“And you? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?” ―Rumi
Hi, I'm Dipika Kohli. As your community-building and innovation coordinator this summer, my aim is to give you space and time to think through the story of... you!
Before we begin, some things I would like you to know.
When you come to America, you’ll very likely discover that Americans can often talk very openly (and sometimes loudly!) about what we think. I never noticed until I was an exchange student from North Carolina to Kyoto: "Why don’t people share their personal side?", I wondered. But towards the end of my year there, I went to a karaoke box one evening with some Japanese friends, and that’s when I saw all kinds of personalities began to emerge! One guy even stood up on the sofa, his head almost touching the ceiling lights, and sang a fervent rendition of Highway Star. OK, this is an extreme example, but I wanted to just let you know that as we start and as we go, I’d want to make sure you feel comfortable enough to express your real thoughts and even emotions. Remember, there are no ”right” or “wrong” answers. As we begin the changemaker journey of self, your discoveries that you choose to share or keep private will all each be perfect, because they will be your own. And that’s why we’re talking. About what matters to you, personally.
Now, take a deep breath.
To help you discover your role as a changemaker, let's begin our first activity in a series of guided conversations on self-reflection.
Before we begin, some things I would like you to know.
When you come to America, you’ll very likely discover that Americans can often talk very openly (and sometimes loudly!) about what we think. I never noticed until I was an exchange student from North Carolina to Kyoto: "Why don’t people share their personal side?", I wondered. But towards the end of my year there, I went to a karaoke box one evening with some Japanese friends, and that’s when I saw all kinds of personalities began to emerge! One guy even stood up on the sofa, his head almost touching the ceiling lights, and sang a fervent rendition of Highway Star. OK, this is an extreme example, but I wanted to just let you know that as we start and as we go, I’d want to make sure you feel comfortable enough to express your real thoughts and even emotions. Remember, there are no ”right” or “wrong” answers. As we begin the changemaker journey of self, your discoveries that you choose to share or keep private will all each be perfect, because they will be your own. And that’s why we’re talking. About what matters to you, personally.
Now, take a deep breath.
To help you discover your role as a changemaker, let's begin our first activity in a series of guided conversations on self-reflection.
Changemaker Challenge:
Goal: Take 30 minutes to think about your family.
Specific tasks:
What to expect next: More exercises like this in the next 2 Changemaker Quest challenges in July, and then, more exercises to do together when we meet in person in August.
I’ll leave you for today with this quote :
Specific tasks:
- Set your timer for 30 minutes.
- Get your favorite writing utensil (pen, pencil, marker, etc.), and a notebook.
- Start at the top of the page. List a person in your family you think really influenced you.
- Go to the next line. Add another person.
- Keep going until you have 10 people on your page.
- Now, take a few minutes to think about how each person shaped who you are today.
- Write a few words next to each person's name. It might say something like, "Helped me ride my bicycle by myself." Or something else that left a big impact.
- Use any time you have left to write a short story (~200 words) with 2 or 3 of the people you've listed at the center of the story.
- Help us understand what they did for you that was important, and why.
- Share on Google form in the Final Stage
What to expect next: More exercises like this in the next 2 Changemaker Quest challenges in July, and then, more exercises to do together when we meet in person in August.
I’ll leave you for today with this quote :
“Most of us are not raised to actively encounter our destiny.
We may not know that we have one. As children, we are seldom told we have a place in life that is uniquely ours alone. Instead, we are encouraged to believe that our life should somehow fulfill the expectations of others, that we will (or should) find our satisfactions as they have found theirs.
Rather than being taught to ask ourselves who we are, we are schooled to ask others. We are, in effect, trained to listen to others’ versions of ourselves. We are brought up in our life as told to us by someone else! When we survey our lives, seeking to fulfill our creativity, we often see we had a dream that went glimmering because we believed, and those around us believed, that the dream was beyond our reach. Many of us would have been, or at least might have been, done, tried something, if…
If we had known who we really were.”
—Julia Cameron