x axis, and index of social problems in the y axis. In this graph, there was no correlation between how wealthy a country collectively is and the amount of social problems it has. But when the x axis was replaced with inequality or the difference in income between the rich and the poor, there was a straight line which clearly showed the link. You can see the graph in this article Population Health: Behavioral and Social Science Insights. In other words, if we help reduce inequality with UBI, the effort would be worth it, as we would be addressing not just poverty, but a host of other societal problems.
He says that his friends in Silicon Valley all say that in 10 years, a lot of jobs will be lost to Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and automation. In particular, the jobs of truck drivers, people in retail, accountants, etc., will be endangered, and will cause social breakdown. He says that Universal Basic Income or what he calls the Freedom Dividend will provide a buffer to absorb the shock of job losses. The great thing is that his message is resonating even with Trump supporters and Republicans — just look at the comments section of his YouTube videos, and you will seldom see a negative comment. It seems that he is uniting the country with his message. It is, as he put it, not about moving Left or Right, but moving Forward.
This interview with The Atlantic will give you an excellent overview of presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s background and Universal Basic Income platform. This is also my first encounter with him, and the first video I saw of him.
In his own words, the Democrats have focused too much on other themes such as race and identity politics — nothing wrong with that according to him — but they have forgotten why a lot of people voted for Trump: job insecurity. Like many people, I believe Yang will be the next U.S. president, a man, again in his own words, who is the opposite of Trump: “an Asian who knows Math.” If you’re an American/U.S. Citizen or just someone curious about the details of his policies, Yang’s almost two-hour interview with Joe Rogan is must-watch/listen.
Andrew Yang explains to Joe Rogan how he will implement his Universal Basic Income policy once he becomes U.S. President
Fascinating stories of the leading advocates of Basic Income who did not wait for government, and went ahead with their UBI/BI experiments/initiatives.
The Economist & UBI: Guy Standing
And because of the docu, I learned, as I mentioned, about the work of Guy Standing. Please watch Standing’s TedXKlagenfurt video, and learn how their experiments in India has improved the lives of the poor, and emancipated them, especially the women. It is really must-watch.
Economist Guy Standing explains Universal Basic Income, how it should be a right that people should be given, and how their Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) / experiments have shown how Basic Income has improved the lives of people, and emancipated them.
I am now reading Guy Standing’s book, Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen. From the initial chapters, it seems that it is more comprehensive in its treatment of Universal Basic Income, including UBI’s long history, how to implement it, etc. For Guy Standing, UBI is a right because everyone must benefit from the commons.
My point is imagine if we crafted our taxes with the UBI in mind — everyone wouldn’t be left behind. It would be fair to everyone, with each person — even children and dependents — benefiting from the earnings/production of the commons. For now, this is a simplistic summary of what can be done, but I think you are getting my drift of an alternative vision of the future.
Speaking of 4P’s or the Philippine government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) which started during the Arroyo presidency, it does seem to help the poor according to World Bank, but wouldn’t it be better with UBI, when it’s unconditional? Perhaps we can raise the amount, or remove the conditionalities and the bureaucracy so that the poor will have the freedom to do what’s best for them? Some things to consider. Will also include this in my future research.
As I continued studying UBI, I became more and more convinced that this is one of the main programs that we’re looking for to address the inequality — 21.6% of our kababayans live below the poverty line, as of 2015 according to the World Bank — and thus, reduce the social ills in our country. UBI will reduce criminality, improve our general health, and improve our general well-being.
UBI is also an advocacy which will touch on other advocacies: labor issues; women’s emancipation — they wouldn’t be dependent on their husbands anymore, or they wouldn’t resort to prostitution; ecology/environment, e.g., tax those contributing to climate change, and distribute the revenues to the people; corruption — where are we losing money in our budget process, e.g. the pork barrel and sums? — if we can save the money from the corruption, then we can direct it to UBI.
It had me thinking also of the livelihood programs we put together for the poor. For example, uniform livelihood programs may not fit the skills of all of the recipients. I was reminded of the families of the extrajudicial killing (EJK) victims we are helping. Their financial needs were different. Some stopped their food delivery service. Others were more concerned with the schooling of their children. If we can just give them cash, then they themselves know what to do best with the money. In the near future, I’m thinking of implementing a basic income or at least an unconditional cash transfer for these psychologically and financially devastated families, and see if this is indeed a better way to help them. A footnote, by the way: livelihood and psycho-social support for the children are among the main needs of these families victimized by the government’s brutal war on drugs (in future posts, will also share my learnings about alternative and evidenced-based drug policies that really work).
Speaking of the drugs, I was reminded when reading about the capability of the poor to wisely decide for themselves when given the chance. In the book High Price by neuropharmacologist Dr. Carl Hart, harm reduction advocate, his experiments with drug dependence showed that given the choice between drugs and money, the person would always choose cash. This validates the findings cited in Bregman’s book that as a rule, people do not spend their money on alcohol and drugs. They spend it on their basic needs, and activities or things which will improve their well-being.
Going back to how artificial intelligence will cause unemployment, the book by Kaifu Lee, AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order which discusses job displacement in China and the U.S. among other things, said we must focus on jobs which will be valuable in the future, like caring jobs, caretaking, nursing, teaching, etc. For UBI advocates like Bregman, Yang, and Standing, we must start replacing indicators like GDP with measurements which measure our general well-being: health, happiness, etc., This is because activities like volunteering, taking care of the elderly and the children, which are extremely valuable to society, are things not measured by the GDP. For Bregman and Yang, GDP is an outdated measurement meant to address the challenges of The Great Depression. A measurement akin to the Happiness Index will be more appropriate,
UBI From My POV
Personally, I can relate to UBI. As an advocate, I have long seen myself with ambivalence. Am fulfilled and happy, but often find myself financially challenged. This has been a problem that me and my fellow Filipino Cultural Creative (FCC) friends have been grappling with. How can we continue our work which we know is of great value to society? I think a Universal Basic Income is an excellent solution. We can work continuously without worrying where our next rent (as I’m worrying now 🙂 ) or food allowance would come from.
A few days ago, our writers group Freelance Writers Guild of the Philippines (FWGP) co-organized with UNI Global Union ASIA & Pacific (UNI Apro) a forum re the opportunities and current challenges facing freelance writers right now. Aimee Morales, the main founder of FWGP, at one point said that it’s hard to organize writers because they are trying to address their basic needs. I said that it was a chicken and egg situation, but if indeed we had a UBI, then that part of the problem of organizing would be taken care of somehow.
UBI & Work
Indeed. in a UBI society, we need to re-think our concept of work. Bregman has touched on this with his chapter on the 15-Hour Workweek. He tells about John Maynard Keynes who in 1930, just at the doorstep of the Great Depression, delivered a brief lecture called “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren,” which predicted a hundred years hence, in 2030, we are going to work less hours because of our collective wealth.
Still researching UBI, I came across an article titled Living in Switzerland ruined me for America and its lousy work culture by a US Citizen who lived in Switzerland, and you can see the difference between our way of living which we patterned after the U.S. In Switzerland — and in other European countries, for that matter — rest and vacation are valued so much that you can be flexible with your working hours and still get paid handsomely.
Thus, UBI will make us think of how to redesign our society. Our country today has been drawn to the ideology of authoritarianism and the mishmash appeal of populism. I think what Filipinos are looking for right now is a vision of the future which can inspire them, give them hope. Their pains and frustrations — see my thoughts on an FB post here –have attracted them to populism/authoritarianism/fascism. As expected, many are now disillusioned with Duterte, and the rest will get dismayed — they will find out that Duterte is nothing but the same old trapo, but in wolf’s clothing, and is all about greed in power, manipulating and gaslighting them with fake news, misogyny, and threats of violence.
But in order to bring back to our fold those who are still clinging to what is now an illiberal democracy, we must give them an alternative vision: a rights-based, participative (not just representative) society/system, a new way of working and of appreciating work; a society where the citizens value one another, know how to rest, and take a breath; a society which knows that in order to develop as a nation, we need a happy citizenry — less anxious, well-rested, compassionate, abundance-minded. And I think UBI is one of the major ways to get there.
UBI & The Dream of a Better Society
In the following days, I will post more about how we can achieve this society and implement UBI. Will do more reading and consult economists, etc. and will blog about it. I’m also thinking of starting a non-profit to advocate for UBI.
And it seems that I’m not the one only looking into Basic Income. In an event last week — a talk by Nathan Quimpo of the Rise and Decline of the Left in Southeast Asia — Sen. Risa Hontiveros, when I asked her if she has heard about UBI, said that the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) is about to study it.
Meanwhile, Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo Onforio, dean of the U.P. School of Labor and Industrial Relations’ (UP SOLAIR), where we held our FWGP forum, said that he’s aware of UBI and Guy Standing’s work, and Michelle Belino of UNI-Apro said that UBI is one of their advocacies, and their Singaporean colleague and Regional Secretary Christopher Ng regularly gives talks about it.
I have also started evangelizing some of my fellow advocates, and some are inspired, or at the very least, see merit in the idea. Indeed, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is already upon us, where we will face a multitude of challenges, and UBI might well be one of the major solutions.
Make the Dream a Reality
The challenge, as articulated by Rutger Bregman, is how to bring this dream/vision into reality. He appeals for a strong will. In Utopia for Realists, he says “a worldview is not a Lego set where a block is added here, removed there. It’s a fortress that is defended tooth and nail, with all possible reinforcements, until the pressure becomes so overpowering that the walls cave in.”
He says that radical ideas start at the fringes, but become mainstream, not gradually, but in times of crisis. Moments of crisis for him, are instances of opportunities. He reminds us that the word “crisis” comes from the Greek word which means to “separate” or “sieve.” A crisis then “should be a moment of truth, the juncture at which a fundamental choice is made.” And the only way for us to make a wise choice is when we have long prepared for that crossroads.
Today, we are facing such a moment of truth. What’s happening to our country is a symptom of the systemic ills that we must overhaul. We should muster our collective will, and act deliberately and mindfully. UBI can serve as a catalyst. All we have to do now is educate ourselves, organize, and remain steadfast.
If you have enjoyed, learned something from, or were insipired by this article, kindly consider donating or please contact me at filipinocreative@gmail.com — your way of providing me a basic income 🙂 — so that I may continue to research and write more such articles.
I came across bullet journaling when I had just decided to focus again on writing. I have heard about it before (I think from author and entrepreneur Joanna Pen), and decided to to check out a couple of videos after YouTube recommended — around the first week of January — a video about it. The impression I got was that bullet journaling was a bit elaborate, and you needed artistic skills to do it. But when the second video mentioned the inventor of bullet journaling, Ryder Carroll, and I checked out his introduction to bullet journaling, that’s when I finally got it. Bullet journaling is actually minimalist, and is not really about the stickers or the washi tapes or the calligraphy, and the rest of the frills (it’s okay though if these things motivate you to bullet journal), but it is about organizing your thoughts in a mindful manner.
The more I watched Ryder’s videos including his TedX talk, the more I understood the system. I also bought the e-book version of his book The Bullet Journal Method (TBJM), and I swiftly read through the first chapters, and felt a surge of excitement, especially when he said that as you got deeper into the practice, you would see the interconnectedness of things. I have since finished reading the book, and learned a lot from the practice of bullet journaling, and its accompanying philosophy as laid out by Ryder.
So What is a Bullet Journal?
Ryder Carroll says, in his book, that bullet journaling is an analog way of organizing to “track the past, organize the present, and plan for the future.”
It is many things, including: decluttering the mind, cultivating your curiosity, and keeping you focused.
It declutters the mind by putting down your thoughts — we have as much as 500 thousand thoughts a day — on paper. As one thought crosses your mind like a task, or an event, or a note, you write it on your Daily Log putting a symbol or bullet before each entry — thus the term “bullet journal” — to indicate what kind of thought or note it is.
You can also add other symbols called signifiers to further describe what kind of a thought it is, You aim to be as concise as possible. Hopefully, the act of writing down improves your memory and forces you to prioritize and ask why you want to do something, and then decide whether it is something worth doing or just distracts you from your priority goals.
How Do You Bullet Journal?
Ryder Carroll’s book The Bullet Journal Method is an excellent guide on how to bullet journal since it is written from the man who invented bullet journaling himself. Carroll, who has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), developed his system of organizing over time to address his disability. In his TedX Talk, he explained that ADD is not about not being able to focus, but about focusing on too many things. Bullet Journaling is a way of prioritizing your goals, and focusing on things that matter to you the most.
It is a process of unloading your mind of your thoughts, decluttering it so you may have more space and energy to devote your brain to other tasks.
You put whatever important thought or note in a Daily Log in a process called Rapid Logging. You use bullets to indicate whether these thoughts/ are tasks, events, or notes, whether they have been completed, scheduled on your calendar or migrated to another collecton (more on collections and migration later) or whether you have decided to cancel a task or an event because you decided that that particular item is a distraction.
You can also use signifiers to further describe or categorize these Daily Log items. There are signifiers to indicate if these items are important, has a fast-approaching deadline, are ideas, something to explore, or whether you love an item or are inspired by it.
Aside from a daily log, your Bullet Journal (BuJo for short) contains Collections. A Monthly Log (or Monthly Calendar) and A Future Log are examples of collections. A task or a goal which is composed of many tasks can be gathered in a single project. One project is an example of a collection. Other forms of collections could be Habit Trackers, Lists (e.g. reading list, movie list, etc), Progress Trackers, etc. Only your imagination or your objectives/goals limit the kind of collections you may include in your bullet journal pages. Some of your entries can be transferred to these collections in a process called migration, which you can do daily, weekly, or monthly.
Indexing
Speaking of pages, one of the brilliant ideas of bullet journaling, and a key feature, is the way you keep track of your collections. For easy access, you put page numbers in your BuJo pages, and then indicate the location of your Topics — that is, the titles of your collections — in your Index, which is actually your Table of Contents.
Flexibility
As you may have inferred by now, one strength of bullet journaling is it’s flexibility. The form and nature of your bullet journaling will depend on your needs and what works for you.
My Bullet Journaling So Far
I have been bullet journaling for more than a month now (I started January 9), and I can attest that it has made a huge impact in my life. Even after just a couple of days of bullet journaling, I already felt the difference. I was more calm, more focused (my BuJo’s word for the year is FOCUS), and more organized. Now, I rarely watch the news, limited my time on social media, especially Facebook, regularly meditate 10-minutes daily, and brisk walk daily. I have also clarified my goals and have read at least a book a week on writing and self-growth. I now watch more personal development and writing videos than sports videos on youtube, eat healthier, have started this blog, and have started outlining a novel. I have also started taking care of the plants, watering them daily, and the wilted ones have started to thrive again.
If you are experiencing some sort of life challenge, embarking on a new project, or want to reinvent yourself, I highly suggest you start bullet journaling, and/or buy Ryder Carroll’s book. Dotted notebooks are preferred, but any old-fashioned ruled notebook will do. You will discover that bullet journaling is not just about organizing, but is about a philosophy of life: it is about intentionality and mindfulness, it is also about minimalism (for me, at least), and about gratitude, and how to achieve happiness and fulfillment. It is about being able to review your life regularly, reminding you of the lessons, and what is important, and thus how to move forward. It is also about going offline and analog, to discover the power and magic of your handwriting and/or writing in cursive. It is about seeing the connections in your daily actions and interactions, thus enhancing your creativity. It’s like watering the plants in front of my house — concrete, specific, and the nurturing of a habit — so that the plant’s stem may rise up once more, straightening towards the sun, the leaves opening up again.
If you have enjoyed, learned something from, or were insipired by this article, kindly consider donating or please contact me at filipinocreative@gmail.com — your way of providing me a basic income 🙂 — so that I may continue to research and write more such articles.
Been in a bit of a financial pickle for the past month or so now, and every time it seemed things were getting more sour, reached out to the Universe via these wonderful creatures called human beings, and every time, I received a cosmic surprise, a heavenly gift, as it were. An unexpected gift there, a favor granted here. And generously. I’ve always been amazed by the power of connectION and connectING. Deep down, I’ve always recognized its value. Is it an evolutionary imperative — biological, or a mystic one — spiritual? I guess both, and more. To the Universe, I celebrate you. To the lovely connectEES, I embrace you all. The journey has just turned a corner, and I’m beginning to see the awe-inspiring colors. The challenges are far from overcome — they are just beginning to fall down the road — but the warmth of the wind’s whisper, “BELIEVE,” is just so reassuring, that there’s nothing left to be done, but BE. LIVE. <3
This has been happening often lately — individuals getting the urge to help, to do something positive for society, usually asking “What can I do?” It’s the collective unconscious talking.
New movements/groups are sprouting, organic, and they are looking to converge. Across burgeoning communities like these, there’s this shared need to discover new ways of looking and of doing things, of coming up with creative and holistic/wholistic solutions, where the people and their needs are considered first, where man’s relationship with his environment is paramount. These nascent communities are offering seemingly different solutions, but in truth, their underlying paradigm is cooperation, culture, creativity, and action.
On the other hand, these groups are different, and the uniqueness of each group is their strength, for once they connect and unite, their unique viewpoints will give birth to new world views and courses of action. The sum will be greater than the parts…
We dream of meaningful and authentic change, and finally, we realize that we are wide awake, and the varied seeds of change have broken through, sustained and energized by novel and innovative ideas, inexorably seeking the light. Now all that needs to happen is for the branches and leaves to seek each other out…
Reporting at the iDEFEND GA. (Photo by Jenny Linares)
