Having being one of the originators of the UK Values Alliance’s focus on resilience and failing last week to find any interesting articles to post, I felt I was being called to live out two of my values, creativity and integrity. I have three thoughts to share on resilience.

Conscious Incompetence

Words like ‘old ways of doing things don’t work anymore’ trip off the tongue very easily as we navigate these complex times. We are in the conscious incompetence phase of the growth model. We are conscious of ‘the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible’ to quote Charles Eisenstein, yet we are not always taking the steps to live it. This is where resilience comes in, not resilience to past ways but resilience to our values and our place in the nurturing of the seeds of the emergent. This demands we consciously live in the ‘beautiful world’ and we integrate it so it becomes unconsciously natural in our behaviour. We’ be’ it and ‘act’ from it.

Self-Curiosity

To be more conscious, self-curiosity is useful. It’s comes not from the negative ‘what am I doing wrong’ but from wondering questions such as: How can I live my values from the emerging future? Am I acting from my ego in this situation? Am I projecting my baggage here or am I connected to a mysterious knowing? How can I act from a mindful state? How can I be more mindful? What do I need to let go of to live the emergent? What support do I need to be more resilient for emergence? Who else is thinking as I am? Who is writing about this? If I act in this way am I living my values? Self-curiosity demands vulnerability and gives us a chance to strengthen the resilience muscle and change our thoughts and behaviours.

Move from ego to eco system

Otto Scharmer’s latest book ‘Leading from the Emerging Future’ describes the move from ego to eco system economies. I made a link between his thoughts and the whispers a few years ago from the Indigenous world that the future is moving towards us. We can move towards the emerging future by sensing and knowing. The rational comes in when our knowing side asks for action. Key themes are: see other perspectives to sense the future; operate from a sense of knowing to inspire; prototype, have a go at the new; share learnings to accelerate the change. These are huge steps for some. Resilience to eco systems is challenging and soul enhancing, both for the individual and for the planet.

Continue sending your personal stories of your resilience to be posted on our social media to joy.rees@omg.co.uk.