Milestones, mindful mindsets and new horizons

Another trilogy post I'm afraid; it's been one of those weeks.  At long last my new website for Connected 4 Good is online.  Big thanks to Richard Eason for the tech work and for Stuart Teece at Broadswords UK for the graphic design work.  Connected 4 Good is a not-for-profit social enterprise. It aims to encourage a cultural shift that will see schools and old people's care homes doing things together more regularly than the traditional Christmas carol concert.  It's early days and the signs are encouraging; from a few doorstepping encounters it's clear there is a willingness to become a lot closer and learn together.

As the venture is entering an action phase a timely tweet reminded me of the need for a strong will and a need to keep the doubting voices at bay - the tweet (I forget who from) was referring to a snippet Richard Gerver's new book; 'Change: Learn to love it. Learn to lead it.' something like 

"don't be afraid of imagined consequences"

So true! It makes me wonder how many amazing ideas have never been voiced because of the originator's internal filter or how many ideas have been voiced but never acted upon because the imagined consequences only kick in when things get real.  Just yesterday I was reminded of a great example of what can happen when these thoughts are banished; I have worked with a local makers / hackspace enterprise by the name of Access Space for a while now and have been inspired by James Wallbank, their CEO's utter confidence and embracement of possibilities- his Kickstarter project 'Infinite Crypt' has successfully reached its target and been funded.  A great mix of network and positivity has resulted in an really exciting project and emerging small business.

But maybe the biggest milestone has been happening near Adelaide. 

The wonderful Mark Oliphant College has set up Praise Pod in their early years school.  We are planning a live link to a school in Sheffield so the children can share their achievements.  It's here where I start to hear imagined consequences. Helpfully the wonderful smile on the boy's face in a moment banished those voices. It reminded me just how in the moment children are and how genuine their felt experiences are.  All the talk in the media of government spying and ISP's blocking sites relating to alternative spiritual practice (including 'mindfulness') thankfully doesn't seem to burden the young man sat proudly in the praise pod chair.  His happy disposition reminds us all that we all have the power to be in the moment.  Maybe as we get older it becomes harder to tune out the noise that gets in the way and see achievements simply as having validity because they exist, irrespective of the context in which they sit. Onward!