Breaking Through to 2021

This strange year is almost ending, and a remarkable combination of ingenuity, co-creation and intelligence means that just over the horizon and almost in view is a world made safer through vaccines and testing. What a rollercoaster it has been, and what kind of new landscapes are emerging for us all?

Key Reading

This remarkable article from The Guardian offers some insights into how much impact Covid may have on our psychology, above all on how our brains rewire in response to ‘so many layers of uncertainty’. It’s an uneasy read, and makes me ask ‘how do we help our minds to respond to this?’ How can we continue to think well in face of continuous change and ‘not knowing’? It feels like we need to make our minds work, and they do that best in the presence of great questions

Key Questions

So these are two questions I’ve been working with over the last three weeks, in groups and in my own head. They’ve been very rewarding, professionally and personally. And bv the end we did feel different. More relaxed, upbeat, capable. Did we trigger oxytocin? Quite possibly.  Minds are magical.

Thinking back to March, what do you notice in colleagues, friends, family and yourself that you value? What wonderful answers we heard: stories of perseverance and creativity, patience and versatility, generosity, new skills, new connections. Of course, it’s been hard and we hated some of it, but this question is intended to seek out the good.

As is the follow-up: As you think about 2021, what do you want to be sure to take with you, to have more of? Again, heart-warming answers: deeper connection, more space, more ease; better boundaries; choose to give my attention to what is fulfilling, to what helps me to think and to be (love that!); be braver.

Where we focus our attention has been a theme throughout this year in so many ways. The hard drop into Zoom rescued our work and our social lives yet it is often unsatisfying for our one-to-ones and groups. I still feel strongly that it lacks the resonance, the energetic field that we create when we sit together and settle into the beauty of full eye contact in person, in the room.  I long for that in 2021.

Key Connection

I can’t imagine a better way to reimagine that deep connection, even to feel it, than by watching this extraordinary 4-minute video, Look Beyond Borders, created by Amnesty in Poland.  It’s so moving (weepie alert!) and such a powerful reminder of the power – even the wonder – of profound human connection.

It embodies what I hope for in 2021, after the slow, careful making-safe of vaccination. Profoundly human connection. In whatever way, it shows up – on my courses, in meetings, within my family – above all together and in person.   This time last year we had no idea, did we?  What a long way we’ve come together on our Covid rollercoaster.

I hope that you will have time for reflection, rest and recovery from this demanding year over the holiday period and that 2021 brings us all into a new landscape and new lives in a post-Covid world.  Where perhaps we will meet…

Is 2021 your year for more Time to Think? Press for all details

 

Connect with me across social media to share in thoughts and discussion:
TwitterLinkedIn
Follow us on Twitter