What am I not doing? : Brett Fish asks the question

Describe to me how the world would look to you if everything was working for everyone the way it was meant to.

i imagine for a lot of people this might look like a list of negatives:

No more racism

No more sexism

No more zenophobia

No more hatred of any groups or people who are different in any way.

No more wars

No more rape

No more violence

And so on…

What is Missing?

i think that is a more than valid list and i imagine each of us might add our own particular biases to it [No more pineapple on pizza, anyone?]

But i wonder if it is a thinking pattern that is unhelpful. Or maybe less helpful.

i don’t want murder, but i am not murdering people, so i feel overwhelmed in terms of making any kind of difference there.

Sometimes perhaps we can become so loud and focused on the things we don’t want, that we forget to speak and dream about the things we do.

Describe to me how the world would look to you if everything was working for everyone the way it was meant to.

Maybe the Spice Girls were right…

Paint a better picture

Forgetting for a moment about all of the things that need to go [how did i leave corruption off that list?] can we take some time to think about what needs to be added…

What do we need to see more of? What needs to be built or created or imagined? Where does paint need to be thrown or balloons tied up? Who needs to learn how to ride a bicycle? Who can we teach to cook a meal or manage their money better? What skill do i need to learn? What hobby do i need to talk up? What walk is waiting for me to discover it? Who do i need to connect to and let them know that ‘I see you’ or ‘I hear you’ or ‘I am here for you’ or ‘Here is a shoulder or a meal or a blanket or a jigsaw puzzle or a bed!’

This may seem like an idealistic simplistic way of looking at things [i am an idealistic simplistic kind of guy] BUT i do think that sometimes adding things is a whole lot easier to practically and actively do.

i can message or call a friend [particularly someone who is not a good friend and might not be expecting kind words from me]

i can write someone a physical note or make a card or even a whole letter and post it to them [who doesn’t love receiving real words in the mail?]

i can plant some food or herbs in my garden if i have access to garden space [i can guerilla plant some food in a public space with gardening possibilities if i don’t and create something for anyone who has access to it]

i can read an author that i wouldn’t naturally choose – someone who doesn’t look like me or think like me and who might have a fresh perspective or at least another point of view about something i care about – this could be a blog post or listening to a podcast or watching a YouTube video’

i can offer to babysit a friend’s child or send someone i know who might be struggling or lonely a treat or pay for a date for a couple i know who could just use a break [when people have surprised us with a couple date it has been the most amazing thing!]

i can try something new – a new dish in the kitchen [and share it with someone if it works!], a new skill or language, take up a new hobby

i can volunteer or support – to help people or groups who are already doing incredible things – no need to reinvent the wheel when some people are doing some pretty amazing things with it already. But there is almost always space to get involved and learn and give and build together.

And more. If we take time to dream and imagine and ‘What if?’ and if we connect ourselves to other people who are dreaming and imagining and already doing [as opposed to those who simply complain and moan the whole time] then perhaps in time we will start to see that we have become or started to become the very thing we imagined. And that all around us, in pockets both small and large, there are other spaces where other people are doing the same.

Who knows what effect that might eventually start to have on all the things we would like to see less of…