Ah, September. Blogs, books, and other media are filled with references to Spring - metaphors abound, and the seasonal cliches are everywhere! I shall spare you, and instead thank those of you who have enabled me to exceed my fundraising target for The Black Dog Institute two weeks out from “The Big Run”.
Ironically at the time of writing my last blog-post, I had not yet been informed of the death of my cousin – suicide from depression at the age of 48. The third generation of men in my family who ended their lives rather than deal with the vicious black dog every day.
There are some excellent resources from people who are far more informed about this topic than I. Start with these two: “Back from the Brink” and “The Depression Book”.
Since I declared my intention to support this cause, I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of stories of how depression has impacted the lives of so many people I know. Acknowledging depression and sharpening awareness gave them permission to speak about it without shame or guilt – sometimes for the first time in their lives.
This has encouraged me to renew my commitment to continue my work with values, purpose and visions with increased energy & focus. When I am distracted & disconnected from my purpose, I become despondent, disillusioned and destructive – the D’s of despair and depression. When I reconnect with my core values and deepest purpose, there is energy, enthusiasm, effervescence, enjoyment, effortlessness, elation and empathy – all the E’s of ease. In alphabetical terms, just one single step forward, yet a whole world of difference.
One of my favourite futurists, John Renesch, commences his September newsletter with a quote from Buckminster Fuller, “If the success or failure of this planet, and of human beings, depended on how I am and what I do, how would I be? What would I do?”
Renesch writes:
“One thing about Bucky which is less well- known: he seriously contemplated suicide in mid-life. He had a series of business failures, an experience known all too well by inventive types whose ideas are a bit too far ahead of the crowd, had gone bankrupt and lost his young daughter to polio. He reportedly had an epiphany which caused him to step back from the brink of taking his own life and embark on what he called “an experiment” - to discover what a single individual could contribute to change the world and benefit all humanity. For the next half century, he lived that experiment.
What if we lived that experiment each day? What if we asked ourselves,“What can I do today to benefit humanity?” Instead of wallowing in powerlessness what if we simply did something every day that contributed to the success of the human species? I guarantee you the world would start looking better.”
What if?
