Tag Archives: society

Courage to Change

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Indeed! This is one of my favorite life quotes, most commonly attributed to Albert Einstein. Rest assured that nothing new is ever going to happen in the same old rut.

We humans have a tendency to stay within our familiar routines and patterns. After all, that’s our safe zone, right? Change can be a very uncomfortable proposition, but the comfort zone inevitably becomes a boring prison. When we feel antsy and our hearts are screaming to break down the walls, this is a signal that it’s time for change.

Our souls want to learn and grow. It’s a deep drive within each of us, but fear of change tends to hold us back. To become unstuck, we must have courage to let go of the old and try something new.

Of course, taking risks and trying new things also means that inevitably we will make some mistakes. Fear of making mistakes (and the possible losses that may result from them) too often immobilize us. We can overcome this by taking small risks first, and one at a time. When these result in successes that build our courage arsenal, we can move on to larger ones. Before we know it, life feels richer and more exciting!

This post is an excerpt from Becoming Bigger: In a world that wants to keep you small. It’s a free gift when you subscribe for occasional author newsletters here:

It’s Our Choice

Van Gogh Tried to Show Us

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I was very fortunate to visit an immersive exhibit of Vincent van Gogh’s art in 2022. Being already a big fan, and so therefore knowing something of Vincent’s history and work, mostly I was curious about how anyone could compress the infinite experience of “Van Gogh” into limited time and space. For Vincent van Gogh is not just bigger than life because he became famous, and he did not become famous simply at the whim of some influential art dealer who could persuade his clients to open their wallets.

In actual fact, Vincent despaired that anyone would see or appreciate what he was trying to say to the world, and he died poor and believing that no one ever would. What was he trying to say to you and I? For my part, I see a message that life is big, precious, beautiful, and yes, sometimes tragic, but when we see the challenges and despair of others, we develop compassion, we become a more integral part of humanity.

Part of the exhibit was a 1/2-hour movie display of his works in an immense room, as his paintings undulated and merged in and out, coming to life as they projected onto all four walls, the color and life also spilling down and outward onto the floor and the viewers. The objective was clearly to bring the viewers inside the art, so that they could perhaps more easily feel it and become part of it. I wondered as I watched the delighted viewers, no doubt some of them experiencing Vincent’s work for the first time, what they were feeling? If I could come up with one word that would encapsulate the experience, what might that be?

The word CREATIVITY came to mind. Creativity is the very essence of who we are as humans, and we may not be able to quite put it into words, but we FEEL it. Deep down we know it as a certain truth. We ARE creative, part of a mysterious creative force, and endowed with our own creative power through our minds and hearts to manifest a better (but not yet imagined) world. There is great joy in feeling the power of that, and it showed on the faces of the viewers.

Here’s the other part of that thought. Is it possible that Vincent van Gogh’s immersive exhibits are so hugely popular right now because we know at a deep level, but not yet fully admitting it to ourselves, that there is a force at work of late that is trying to destroy our creative power? Van Gogh’s work is not just simply an antidote in troubled times, but rather it is a view of what is possible, our POTENTIAL.

I would say that is true, but it is for you to decide. I see the juxtaposition of the world they want for us, the ones who make the rules and use coercion and force to “create it”. They project a cold future of transhumanism, where we will have completely lost the warmth, love, connectedness, and most importantly the full creative potential of who we are. They are trying to convince us that we are defective, when nothing could be farther from the truth.

So my final question to you is this: What kind of world do you want to see in your future, and for the future of all children who will inherit this planet? For my part, I’m on the side of Vincent van Gogh.