The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.
Arthur C. Clarke
My name is Leon Shivamber and I am grateful that you have taken the time to visit my blog.
We are here for a short time, and I believe we all have an obligation to leave it better than we found it.
The world is a better place than you know. And it’s getting better, even if you have not noticed.
The fear and pessimism we are feeling are being driven from the lack of insight, a preference for stories over statistics, or deliberate misrepresentation. And that fear is leading to a massive misallocation of your personal neurons, and collectively our global resources.
In this blog, I want to share what I have learned. In so doing, my hope is that I can challenge:
What you believe
Your sense of priorities.
Start with the thoughts you never examine. Some of the most consequential are the mental boxes we sort ourselves and each other into. We define who we are by the groups we belong to, and we describe everyone else the same way. A box for where you come from. A box for what you believe. A box for which side you are on. These categories help us make sense of a complicated world, and most of the time we never question them.
Here is the problem. The moment we attach worth to a box, our box becomes good and the other box becomes suspect. That one thought, repeated quietly across millions of minds, is where a great deal of prejudice and us-against-them thinking begins.
The encouraging part is that a box is only a thought, and a thought can be examined. When you notice the boxes you carry, question the values you have assigned to them, and hold them more loosely, you change how you treat others and how you see yourself. A better you leads to a better world.
That is why this matters to me, and I will be honest about my motive. I am acting partly out of self-interest. Positive change in the world starts with positive change in you, and that is good for everyone, including me.
Why? Because armed with a more realistic view of the possibilities, you will be compelled to join me in taking little actions which ultimately shape an even more positive future.
Be warned that the majority are so pessimistic that your new realism might be viewed as optimism.