Wisdom from the Red Carpet
Winter Kaleidoscope invitation
This past Sunday, Thrive held its Winter Kaleidoscope, an annual event where our Luminaries get to share their music, art and stories.
Why Kaleidoscope?
Kaleidoscope is about bringing together parts of ourselves to create something that is beautiful and constantly changing. It's the perfect metaphor for how entirely new realities are created when we have the vulnerability and courage to share from the very core of our being, imperfections and all.
Red-Carpet Interviews
As each Luminary's name is announced during the concert, they come up to the stage for a little chat with me. It's a chance to let the musician settle their nerves as they see the warm, friendly audience looking at them and it's a chance for the audience to develop a relationship with the Luminary so that they have a deeper appreciation for the music and art that are being shared. I refer to these moments as our Red-Carpet Interviews and they are complete unscripted... which means I never know what the children's responses are going to be.
A Recipe for Peace
On Sunday, I asked our Luminaries to share one thing that they felt was important for everyone to know about them. Many of the responses evoked smiles and laughter while there were some that made us all take a collective deep breath as we took time to process the power of what was being said.
Impulsively, I decided to ask 11 year old Isaac what he thought it would take to bring about world peace. This is his recipe for world peace:
Destroy all weapons
Give everyone a safe home
So simple. So profound. And so obvious to a thoughtful, sensitive 11 year old.
Life Is Not a Zero-Sum Game
Our universe is constantly expanding (something I learned from an 8 year old Luminary during Kaleidoscope - thank you, Max!), so what if we were to think about facing the challenges of our age with an abundance mindset instead of a scarcity mindset? It would mean that we take the resources we have at our disposal to shape and redistribute to achieve more equitable outcomes for everyone. What's required is the ability to hold space for difference and the ability to respectfully disagree with others to build future worlds that harness our gifts in service to the betterment of all.
What's Your Legacy?
9 year old Kira captured the essence of what's needed when she said that family is the most important thing. Any effort to bring more peace into our world begins at home with equal parts of Love, Compassion and Respect. This is how we fulfil humanity's universal desire to be seen, heard and understood. When these needs aren't met, we feel that we don't matter and we have nothing to lose. Generational cycles of neglect and disrespect in all their forms amplify the destructive forces that emerge unless they're interrupted by love, compassion and respect. That's something that each of us gets to do and it begins at home. It's up to each of us to determine the legacy we get to leave behind.
