“What are you committed to, Teresa?” my coach, Pat, asked me during a call last Fall.
I quickly rattled off all the things on my plate. My upcoming talk, my webinar, my workshop, the new Soul Work of Money program. I talked about my personal growth and income goals.
I paused, feeling pleased with myself.
“But what’s the DREAM, Teresa? What’s the mission?”
Her question surprised me. It also triggered my “not good enough” wound. I started saying the first things that came to mind – reactively searching for the “right” answer.
Pat interrupted. “Stop, Teresa. This needs to come from your heart. You’ve alluded to it before – now it’s time to put it on paper.”
“Are you saying you want me to write my version of Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech?” I asked.
“Exactly!” Pat replied.
A few days later, with Pat’s question still swirling, I let it all come out on paper – straight from my heart. It was a dream that had first called to me 25+ years ago. It had resurfaced several times since. But I had done nothing with it.
I did nothing because of my own fears and insecurities. First, I wondered “what will people think?” The voice in my head also questioned, “Who do you think you are to have such a dream? To say something so bold? To attempt such a thing?” Followed by “What if you fail?”
Like Jonah, each time this dream had surfaced, I ran from it and tried to ignore it. I kept myself busy with other things. Building my business. Trying to get ahead financially. Living my life.
But it didn’t go away. It had been planted in my heart and soul. It took Pat’s question to reconnect me with it.
And this time, I’m not ignoring or running from it. I’m not putting it in a box labeled “Some Day”. I’ve been letting this dream germinate and take root in me. I’ve been re-imagining my work, my business and my life in light of it.
I’m clear that I cannot make this dream happen all by myself. I can only play my part in making it come true. Which includes being the mouthpiece for this dream. And inviting you to be part of it as well, my friend.
I’m also clear that embracing this dream already has and will continue to kick my butt in terms of my own growth. I have to walk the talk – to live and embody it. I don’t have to be perfect at it – just in practice and process with it.
All of which leads to today – the day we celebrate the Martin Luther King’s birthday. Since it was his dream that inspired me to claim mine, this seems like the perfect time to share my dream publicly.
So, with only a few minor edits, here is the dream that poured from my heart last Fall.
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I have a dream.
I have a dream where no child (or adult) goes hungry. Where all children (and adults) have a safe place to call home. With food to eat, water to drink and a roof over their head.
I have a dream where every adult has the opportunity to provide for themselves, their families and their communities through meaningful and appreciated work. I have a dream of a business world (and economic system) that prospers to the degree that all of Creation is appreciated, protected and allowed to prosper.
I call this dream “A Chair for Everyone.” It’s a new game for us to play individually and collectively. A game vastly different from the giant game of “musical chairs” that dominates our world’s economic, business and financial systems.
Remember that game? No other game I played as a child created pressure and anxiety like it did.
It’s a game that is built upon and perpetuates scarcity. There aren’t enough chairs for everyone and there never will be! This ever-present scarcity creates fear, competition, pressure, stress and disconnection. It breeds individualism instead of community. It’s true in musical chairs and in our world today.
This systemic belief in scarcity is at the heart of most of the challenges our world is facing. Racism and poverty, food insecurity and homelessness, religious intolerance and income inequality, war and environmental destruction. They all are byproducts of the giant game of “musical chairs” that I now call The Archetype of Scarcity.
In that game, we perpetuate scarcity by removing chairs. In “A Chair for Everyone”, abundance has us ADD chairs. So that everyone is IN. Everyone gets to play.
To the competitive mind, this may seem boring or even pointless. There’s no winner unless everyone wins. It’s a giant circle of people playing and dancing together. Imagine community, connection, collaboration. That’s “A Chair for Everyone”.
This new game is rooted in the Divine Archetype of Abundance we observe in nature. It’s rooted in our own inherent worth and the inherent worth of all of Creation. We experience it every time we breathe. It’s a way of living in which life-giving resources are used in an ongoing flow of life-giving resources for ALL. (That includes you, my friend!)
This is the Divine Cosmic Dance God invites us to be part of – you AND me.
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This is the game God is inviting me to play and be part of creating. It’s the transformation that I am committed to in my own life and in our world. Going forward, I pray that all that I do in and through my business (and life) will be in alignment with and support this dream.
Martin Luther King once said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Sharing this dream with you today was me taking that step.
Inviting you to join me in playing (and playing for) this game is another.
Supporting you (and myself) in that process is yet another. With that in mind, later this week I’ll be announcing a new (free) webinar I’ll begin offering later this month. In it, I’ll share with you the steps you can take to join in this new game. Not only for the difference it will make in your individual life – but for the difference that we, together, can make in our world.
Because I have a dream today, my friend.
Will you join me?