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September 2009 
Attention, Responsibility, Gratitude and Revolution
Posted on Feb 7th, 2009
by 
Andrei
Andrei
Paying attention
Due to the economic recession, I have been spending a lot of time on the phone with clients and colleagues in an attempt to both secure businesses for my team as well as to touch base with people and gain a better understanding for how my network is responding to the tough times at hand.
I see several trends in my discussions with people and felt compelled to share them. I also found certain trends emerging in my own responses to them and in what sorts of deeper considerations these responses prompted.
The thing I am noticing is of course that people are scared, worried and often in a bit of paralysis. All around them, friends, family and colleagues are loosing their jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Department of Labor reported in January that “Nonfarm payroll employment fell sharply in January (-598,000) and the unemployment rate rose from 7.2 to 7.6 percent. Payroll employment has declined by 3.6 million since the start of the recession in December 2007; about one-half of this decline occurred in the past 3 months. In January, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major industry sectors.” Full report - http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
A colleague at a major financial services corporation told me the other day that in a recent news feed he received, tabloid style headlines about his corporation were sandwiched between a story about Britney Spears drinking a beer while holding her kid and some Hollywood affair. A fixation with this current economic situation “originating” in the financial services and real estate sectors has actually reached tabloid depths.
For me I say we must look deeper. We must look at the underlying system that has driven not only financial service corporations but all sectors to behave in ways that are not sustainable. Now I know coming form me you are thinking I am talking about sustainability in terms of social justice and ecological sustainability – but I am also talking about an economic model that is not sustainable.
There has been a fixation in our economic system that has focused on financial gain above all other values. Often this financial gain is only valued if it can be achieved in the short term. And make no mistake about it – if you have a 401K or investments in stock or real estate you have been involved in this system. If you have purchased any bargain products you are part of it too. In fact if you have purchased anything that has a price that does not actually reflect its true cost to the economy, environment and your fellow human beings – you are a part of it.
Sounds out of control doesn’t it? It is.
It is out of control because it is outside the control of our best systems of values. In fact at a certain point in human history – valuing money above all else was considered greed – a sin. Today it constitutes the true center of value of most corporations and the oversimplified values we monitor by watching stock prices or quarterly earnings.
In the last few centuries there have been movements within society that ran in parallel to this overly simplistic and shortsighted system of value. Some of them existed outside of the corporations like unions or consumer advocacy groups. Some existed inside corporations – movements to institute fair labor practices and see people as the most important capital inside a company or movements to behave ecologically responsible.
Some corporations have actually begun to create value systems that are closer to what it means to live responsibly – the truly progressive have embraced systems thinking understanding the interconnectedness of living systems that have nurtured life on this planet since it began and our impacts inside of these systems.
Systems thinking discovers that some of the value systems we were taught in kindergarten or the lessons we learned in our respective churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, etc. are actually closer to what we need to avoid jail time, hurting people’s feelings, destroying ecosystems and yes avoiding economic recessions. Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. Take responsibility for your actions. Do not lie. Do not steal. Do not kill.
We are all a part of a whole. No one is separate. There is only us. But don’t take it from just me.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
We are all connected to everyone and everything in the universe. Therefore, everything one does as an individual affects the whole. All thoughts, words, images, prayers, blessings, and deeds are listened to by all that is.
Serge Kahili King
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.
John Muir
We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.
Herman Melville
Responsibility
So if we accept this, that we are all connected and that this connectedness is discovered in the day to day reality of our current economic situation, we suddenly see the awesomeness of our individual and collective responsibility.
The other day in reflecting on the current situation I had the following thought – In a time of fear and doubt showing up happy is an act of courage. Today I had a related thought. In a culture where it is so easy to have no idea what impact our choices have on others, a thoughtful purchase is a revolutionary act of responsibility.
Taken as a whole the task before us, to remake a value system in the image of our higher values and passions, seems impossible. It seems the effort better left to a god, a hero or a president. But this does not erase the necessity of the task. Also make no mistake about it the effort will be ten times as difficult for the next generation if left to them entirely.
In fact, my thoughts above focused me on the simple acts – not as a shoulder shrugging “what can I do except for this little thing – ah shucks” cop out, but because every act, word, passion, idea is contagious. Walking into a room of frightened people bravely happy and charged to face the challenges is contagious. Walking in and saying it cannot be done is contagious also.
Like times in our lives where the difficult or impossible presented itself, this moment presents itself as a choice. Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, once said (paraphrased) that the only true freedom we have is in how we respond to what happens to us.
Each day, every moment and situation, is a choice to behave responsibly. To look deeply into a situation and down the avenues of cause and effect, to beg patience of those around us as we do, and make our best decision. A decision grounded in our better and nobler understanding of right and wrong, connectedness and conscience.
We encounter few moments in life where so many of us are sharing the same experience and where our connection to each other is so obvious. This economic situation alerts us to the importance of our personal responsibility and it provides us with an opportunity to deepen discussions that once seemed simple by measuring increased revenue or decreased cost and calculating shareholder value.
In my humble estimation, this is a moment to transform our lives, our corporations and our system through acts of daily responsibility. We must daily interject a multidimensional value system that will give our society a better chance at sustaining itself.
We must search models of collaboration and incorporation and community where coming together in more varied ways to move through challenges extends our calculations of success beyond counting dollars, Yen or Euros. It is certain that these too must be considered, but at what cost and in what company I believe will sculpt and stamp the impression into the clay that is the future.
We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.
George Bernard Shaw
A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Albert Einstein
I believe that to meet the challenges of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for oneself, one's own family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace.
H. H. the Dalai Lama:
Gratitude
I have been blessed to have a close friend who brought the word “gratitude” into focus as a practice or form of active prayer in my life. None too soon, with all the challenges that it seems life has thrown our way.
I have been involved in a regular practice of exchanging gratitude lists through email with “gratitude partners” and the practice of seeing another person’s gratitude has increased my own. It has taught me that gratitude is indeed contagious and feeds the courage to behave responsibly and productively.
In fact I think an increased and fully focused sense of gratitude for the many blessings in my life has done more to prepare me for the tough days associated with these times than anything else except perhaps love.
Part of what I believe we must collectively be grateful for is this moment. We have a chance to refocus the human experiment – focus on bettering ourselves, our communities and behaving as stewards for the many resources and natural wonderment around us.
Now more than ever we must focus on our connections to family, friends, community, planet. We must focus our attention and appreciation not on luxuries or fantasies of fame and fortune but on the actions and items that nurture and cradle life. Take note of the lives around you, that you move through each day and celebrate your connection to them.
Look there a woman who just lost her job, a man who sees retirement fading into the distance, a friend who lost their house – all these lives are likely still filled with blessings. Look these people in the eye, connect with them, smile – give your gratitude as a gift to remind them they are not alone. They are connected. There is gratitude for something in their life, and that seeing it and spending just a few moments with it is the seed that will grow to make the difference in these times.
When I have shared just a glimpse of this attitude with others – even the most formal of business connections, I am repeatedly surprised by how people are doing this already. People are inviting friends over, spending more time with family, finding themselves appreciating simple moments, enjoying cooking meals together rather. One person said they hadn’t ever remembered being grateful for the feeling of laughter before.
I would encourage you to touch base with your own sense of gratitude – not as a duty or an obligation or something to add to your list, but as a person who is thirsty takes up a cup of spring water.
Gratitude will help us bridge the frightening chasm between a society now distressed and exhausted by decades of consumerism and a global community that understand how to service and care for its own needs responsibly, compassionately and with deep appreciation.
I am certain that there will be many moments in the days ahead when by keeping my own gratitude on the tip of my lips I will inspire others. I am equally as certain that I will fall upon days where I will need to hear about the sweetness of someone’s love for their child, the gratitude for a neighborly act or for the goodness of a work community that faced tough times together.
Whoever is happy will make others happy, too.
Mark Twain
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
Cicero
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.
Albert Schweitzer
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Marianne Williamson
Revolution is a distraction
There have been times in the past when I sat in contemplation of the challenges in our society and wished to be a part of a revolution. Having lived and worked in our economic system for many years now, I see many of its faults and virtues more clearly. I see not a broken system but one that is still evolving.
I see in my fellow humans and myself the capacity to self govern, self motivate and understand the ramifications of our actions and live in a society that someday (most likely not in my own life) will know harmony. When I go to work and shape my work community, I remind myself that freedom-loving people need to be trusted. Not just with the easy stuff but the hard stuff too. Freedom and trust are as foundational to positive change as they are to innovation.
By tapping into our sense of personal responsibility and gratitude, we can take note of the things that need changing around us. I for one have already learned a lesson about what I believe a work community needs to provide for itself. I think we are often lost at the paycheck and benefits level and because it becomes more complicated, less cut and dried, less common denominator, we sell ourselves short by remaining focused on simply building a business community that increases these.
At the next level there is the creation of a community that can make change together. An assembly of skills and energy that can make things happen. The experience of pointing these skills and energies at problems that we are facing becomes an interesting road to examine. Doing well by doing good - a new business objective.
Creating a transparent operating environment where people can see the road ahead, and leaders help everyone understand it and the risks and rewards and opportunities to the community and to them as individuals. This act provides us in these uncertain times with the certainties that match the strength of the community and not just on the strength of its shareholder value.
At the end of the day, as a business owner or leader, I may never become wealthy, but I may enjoy the rewards of a community that understands how to support one another and how to touch the lives around them meaningfully and positively. The prospect of this seems both more real and more reassuring.
I look less for a revolution and more for an opportunity. I look less for and end of one thing than the evolution of it. I set aside judgment and pick up a sense that we can do this. A choice must be made now, we can see ourselves as worn down, tired, scared or we can see ourselves as enduring, pressing forward with what energy we have and courageous for taking the next step.
Long ago I heard a quote form Teilhard de Chardin (paraphrased) The greatest fear is to see the empty space before us that is the future. The greatest courage is the fill it with the best of who we are.
Peace and Good Things,
Andrei Hedstrom
Due to the economic recession, I have been spending a lot of time on the phone with clients and colleagues in an attempt to both secure businesses for my team as well as to touch base with people and gain a better understanding for how my network is responding to the tough times at hand.
I see several trends in my discussions with people and felt compelled to share them. I also found certain trends emerging in my own responses to them and in what sorts of deeper considerations these responses prompted.
The thing I am noticing is of course that people are scared, worried and often in a bit of paralysis. All around them, friends, family and colleagues are loosing their jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Department of Labor reported in January that “Nonfarm payroll employment fell sharply in January (-598,000) and the unemployment rate rose from 7.2 to 7.6 percent. Payroll employment has declined by 3.6 million since the start of the recession in December 2007; about one-half of this decline occurred in the past 3 months. In January, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major industry sectors.” Full report - http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
A colleague at a major financial services corporation told me the other day that in a recent news feed he received, tabloid style headlines about his corporation were sandwiched between a story about Britney Spears drinking a beer while holding her kid and some Hollywood affair. A fixation with this current economic situation “originating” in the financial services and real estate sectors has actually reached tabloid depths.
For me I say we must look deeper. We must look at the underlying system that has driven not only financial service corporations but all sectors to behave in ways that are not sustainable. Now I know coming form me you are thinking I am talking about sustainability in terms of social justice and ecological sustainability – but I am also talking about an economic model that is not sustainable.
There has been a fixation in our economic system that has focused on financial gain above all other values. Often this financial gain is only valued if it can be achieved in the short term. And make no mistake about it – if you have a 401K or investments in stock or real estate you have been involved in this system. If you have purchased any bargain products you are part of it too. In fact if you have purchased anything that has a price that does not actually reflect its true cost to the economy, environment and your fellow human beings – you are a part of it.
Sounds out of control doesn’t it? It is.
It is out of control because it is outside the control of our best systems of values. In fact at a certain point in human history – valuing money above all else was considered greed – a sin. Today it constitutes the true center of value of most corporations and the oversimplified values we monitor by watching stock prices or quarterly earnings.
In the last few centuries there have been movements within society that ran in parallel to this overly simplistic and shortsighted system of value. Some of them existed outside of the corporations like unions or consumer advocacy groups. Some existed inside corporations – movements to institute fair labor practices and see people as the most important capital inside a company or movements to behave ecologically responsible.
Some corporations have actually begun to create value systems that are closer to what it means to live responsibly – the truly progressive have embraced systems thinking understanding the interconnectedness of living systems that have nurtured life on this planet since it began and our impacts inside of these systems.
Systems thinking discovers that some of the value systems we were taught in kindergarten or the lessons we learned in our respective churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, etc. are actually closer to what we need to avoid jail time, hurting people’s feelings, destroying ecosystems and yes avoiding economic recessions. Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. Take responsibility for your actions. Do not lie. Do not steal. Do not kill.
We are all a part of a whole. No one is separate. There is only us. But don’t take it from just me.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
We are all connected to everyone and everything in the universe. Therefore, everything one does as an individual affects the whole. All thoughts, words, images, prayers, blessings, and deeds are listened to by all that is.
Serge Kahili King
When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.
John Muir
We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.
Herman Melville
Responsibility
So if we accept this, that we are all connected and that this connectedness is discovered in the day to day reality of our current economic situation, we suddenly see the awesomeness of our individual and collective responsibility.
The other day in reflecting on the current situation I had the following thought – In a time of fear and doubt showing up happy is an act of courage. Today I had a related thought. In a culture where it is so easy to have no idea what impact our choices have on others, a thoughtful purchase is a revolutionary act of responsibility.
Taken as a whole the task before us, to remake a value system in the image of our higher values and passions, seems impossible. It seems the effort better left to a god, a hero or a president. But this does not erase the necessity of the task. Also make no mistake about it the effort will be ten times as difficult for the next generation if left to them entirely.
In fact, my thoughts above focused me on the simple acts – not as a shoulder shrugging “what can I do except for this little thing – ah shucks” cop out, but because every act, word, passion, idea is contagious. Walking into a room of frightened people bravely happy and charged to face the challenges is contagious. Walking in and saying it cannot be done is contagious also.
Like times in our lives where the difficult or impossible presented itself, this moment presents itself as a choice. Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, once said (paraphrased) that the only true freedom we have is in how we respond to what happens to us.
Each day, every moment and situation, is a choice to behave responsibly. To look deeply into a situation and down the avenues of cause and effect, to beg patience of those around us as we do, and make our best decision. A decision grounded in our better and nobler understanding of right and wrong, connectedness and conscience.
We encounter few moments in life where so many of us are sharing the same experience and where our connection to each other is so obvious. This economic situation alerts us to the importance of our personal responsibility and it provides us with an opportunity to deepen discussions that once seemed simple by measuring increased revenue or decreased cost and calculating shareholder value.
In my humble estimation, this is a moment to transform our lives, our corporations and our system through acts of daily responsibility. We must daily interject a multidimensional value system that will give our society a better chance at sustaining itself.
We must search models of collaboration and incorporation and community where coming together in more varied ways to move through challenges extends our calculations of success beyond counting dollars, Yen or Euros. It is certain that these too must be considered, but at what cost and in what company I believe will sculpt and stamp the impression into the clay that is the future.
We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.
George Bernard Shaw
A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Albert Einstein
I believe that to meet the challenges of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for oneself, one's own family or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace.
H. H. the Dalai Lama:
Gratitude
I have been blessed to have a close friend who brought the word “gratitude” into focus as a practice or form of active prayer in my life. None too soon, with all the challenges that it seems life has thrown our way.
I have been involved in a regular practice of exchanging gratitude lists through email with “gratitude partners” and the practice of seeing another person’s gratitude has increased my own. It has taught me that gratitude is indeed contagious and feeds the courage to behave responsibly and productively.
In fact I think an increased and fully focused sense of gratitude for the many blessings in my life has done more to prepare me for the tough days associated with these times than anything else except perhaps love.
Part of what I believe we must collectively be grateful for is this moment. We have a chance to refocus the human experiment – focus on bettering ourselves, our communities and behaving as stewards for the many resources and natural wonderment around us.
Now more than ever we must focus on our connections to family, friends, community, planet. We must focus our attention and appreciation not on luxuries or fantasies of fame and fortune but on the actions and items that nurture and cradle life. Take note of the lives around you, that you move through each day and celebrate your connection to them.
Look there a woman who just lost her job, a man who sees retirement fading into the distance, a friend who lost their house – all these lives are likely still filled with blessings. Look these people in the eye, connect with them, smile – give your gratitude as a gift to remind them they are not alone. They are connected. There is gratitude for something in their life, and that seeing it and spending just a few moments with it is the seed that will grow to make the difference in these times.
When I have shared just a glimpse of this attitude with others – even the most formal of business connections, I am repeatedly surprised by how people are doing this already. People are inviting friends over, spending more time with family, finding themselves appreciating simple moments, enjoying cooking meals together rather. One person said they hadn’t ever remembered being grateful for the feeling of laughter before.
I would encourage you to touch base with your own sense of gratitude – not as a duty or an obligation or something to add to your list, but as a person who is thirsty takes up a cup of spring water.
Gratitude will help us bridge the frightening chasm between a society now distressed and exhausted by decades of consumerism and a global community that understand how to service and care for its own needs responsibly, compassionately and with deep appreciation.
I am certain that there will be many moments in the days ahead when by keeping my own gratitude on the tip of my lips I will inspire others. I am equally as certain that I will fall upon days where I will need to hear about the sweetness of someone’s love for their child, the gratitude for a neighborly act or for the goodness of a work community that faced tough times together.
Whoever is happy will make others happy, too.
Mark Twain
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
Cicero
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.
Albert Schweitzer
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Marianne Williamson
Revolution is a distraction
There have been times in the past when I sat in contemplation of the challenges in our society and wished to be a part of a revolution. Having lived and worked in our economic system for many years now, I see many of its faults and virtues more clearly. I see not a broken system but one that is still evolving.
I see in my fellow humans and myself the capacity to self govern, self motivate and understand the ramifications of our actions and live in a society that someday (most likely not in my own life) will know harmony. When I go to work and shape my work community, I remind myself that freedom-loving people need to be trusted. Not just with the easy stuff but the hard stuff too. Freedom and trust are as foundational to positive change as they are to innovation.
By tapping into our sense of personal responsibility and gratitude, we can take note of the things that need changing around us. I for one have already learned a lesson about what I believe a work community needs to provide for itself. I think we are often lost at the paycheck and benefits level and because it becomes more complicated, less cut and dried, less common denominator, we sell ourselves short by remaining focused on simply building a business community that increases these.
At the next level there is the creation of a community that can make change together. An assembly of skills and energy that can make things happen. The experience of pointing these skills and energies at problems that we are facing becomes an interesting road to examine. Doing well by doing good - a new business objective.
Creating a transparent operating environment where people can see the road ahead, and leaders help everyone understand it and the risks and rewards and opportunities to the community and to them as individuals. This act provides us in these uncertain times with the certainties that match the strength of the community and not just on the strength of its shareholder value.
At the end of the day, as a business owner or leader, I may never become wealthy, but I may enjoy the rewards of a community that understands how to support one another and how to touch the lives around them meaningfully and positively. The prospect of this seems both more real and more reassuring.
I look less for a revolution and more for an opportunity. I look less for and end of one thing than the evolution of it. I set aside judgment and pick up a sense that we can do this. A choice must be made now, we can see ourselves as worn down, tired, scared or we can see ourselves as enduring, pressing forward with what energy we have and courageous for taking the next step.
Long ago I heard a quote form Teilhard de Chardin (paraphrased) The greatest fear is to see the empty space before us that is the future. The greatest courage is the fill it with the best of who we are.
Peace and Good Things,
Andrei Hedstrom
Access: PublicTagged with: Attention, Responsibility, Gratitude, Revolution, economy, recession, systems thinking, love
This article–this post–is such a gift. Though of course I’d think so; I completely agree with every point you made, from the necessary connection between personal values of integrity and care and the ‘objective’ value of money (he separation of the two is a lie, and demands denial, and is necessarily unsustainable) to your notes about gratitude and courage.
Also, I loved this:
I loved this, and it’s so, so true. Thank you, Andrei, for your wisdom and thoughts and your words. I’ll be returning to it again. I needed this reminder.
You, dear Andrei, are more wealthy than all the billionaires in the world.
.