blog032 A New Decision

I think I surf the internet because I am looking for something...
something besides distractive entertainment.

I think I am looking for a way out of what is not me...
and a way-in to contributing my talents and gifts to Earth and her abundance of interrelated beings.


I think I am seeking a way to play full out for life rather than for mere economic survival.

What about you?


If you surf the internet I think you are a social entrepreneur, looking for your playing field, trying to create your gameworld, with an entirely new set of rules of engagement.

I think your gameworld sits directly in front of you, begging for you to take one step along the path that further skills-you-up through taking each further step.

I think a part of you knows this each morning when you wake up - you have a sense of the one possible first step in front of you that you could take...

...it stares you right in the face before you move each morning.

I think the part of you that sees the action you could take tries to look away as fast as possible, for numerous reasons. Reason number one is that you feel terrified.

You are terrified because you went to school where you learned to sit silently in rows and be still, for weeks... for years.

But if you take a step now to apply your unique talents to solve problems in the world, you would have to move.

You would have to step out of line. And you are still afraid of getting punished for being out of line...

Still, here you are, reading this blog. I think you are reading it to get yourself a new possibility.

So here is the new possibility: You are no longer in school. That game is over.

(Or if you are still in school, you shouldn't be, because it is still trying to teach you to "Stand still, Laddy!")

The other part of the new possibility is that if you escape the school system and do experiments as a social entrepreneur you are not alone. There are thousands of social entrepreneurs out here, all around the world, playing full out to make the changes one-step-at-a-time that make the world a better place for everyone.

Social entrepreneur (r)evolutionaries don't have guns. They don't have money. They don't have political power. What they do have is a simple idea for dealing with what is right in front of them in a new way, and they have the same curious, inventive, rule-breaking, nonlinear urges that you have, plus deep inside, the same fear.

The only difference between them and you is that these social entrepreneurs have made one new decision: They have decided that taking that step is more important than the fear that comes with. It's a sacrifice they make. They feel the fear and take the step anyway, and many other people benefit. To them it is a fair trade, part of the job.

What is interesting though, is that through taking the present step, that fear automatically changes into a resource of wisdom and energy for taking the next further step that automatically appears after taking the first step.

So.

What about you? What about changing your mind?



















You can take a breath, make a new decision, and leap.

You will know that you have made a new decision when you suddenly take a step that is right in front of you on the path of being a social entrepreneur, whatever that step is.

It might be simply to watch this Social Entrepreneur video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk5LI_WcosQ#t=509

It might me to make a Kiva loan: www.kiva.org

It might be to hold a weekly neighborhood potluck dinner at your house to check-in with your neighbors about becoming more resilient together.

It might be to have a rotating neighborhood de-lawning and veggie-garden planting party, like Ron Finley and his Guerrilla Gardening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzZzZ_qpZ4w

It might be calling people over for a movie and watching the video End:Civ with Derrick Jensen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hx-G1uhRqA and sitting together afterwords sharing about your experiences from it.

It might be a few of you committing to each other as adults helping each other grow up through ongoing initiatory processes - committing to each other to such a degree that even society's money neurosis cannot get in the way of more love happening.

One step leads to another. There is no top end. Please keep going!