Being back in Ljubljana, after spending few days in the New York City, and being still under impression of connecting and learning with some amazing people there, and streamlining/sharpening my vision for 2018, I am thinking about the similarities, and differences among different places. And how we function in relation to the environment we are in, and people we are surrounded with. How we (can) measure this? Interesting how we learn and find the way to follow/adjust to the written and unwritten rules, habits and social conditions, and create from/within these settings. We are amazingly creative, no matter in which environment we are in. I wonder if also our answers to the questions of why, how, and what we create would be the same in each environment.
I always appreciate the opportunity to travel, somewhere distance if possible. It offers me the possibility to observe things from different perspective, and it helps me to centre and refocus, and to learn and unlearn, and than learn again. For that reason it is always an easy choice for me to travel to the States. Europe, regardless of all the interesting, beautiful, and rich variety, seems to some extent similar, and known. And although I live in a beautiful country where because of the scale and geography you can in just a short drive experience quite a variety of scenery, culture, and nature, and one could say it has everything, and I would agree, but I would also say that I (still) miss some spaciness, openness, and diversity in it. Those later for me represent different energies, different ways of living, and creating. And also different opportunities, possibilities, and potentials for growth and development.
I am not comparing different places in a way which is better, or worse, and that the missing parts are some kind of lacks. Just acknowledging that there are differences among different places, areas, and environments. As they are among people. It is something we are part of, and which to certain extent define/affect us. These differences, or better say the distance among different things because of not knowing, could indicate that we are ‘worlds apart’, but I believe we are, or at least we could be ‘worlds together’. These differences are actually something we can learn from, about ourselves, and about each other – on individual, community, country and global level. We can grow, and develop from this awareness, and knowledge.
This analogy of being either worlds apart, or worlds together, reminds me of the insight I got during my training to become a NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) practitioner. My intention was to learn new skills to use them in my leadership, and to be a better communicator. But to master these skills, you go first through an extensive self-exploration, healing, and quite a change. I guess it depends on the person what are the size, the depth, and the content of this change. This process made me realise that we are each like a world to itself, and that it is amazing how good we are functioning, living, and creating together, with a limited awareness of ourself, and of others. It was an eye-/heart-opening way for me how to learn about myself from others, from relationships, and form the environment around me.
Looking this analogy in these two aspects, which could represent a macro and micro level of the ‘world together’, I see it as a possible platform for mutual learning and understanding – for exchange of knowledge, for opening up to each other, for releasing fears, pains, expectations, and (mis)perceptions, for deepening the trust and connections, for creating a place and space for the improvement, and development. It is empowering, and freeing. I see it could be a new modus operandi for co-creating the world being a better place, for all of us, in a very natural and fulfilling way.