We are living in an increasingly stressful world where change is palpable, unavoidable, and the only certainty we seem to have is uncertainty. These feel like some strange days indeed marked by extremes so volatile in their polarization that breaking points around the environment, our collective health, and social unrest, feel painfully and hopelessly inevitable.

This “big picture” polarizing energy plays out in much the same way as we go about our daily lives because we literally download the volatility into every fiber of our being, physically, emotionally and spiritually. The result is many of us are feeling untethered and profoundly uncomfortable. If you are feeling this way, know you are not alone. We are all in this together.

So, let’s muster the fortitude to show up, be present and proactive in making a positive difference in a world that surely, now more than ever, needs us to be our best selves. 

Let’s start with looking at the big picture. What’s making us feel this unsettled and uncomfortable? Primarily, our intellects don’t do well with uncertainty because in the last one hundred years or so we’ve relied heavily on our critical thinking to survive, and for many to even thrive in the material sense of the word. We’re hard-wired to make plans, create goals, strategize and systematically execute. Indeed, it’s expected and highly prized in many areas of life. These days of uncertainty, when it’s often impossible to know what’s going to happen next, are increasingly showing us that such reliance has some serious limitations.

Then when we dig a bit deeper it’s also becoming more, and more, apparent that this focus, often to the exclusion of all else, has created the world as it is today with all its imbalance and resultant volatility. It’s my belief that this very real sense of discomfort and disturbance this is creating is no accident, it comes with a purpose: To squeeze the last droplets of complacency out of us. For, in truth, we have an extraordinary capacity to be so much more, so much better, than this.

It’s no coincidence that today’s major disrupters carry the same core message. Climate, social unrest and pandemics clearly show that we can no longer operate effectively from a position of “I’m alright Jack” individuality. How much more evidence do we need that we, and our planet, are all connected? Clearly, what affects one of us, affects all of us.  

This is a make-or-break transformational moment in our evolution, when “oneness” needs to be replaced with “wholeness”. This will require a radical shift in how we see the world and one another. We’ll need to shake off these overwhelming feelings of aloneness, helplessness and anxiety and embrace our connectivity because together we are stronger, just as divided we are weakened. We have hearts, souls and spirits brimming with potent creativity, imagination, intuition, empathy, kindness and understanding, and all for a reason, just waiting to be shared. Let’s pick ourselves up and encourage one another to combine these exquisite traits with our powerful intellectual capacity and put caring for one another, and our planet, on the top of our collective to do list. With a common goal, just think what a beautiful world of collaboration, community and sharing we can co-create together. Now that’s what I call a plan!