What Do I Have to Say?
This question came to me when I was struggling to put “pen to paper”. The question rose within me: What do I truly have to say? To paraphrase Churchill, so much has been said by so many to such little effect. Indeed, we live in a culture of noise to which I am now contributing.
What then do I have to say?
I have increasingly found that the proper response – speaking personally – is to say less and less. What I do say is increasingly posed as questions intended to get behind the ready answers and provoke new thoughts but equally to go beyond the sense that any conversation is about me or indeed anyone else. It is surely about what we create collectively.
My sense is that if we are to traverse the pain of the coming decades, we will need to create space for bigger questions to emerge and allow deeper communal voices to have their say.
Perhaps then we will have something interesting to say. Or perhaps, we focus too much on words and writing and miss so much in the world. As Chief Luther Standing Bear of the Oglala Sioux said, “[t]he whole world was a library”.
- How then might we open our eyes to the wonders all around us?
- How then might we set our fancy words aside and speak more plainly?
- How then might be build a culture that brings us together rather than divides us?
Question in the Image:
- What Do I Have to Say?
- Note: I am really curious as to how you interpreted the “Have” in “What Do I Have to Say?”
Want to Further Explore This Topic?
This wonderful interview with Francis Weller entitled Collapse, The Psyche, and the Role of Soul feels appropriate. It speaks to deeper conversations we might be having individually and collectively.
Nurturing Curiosity – Daily Practice: This is part of the Nurturing Curiosity series of tools, insights and questions designed to help nurture curiosity as part of our daily practice. In point of fact, every interaction we have is an opportunity to question what we are observing and how we and others are seeing the world. What might we assume is true that may not be? What might be more nuanced than we think?
About Tom O’Leary
Tom guides bold pioneers through inner transitions towards regenerative futures.
His primary offering – through a process he calls Ecological Coaching – is about working with leaders on the mindset, skillset and structural shifts that will power their organisation’s outer transition.
This means helping leaders thrive while creating ripples of positive change within their organisation and most importantly for the communities they serve and ultimately life on this planet.
It is thus not just about the leader as an “individual” but rather as part of an ecology of relationships. Within this ecology, he helps the leader feel heard, gain clarity, take action, build confidence and thrive all in service of something bigger.
How Might Tom Help?
- My first invitation is to take maximum advantage of the free content on this site.
- As you are reading this, you are clearly on a fascinating journey. If you feel you would benefit from us doing some work together on some aspect of your journey, please explore this page: How Can I Serve?
- I also endeavour to answer every email so if you have any queries do reach out.
