An Opening Note

Letter to the reader, from the author: Chelsea Robinson

Living life in an awakened way. That's how I want to show up. The question of how to truly live this philosophy comes quick and fast.

I know many people running towards a mission or a purpose. They are pulled forward. Sometimes by a burning vision for how the world should be, sometimes a private feeling of despair, or a lifelong call to be of service to others. None of these motives alone seem to be healthy or sustainable. Frustratingly, it seems almost random which people and ventures are effective at making visible change. I am curious about how people who want to have a net positive impact on the world can do it. Not the business model bit, but the feeling that you are giving your greatest gift to the issue that calls you most, in the most effective way - with results. And can we make it happen with more people, more teams? Is there a recipe for how to avoid the utopian founder driving the team into the ground with their wild visions of how the world should be? Or a recipe for how to enable a team to focus on breakthroughs and surprising insights rather than self-reinforcing mental models?

There are nuances in an individual's pathway to impact. The internal wrestling ring of an adult development journey. In awakening to the value of every inner-personality on every wall of our interior, can we respond to the needs of this living planet with all our forms of strength? Can we command and serve our inner team and the external team around us? Can we act out of urgency and with the same motion act out of immense, timeless patience? Can we act out of helplessness or despair and simultaneously step into our own unbridled power? Can we show up to offer our labor with the motivations of a student seeking to deepen their training and a master ready to demonstrate their specialty? Can we dream into the greatest visions for our generation, and walk towards those visions without assuming they're the answer? Can we listen with such openness that we might draw truth from those that felt voiceless, and then be a megaphone without corrupting the message? Can we breathe a sense of agency and possibility, and in the next breath surrender to the unknown? Can we write a satisfying list of things to try and with the same satisfaction and fulfillment cross them off when they don't work? Can we map everything we know about a system, have the courage to believe in the course of action we decide to take, follow through, and then invite the system to critique the approach? Can we sit down with our peers to speak our truth and still hear their truth?

Is it a question of "can we?" or "Will we?"

I have lived with one side or the other. I know people who only listen, only question. I know people who only proclaim, who only march, who only assume. Let us all integrate the other side of our power.

Living life in an awakened way isn't about starting a non-profit, donating to a cause, joining a social enterprise doing a buy-one-give-one scheme or buying organic soap. Impact isn't hiding where you assume it is. But it could be. Whatever your starting point, bring your questions and your answers. Whenever you begin to work in earnest; do research, listen to others and try things based on insights. Showing up for system transformation will require and induce inner transformation and reprogramming. Only put your trust in a theory of change that’s about discovering the true nature of things by interfering with them.