Looking for Possibilities

I'm a bit puzzled when people ask me how I feel about global warming. People have a lot of energy, a lot of charge about being on one side of the issue or the other. I haven't been able to find myself on that polarized spectrum. Which isn't to say that there isn't an issue worthy of exploration. How about it if we talk about solutions, possibilities instead of who's right or wrong on the issue.

Let's look more at the creative solutions, the possibilities. That's what appeals to me in situation slike this. I'm not interested in positions that ring of doom and gloom or the destruction of the world as we know it. Let's instead unite our create capacities to find unique and exciting solutions to the problems that face us. Let's find ways to bring those solutions to market.

Let's take for example the Tesla, the 100% electric car that can go from 0-60 in 4 seconds and can drive 200 miles on one charge. Now, that's great ingenuity. At the moment there have only been 100 Tesla's produced - and yes, at a steep price, $100,000 (okay, I'm exaggerating, it's really $98,950.) But the company is committed to finding a way to bring the same technology to a more moderately priced car. What's intriguing is that if they can do this for an expensive car, and if there's demand, there will be moderately priced cars out there soon, running only on electricity.

Or, let's look at what's been going on the the International Development Design Summit at MIT. This group is a collection of 50 students, teachers, and community partners who are looking for solutions for some of the world's poorest people. It's quite moving to see what they're coming up with. One solution is a transparent plastic backpack that uses the sun's heat and ultraviolet rays to disinfect the water inside the backpack. This allows the water to be carried much more easily than in a heavy pot on your head as many women in poor rural regions do. In addition to having to carry such weight over often long distances, the United Nations says that almost one-fifth of the worlds population doesn't have access to safe drinking water. This little gadget would disinfects the water on the way home. All for $5. How ingenious is that!

And then there's the charcoal briquettes made from sugar cane refuse intended to provide fuel for the poor in Haiti. These were created by Amy Smith, a MacArthur Fellowship "genius" award winner who wanted to find alternative fuel sources to help alleviate Haiti's deforestation and lack of afforable fuel. She was also concerned with how existing charcoals create respiratory problems. The solution: these sugar cane refuse briquettes. I love that they're made from "refuse" the throw away parts of another product - sugar cane.

Finding out about solutions like these give me a sense of hope, excite me with possibility, stimulate the creative ideas of what else can be. There is an antidote to hopelessness. It lies in looking for possibilities in the midst of what looks dark and empty. It lies in believing in what's next. There's always something else emerging.

Coming Home to Yourself

You believe in something, don’t you?” clients have asked me over the years. I do, it’s true. Even though there are times, like this past week, when I can spin into a crisis of doubt and confusion about what I do believe in. I do believe in goodness, that the world is basically veers toward kindness, that we can change and grow and become more loving. I believe that compassion can encompass all. And yet, like this past week, I cycle into criticizing myself for being so simplistic and overly hopeful, and can’t I see how much pain and suffering there is. I have a part that will soundly rail at me saying, "Who do you think you are…..." After years of living intimately with these parts, I know how easily theses parts can hijacked me into pain. disgust, hurt, or betrayal. More and more, though, I hear an instinctive response of compassion rising to meet those parts. I was actually startled to see myself responding so seemingly effortless to myself with a soft note of compassion. First there was surprise, and then a sinking into the compassion, an opening in my heart, and a relief. Absolute relief. Maybe, I marveled, compassion and kindness is becoming a habit. That kind of habit is what I want more of. Thich Nhat Han says that meditation is really a process of coming home to yourself. Interpreting that psychologically, when our parts relax and give us some internal room, we’re left with our true nature. Our true nature, many of the great spiritual teachers say, is one of quiet, confidence, kindness, clarity, softness, and compassion. One of my clients said it so beautifully today. We were talking about some of Thich Nhat Han's teachings. She said she realized that when Thich Nhat Han says “I am the flower” he isn't separate from that essence. She said, laughingly, that when she sits to imagine the flower, she has to conjure up the image and then become the flower. How nice, she imagined, to arrive at a state inside when she would know that she simply was essence, instead of having to work so hard to become it. I couldn't agree more.