thecreativeverse creativity is our human superpower.
Yes, these are messy, chaotic times, full of turmoil and fear. But they’re also incredibly powerful times for us to remember that we don’t have to be victims of this era. We can turn chaos into power, when we lead with synergy, creativity, and heart, and become stronger together.
The Creative Potential in the Middle – Our Collective Will
Action is the antidote to despair. ~ Joan Baez, American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist
No doubt these times are messy and turbulent and that we’re in the middle of a major, chaotic change cycle. We’ve been describing the arrival of this stormy time period for some time now in our HTTE Series and we’ve been calling this first cycle of change – transition. We all know how hard, emotional and chaotic it is to transition from the old to new which why is of the three major cycles of change we’ve written about before (i.e. Transition, Transformation, Evolution), we consider our transition stage, the most dramatic and emotional of all three cycles of change we’ll be experiencing in the next decades. Why? Because transition is all about letting go and letting new in. And we all know how hard it is to let go…
Which is why we foresee our environment in a state of flux and turbulence for quite some time, as we participate in a dramatic (and emotional) battle between the forces of the old status quo and the people desperate to keep it, the new inevitable, innovative future on the horizon, and us, the collective, in the middle.
But while we do see and are already experiencing turmoil in our current environment, that doesn’t mean we are all victims of this transition energy, or that we need to be completely overwhelmed and paralyzed by it. There IS a purpose to this turbulence and a lesson to be learned.
As always, we are reminded that we as individuals and as a collective, always have a lead part to play in the story unfolding before us. We are not powerless or simply victims of the winds of change. We are architects, leaders, and contributors to it.
And where we stand, in the center, lies a powerful creative potential that we have an opportunity to unleash. And that powerful potential is us – our individual and collective will. We know how powerful we become when we find common ground and fight for and create what we deserve. And that is the opportunity we have available to us, right here and now.
Expect the Unexpected – Chaos Is Not the End, It’s the Beginning…
Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit. ~Henry Adams, American Historian
In The Art of War, Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military strategist wisely points out that: “in the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.” This is one of my favorite quotes, because it reminds me/us, that there doesn’t need to be anything existentially to fear from the energy we call chaos. I’ve read it described as the “science of surprises,” which I think is highly appropriate.
Chaos by its nature is inherently unpredictable, nonlinear, and random, and that’s exactly what makes it so valuable. Chaos in its destructiveness, has a way of breaking apart, crumbling and fundamentally shaking what is entrenched and deeply stuck, making way for something new. So even when times are incredibly chaotic and turbulent, and we are deeply challenged by what’s occurring, there is always an opening, a potential for the new to emerge. A new in the form of new ideas, new inventions, new approaches, new alliances, and new change amongst the mess. In other words, chaos is not just an end, it can also be a beginning.
We know that many of us have been desperately seeking positive change in our world for quite some time. And we’ve been discouraged by our fractured collective’s intense, emotional attachment to outdated and deeply ingrained beliefs and foundations. Which has caused us, to remain stuck and stagnant in our ways for a loooong time, barely progressing. But in chaos ‘change’ energy, we may have found the spark we’ve been looking for. A force that is powerful enough to uproot and disrupt the status quo, no matter how entrenched it is, AND strong enough to shake us out of our illusions and force us to finally let go of what no longer works – a powerful spark indeed.
The question is whether we are brave enough to use this highly challenging, unexpected, destructive but potent change energy to rise to the occasion, and push for the positive change we deserve? Or do we lean into fear and do nothing, or fight change at all costs, sacrificing our humanity and evolution potential in the process, as we’ve written about in the Cost of Fear.
Rising Up to the Occasion – Let Go and Step Into Our Creative Power
Chaos, an opportunity to redefine who we are and where we stand. ~C
If we choose to rise to the occasion, which I believe we will, we have the potential to change the rules and change the game for the better. Just like we started to do during the 2020 COVID pandemic. The pandemic was the perfect example of an unexpected, extremely unprecedented crisis that completely disrupted our lives, but that we, found a way to creatively overcome, introducing new ways to live, to work, and to be. How? By letting our powerful creativity and heart lead the way. And by understanding the tremendous power of synergy – when we combine our strengths and work toward a common goal, especially under extremely challenging circumstances.
We are in evolutionary and revolutionary times. No longer in an era of “business as usual” or “this is the way we’ve always done it”. And that allows a kind of freedom to think and act differently.
For too long we’ve railed at and grieved old, broken beliefs, systems, and structures that made us feel less than each other. Perhaps what chaos energy is trying to teach us then, is that it’s truly time now to think and act differently, beyond the old ways. It’s time now to let go of the status quo that we already know no longer serves us. Maybe it’s time to allow chaos to do its job so that we can re-imagine and create the new we deserve.
New Synergy – We are the Unexpected
Be the unexpected. ~ Jack Dorsey, Founder of Twitter
What this means, is that as we allow chaos to disrupt the old that needs to change, we’re not paralyzed by this AND, we’re also not just sitting around watching the mess! As chaos energy swirls around us, we’re simultaneously fighting to protect each other AND, using this time to search for, focus on, create, and support the new that’s trying to emerge and that we desire. In other words, we become the unexpected.
In this way, we beat chaos and chaos wielders at their own game. Instead of being so overwhelmed by chaos we do nothing, we USE it to move forward in as many ways as we need to support our common goals.
We play chess here, not checkers by moving unexpectedly and strategically – putting our powerful, laser-focused attention and investment in what we want, rather than what we don’t want. We use this momentum to push for accountability and consequences, to move faster, to work smarter (and differently), and to focus on innovative and creative opportunities., projects, and solutions that are BETTER than what we’ve had. Alongside like-minded leaders, innovators, creators, architects, contributors, and supporters, we fundamentally change the rules, and we create a NEW approach that benefits us all.
This is not some pie in the sky concept or some impossible thing to achieve. We’ve already been here and doing this. The pandemic era was our dry run, teaching us what we can do when we stick together, stand up and fight for each other in chaotic, unprecedented circumstances. And what we can do when we use our creative brilliance and heart to overcome obstacles and change the game for good.
As we find ourselves here again, we must remember we are more powerful than we think when we stick together and work with each other. We are truly stronger together.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more as we share strategies for turning chaos into power and ways we can support each other to become stronger together. As always, here’s to us. ♥
I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship. ~ Louisa May Alcott, American writer
~ Love, Carmen
