There is a renaissance happening, and it's happening now! There is a definite re-birth of the conditions which allow for the highest expression of people's creativity. Your mind will attempt to convince you that change is something to fear, but this burst in creative activity has meant that it has never been so good to live on earth (Hello... we are here at the same time as Michaelangelo reincarnate #AlessandroMichele!).
My thoughts do not stem from some bohemian privileged lifestyle, rather they come from working with slum communities in India to build a slow clothing label called slumwear108. The beauty of working through a time that is so creatively disruptive is that there are infinite possibilities to make things happen. How liberating that the industrial notion of needing money, qualifications, scalable ideas and established networks to realise your dreams is being augmented with the power of authenticity to drive your vision. Technology allows us to connect our authentic self to the social values of so many organisations, so if you believe, like us, the world is user-friendly then there is enormous game changing power to be had!
Don't judge too harshly if you are resisting a little of what you are reading, that's the mind bit remember. Let me fill you in on why we universally resist embracing changes that can help transform our lives. As part of our social justice work to help build dignified livelihoods we have been involved in a sanitary project called Sparrow Sanitation. We learnt that even when toilets were built to stop people from defecating near open water sources, people continued their deadly practise, one that is responsible for 20000 deaths a DAY due to contaminated water related diseases. When investigated as to why, the overwhelming response was two-fold. Firstly, it was a habit and secondly, people did not believe their individual actions could make a difference.
Photo credit: The Possibility Project
If you truly absorb these insights and apply it to your own life and daily activities, the same holds true for all of us. We have 'habituated' the thought that as an individual or even as small groups we cannot make a difference, but in truth, the time, tools and technology has never made it easier to create change. I know this from my own personal experience of being a fairly ordinary person - mother, wife, friend, teacher - yet I have been connected to one thought that has transformed so much for myself and others. My individual choices make a difference! I co-created the social enterprise The Possibility Project with fellow school mum and we have built a life enhancing model from this one belief, "I can make a difference'.
A renaissance is ultimately a re-birth in the way we perceive possibility. The most valuable 'tool' to harness possibility is never the sewing machine or paint brush or computer, but the mindset of the person holding the tools, and you have the ability to choose your mindset. We have learnt this from some of the most creative, resilient and talented people on earth, our incredible makers of slumwear108, many who are former street youths who have been abandoned, orphaned, trafficked or abused, if we have to condense their creative mindset into one sentence it is this, "I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become'. Again, a powerful expression of "I can make a difference."
We work in the field of social justice, an area that has been overpowered and under-served by practitioners of a scarcity mindset, where people are crippled by a mindset of 'not enough' and it is time to peacefully disrupt this! We want to get a very simple message out, you already have everything you need to create whatever it is you want, and if you think don't think you do, then you haven't really attempted to practise the mindset enough. John Cleese said it so well "creativity is not a talent, it is a way of operating", one of the most creative thoughts you can hold is to believe what you have to offer is valuable, that you are enough, and that your individual choices will create the changes you want to see. If in doubt, just give it a go and 'make believe', this doesn't require time, money, education, a certain gender, religion or background, it simply requires your choice. 'I'm enough' - the one thought that will change your world.
Photo Credit: @james_stibilj
The Possibility Project is a social enterprise founded by Kath Davis and Kim Pearce. Two ordinary women choosing to do some extraordinary things. Their slow clothing label slumwear108 is 'possibility materialised', it has been wholeheartedly created by one simple thought - 'I'm enough'.