The most loving disruptive innovation of ourselves.

"Time is always moving on; nothing can stop it. We can’t change the past, but we can shape the future. The more compassionate you are, the more you will find inner peace. However, education systems today tend not to adequately enhance basic human nature. Nevertheless, since human beings have a natural ability to think things through, education is a key factor in creating a better future." H.H. the Dalai Lama

I find this such a beautiful statement, and contradictory to much we have learned about ourselves:  we have a potential for inner peace. In my encounter with ancient teachings of the East, I came to see that inner peace doesn't mean what we might think at a first glance. It is not a passive state, it doesn’t mean we are always nice and sweet. It is the capacity to be with everything that arises in our inner and outer experience with fearless clarity, discernment and openness - and from this space of rest and openness, we have a much greater capacity to see solutions. As we are spinning into a time of great challenges as a human culture, the solutions that will carry us through depend on us getting to know our greatest resource in a new way - our mind. It’s like the most loving disruptive innovation of ourselves. And I believe this field of knowledge - the beneficial potential of our mind - is something we need to include in the education of our children. Turning emotions into wisdom.

This week I was at a parent meeting at my daughter's new school, and it brought me to tears seeing all the teachers and staff standing together, feeling deeply their wish to benefit. At the same time many of our teachers are on the brink of exhaustion, and many children finish school without getting to know their unique strengths and passion, maybe even feeling like they failed. I think it is crucial to our survival that we give our children and teenagers the tools to face and solve the challenges ahead of us - we owe it to them big time!

It is exciting to explore what structures and ideas don't serve us anymore as we shape the future and find new ways together.

Great gratitude to H.H. the Dalai Lama for speaking up for a compassionate, peaceful and powerful way of being human.