Browsing the archives for the Trusting your Imagination tag
What choices will you make to live your life fully? How will your choices expand your heart of love and celebrate your voice?
How you choose will affect how you are a participant in your own life!
Listen to Robert talk about these questions at The Forum at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco – click here for the podcast
Robert V. Taylor, The Forum at grace cathedral April 28, 2013
Post your thoughts, questions and responses below!
Robert V. Taylor
This piece was first published on Fox.com February 10, 2013
A holy surprise will grab your attention. Holy surprises are the events and people which interrupt the expected plans of your day. When you live with awareness of them your own humanity is enriched and expanded. Will you choose to allow them to punctuate your day with their invitation to playful delight about life?
For many people the work week, a job, family dynamics, a marriage or their own self-image is something to be endured. They have become so practiced at “survival” that the endurance seems normal when in fact it is life and spirit sapping. It serves no one for this to be your “reality.”
Instead, these four tips for choosing to be present to holy surprises invite you to a more enlivened experience of life.
1. Live beyond the “If only” half-script of your life.
I frequently hear people suggest that “If Only” a particular circumstance were different then they would be ready to embrace the yearnings of their lives. This only cedes your life to fear. It results in you becoming a bystander to your own being and purpose.
Holy surprises are the events and people which interrupt the expected plans of your day. When you live with awareness of them your own humanity is enriched and expanded.
It is on the edge of my fears that I am open to even small steps that become a pathway to transformed living. I once allowed my fear of failure to keep me from writing. I thought that if it was not excellent enough it would disappoint those around me and the institution I served. Too many of us allow others to keep us from our script.
A half-script is a gatekeeper to life. When we view events or people that rattle our complacency or awaken our fear of ourselves as a holy surprise we discover that they are an invitation to make choices to live into our own script. Our choice to respond to the surprise invites others to do the same and experience a life of richer engagement and delight.
2. Cultivate imagination each day
My maternal grandmother was born in Nazareth in the Holy Land. When I was young she would tell me Bible stories with graphic descriptions of the landscape and characters. They were tremendous!
Decades later I realized that her Bible stories often bore little resemblance to the book she was referencing. Her imagination engaged me and the kernels of wisdom and truth of the stories remade in her imagination seemed radiant.
Somewhere between the age of 6 and 8 many children are told to stop being “so silly” in exercising their imagination. In the creation stories of many religious traditions we learn that humanity is made in the image a Creator. But what if you think of yourself as being made, not in the image of, but the imagination of the ever-creating, ever-expanding Universe?
The closest word to “human” in Hebrew or the Latin homo is Adam which derives from the Hebrew root word for “imagination.” To be human is to participate in limitless imagination! Cultivating imagination allows us to experience the holy surprises that interrupt our days with new eyes. Instead of disbelief, fear or resistance, we greet them as possibilities engaging our imaginative self.
3. Expect life to engage you with unexpected people.
Our own story is not a personal treasure for only ourselves and those within the circle of comfortable friends. When we can hold the diverse elements of our story together – including wonder, shame, regret and joy – there is a seamlessness about who we are that reveals wisdom and truth in the arc of our story. The result is a new and heightened compassion for yourself and others.
When you share your story with others you experience curiosity about their story. It becomes a common, sacred meeting ground with unexpected people who are not in the usual orbit of your life. Real differences may still exist with unexpected people on this expanded field of life but it is marked by anxiety making room for delight.
The professional and business groups I work with yearn to know how a story can be used to engage more authentically with colleagues and clients. Whether it is in your professional or personal life, the holy surprise of engaging with unexpected others through story allows suspicion to give way to insights previously unimagined. Oneness with humanity is no longer a theory but a delight.
4. Choose to bring new life to others and yourself.
When you engage in acts of generosity or self-giving your happiness index increases. Instead of being overwhelmed by seemingly inextricable problems in the world or your community be open to a holy surprise inviting you to respond with a simple action.
Walking on a Florida beach I was surprised by a bevy of volunteers marking off sites on the beach with stakes and tape. They were protecting the loggerhead turtles’ nesting ground in the sand. One volunteer told me he was inspired to do this work after learning that only one of every one thousand eggs laid results in a surviving turtle. I marveled at his simple yet joyous response in becoming a midwife to the turtles.
The surprise is often presented by an opportunity. A grandson noticed his 84-year-old grandmother’s delight in surfing the Internet and using Facebook to keep up on her large family. He knew that her old computer could not be used for watching the videos posted of her great grandchildren. He decided to buy her an iPad. The grandmother relishes the new tool she has for connection and learning.
Will you allow these four tools for embracing holy surprises to grab your attention each day? Your own well-being will be expanded by the playful delight you discover.
Post your comments below or Share this piece on Facebook or Tweet it by going to http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/02/10/have-had-your-holy-surprise-today/#ixzz2KpbJdKub
This blog interview appeared on the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation website on June 11, 2012
We don’t often stop to think about how the way we choose to manifest our unique humanity impacts ourselves and the world around us. We are not conscious of the limitations we place on ourselves by old ways of being. Yet we live in a world that needs our courage, creativity and imagination.
In his best selling book, A New Way to Be Human, nationally recognized speaker and author Robert V. Taylor explores the question of how we can each leave a footprint of compassion in the world by tapping into our personal spirituality and innate values. We had the opportunity to talk with him recently about his ideas for more fully realizing our human potential.
DTPF What motivated you to write A New Way to Be Human?
RVT To invite readers to be happy and change the world. The sense of helplessness and disengagement that so many people feel about the world – “My voice doesn’t matter; my actions don’t really count” – leads you to clutch at life. There is another way! To live into the fullness of being human; to discover your magnificence and the truth that the world needs your active engagement as much as you do. The book invites readers into a more fulsome, happy and engaged new way to be human.
DTPF You speak in your book about connecting with stories – our own and those of others. How do we know which stories are the most important to share?
RVT Listen for the ones that make you feel alive, along with those that scare you. Pay attention! When you know your story and can be compassionate about every part of it – the wonder, regret, shame and joy – you tell it knowing that eternal wisdom and truth is revealed through you story. You then find yourself listening compassionately to the stories of others, attentive to the eternal truths and wisdom being revealed. Not every story is safe to share with just anyone but you will know that intuitively. Sharing your story you discover common ground with the most unexpected people. As you share who you are – not just what you do – your stories remind you that we need one another in order to be human. It’s a life-changing way of living each day and claiming your voice in the world.
Archbishop Tutu & Robert V. Taylor
DTPF One of the ideas you discuss in A New Way to Be Human is the limitations – enclosures – that we allow ourselves and others to place around us. What is the best way to recognize the enclosures we experience in our lives so that we can address them?
RVT Become aware of the things that you resist doing or think you’re not good enough or loved enough for. Beware of choices that are driven not by your passion and desire but by the needs of others or the habit of pleasing them. Each of those things constrains you, holding you back from your magnificence. They squelch your voice and cramp your compassion. You serve no one’s good by hiding behind whatever encloses you from being fully alive, happy and engaged. The book offers practical tools for stepping beyond what encloses you from your fullest self.
DTPF You talk in your book about reflecting the imagination of the Holy and “polishing the world?” What exactly to you mean by that?
RVT Our greatest failures come from a lack of imagination. When you chose to embrace your imagination life is different. Instead of looking at the world and accepting it the way it is you imagine the way it can be. That’s engaging and enlivening! Every seemingly small action that you do to make something better in the lives of others, in your community, school or in world helps to change and polish the world. What you do matters! Your actions allow the humanity of others to flourish. Lives and communities have a new shine to them!
DTPF One memorable story in your book has to do with your friend Joe who had stopped following the news because it ultimately made him feel helpless. This is something that many people experience today. Can you tell us how Joe was able to turn that deeply felt negativity around in his life?
The Los Angeles launch of A New Way to Be Human at LACMA
RVT Joe heard the challenge of a good friend to stop being disengaged and to see in the news an invitation to be part of changing the story line from bad to good news! Of course there are lots of terrible things in the world. But when we sit back we give them power. We are hard wired for love and compassion and we know it when discover life-giving energy by choosing to do something. As Joe responded to his friend’s challenge he found that he was drawn to stories about girls and young women denied education in many parts of the world. The bad news of those stories led him to learn about people and organizations doing something to give women access to education. It is probably one of the most transformative changes imaginable for the human family. So Joe got involved in an organization working in partnership with local organizations to provide that access. It’s changed his life. He’s no longer a helpless victim of life. He’s become an active participant in change and says he’s more fully alive because of it.
DTPF Many of us grow up being told that to think of others is virtuous, but that thinking of one’s self is not. How can your book help us better understand the difference between looking inward with love to learn who we are versus just being egotistical?
RVT Loving yourself is the greatest lesson and gift you will ever receive! You develop tenderness for yourself – warts and all. When you love yourself without conditions you want your own well-being. That’s where you discover happiness and how to be happy. With each step you take you become more compassionate about yourself. But none of this is a personal treasure to hoard. You discover that other people are loveable too – with all of their quirks. You can’t help but yearn for their well-being too. You desire happiness for all people. Loving yourself is the exact opposite of being egotistical! It makes you more fully human and alive because you realize that we need one another, that we’re inter-connected. Self-love becomes a generous outpouring of love for others.
DTPF You share a great quote in your book related to “limitless imagination.” You shared the story of a woman, Zelda who, because of the demands of her corporate career, was denying the “invitation to let go of the pause button” on her imagination. How can each of us learn to let go of the pause button on our own imagination?
RVT Listen to the tweets that your passions send you! There may be just one thing that you’re passionate about, that makes you feel alive. Pay attention – it’s the Universe inviting you to live life fully with whatever your gift is. That’s where you discover limitless imagination. When you choose to not listen to your passions and imagination you hit the pause button on your life. Imagine if any of your heroes had paused their imagination – the environmental, civil rights, gender equality, LGBT and other movements exist because of imagination that is alive and engaged! The world needs your imagination at work every day as much as you do – it’s how change happens.
DTPF How would you describe being “at home in your heart” to a group of young people today?
RVT Listen to your heart! Science reminds us that our heart and brain are connected and when we only live in our head space we miss out on our heart pointing us to happiness, purpose and meaning. Celebrate the people and places who make your heart space alive and detach from the toxic people whose energy limits your ability to be at home in your heart. Allow your heart to feed your intuitive response to the people, places and causes that make you at home by filling you with life-giving energy.
DTPF What is the most important idea your book can offer a young person who wants to better their lives and those around them?
RVT Love yourself and share that love! Be kind to someone today, speak out on something you care about, take an action to make the world a more just place. Love – it’s in your DNA. Love like it’s the best day of your life.
Post your comments below or join the conversation about this interview on the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation website
Robert’s new book A New Way to be Human is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and your local Indie bookstore
Robert V. Taylor
Courageous Egyptians are saying, “Meekness be darned” in their quest for freedom, human rights and democracy. Their voices resemble that of another Egyptian named Moses. The protesters are inspiring others to claim their voice and imagination. In the process they reminding us of what meekness really is.
Egyptian voices for freedom refuse to accept the wily machinations of their modern day pharaoh. They know all too well his manipulative and corrupt use of power to deny the fully humanity of his fellow citizens. Their voices for freedom know that the journey to creating the new human involves claiming their own humanity. They’re breaking out of the enclosure that their president has attempted to keep them penned into.
Moses did not have the tools of social media and El Jazeera at his disposal in inviting the Jews who lived in Egypt to mobilize in the same way that todays’ protesters do. Those who wrote about Moses presented him as the courageous leader on a pedestal. That is very different than the mass groundswell for freedom that has emerged in Egypt today. Or is it?
Moses’ success in confronting the Pharaoh depended on the Jewish people living in that country keeping alive the image of a Promised Land of freedom. Like the modern day Egyptians their identity as human beings was connected to their willingness to say no to being constrained.
The biblical stories about Moses celebrate his “meekness.” At first glance that seems like a contradiction to us. Weak, abused and doormat all mingle together when we think of “the meek.” Those images of meekness were the consensus of a recent discussion I participated in on Darkwood Brew about being the concept of “the meek.” They are life-draining negative images about suppressing the spirit and humanity of people. The evidence points to a different story of claiming your voice and embracing life fully.
Many of us have experienced the religiously infused cultural use of meekness as code language for being pliable, subservient and obedient. It smacks of being a Jell-O person. Those invested in keeping people enclosed from their fully humanity rely on these expectations of meekness. It is no doubt what the Egyptian president would like to return to in suppressing the humanity of his fellow citizens. But there is another way to thing about the meek creating the new human.
Moses’ courage to speak from his heart against the might of an all-powerful leader and regime shone through in spite of his attempts to deny his own voice. He tried to find an excuse to avoid speaking for freedom by hiding behind a speech impediment. Not too different than our attempts to say “my voice won’t make a difference.”
The meekness that Moses is celebrated for is the way in which he and his unlikely small band of people defeated the military might of the pharaoh. It is a meekness that said “no more” to denying freedom.
Meekness be darned means banishing our popular associations of the word with wimpiness. There is nothing timid about the historic figure of Moses or the millions of modern say Egyptians pursuing a similar yearning. The Pharaoh of Moses’ time used every resource at his disposal to crush the imagination and aspiration of the Jewish people taking freedom into their own hands. Plagues, pestilence and a mighty military were all deployed to try to crush them. Egypt’s current pharaoh may well employ a modern day version of the same playbook.
If the meek do “inherit the earth” it is because individuals have the courage to celebrate, claim and believe in the power of their own voice. It is because those individual voices reflect an imagination inviting us to imagine how things might be and then to work for its realization.
Is this why the courage of ordinary Egyptians is inspiring so many around the world? Is it because they remind us that change, hope and freedom invite our participation?
Egyptian voices for freedom invite our support. They remind us of our deepest shared yearnings. They set an image before us of a sacred field of life on which we meet one another. How will we reflect that oneness with them? What shall we do in our lives with our voice and imagination?
Post your comments below
Discover Alaska – Discover Yourself! Join Robert in Alaska July 2011 – click here
If you’re in the Seattle area join Robert for A New Way to be Human - click here
Order your copy today on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Become fully alive with a life of greater purpose and meaning with A New Way to Be Human by Robert V. Taylor.