This was the scene right before career coach Richard Baum and I started a lengthy conversation about transition and fear, especially as they relate to the current economic climate. We both agreed there are many ways to interpret what’s happening now. We also agreed 21st-century American culture needed a huge jolt for us to re-assess our priorities and make significant changes in the way we live.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
— Albert Einstein
“Fear Itself,” a fascinating Utne Reader (Jan-Feb ’09) article about how fear plays in the American psyche, explores our increasing isolation in the mix of technology and media, and how this isolation has contributed to an inability to manage distress about a plethora of threats, including crime, disease, drugs, the Internet, environmental collapse, and terrorists. Sociologist Frank Furedi says, “While my parents feared together, you and I have a more isolated, private experience. We fear on our own.” And according to a report from the World Social Summit, in New York, the top-ranking fear is “not being able to maintain the same standard of living in the future.”
Play. We are in desperate need of playfulness, that totally absorbing experience of curiosity, wonder, joy, responsiveness, and resiliency that keeps us connected to ourselves, each other, and the world around us.
The collapse of our standard of living (which for many has meant exploding debt) is one more illustration of the death/rebirth pattern that is prevalent in virtually every cultural myth around the globe. Something outdated dies in order to make room for what is waiting to be born anew. My hunch is that if we stay focused on what’s dying, we might miss what’s waiting to spring forth.
Which is why I was doodling tonight.
Maybe this seems weird. Or too simplistic. But it keeps me feeling excited and optimistic. When terror and anxiety start creeping up, I immediately do something to reconnect myself to that place of openness: find someone I care about, go for a long walk with my camera, talk to strangers, doodle, visit a new art gallery. Anything to prevent me from freezing up and shutting down. This place, riddled with fear, is the antithesis of creativity. It keeps us from being present to our whole selves or accessing our intuition about what we might need.
Are you feeling scared? You’re not the only one. Anxiety usually means we’re on the cusp of challenging ourselves in extremely courageous ways. This is a fertile, fruitful time for some key questions we can all ask ourselves.
Who am I?
Where am I?
How do I feel right now?
What do I really want? What will satisfy my soul?
What kinds of opportunities is this transition presenting me?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Would appreciate more posts like this one, Mara! I’ve posted this on http://www.lifecourageous.com.
Thanks Marilyn! Glad you liked it.