Category: international relations

Welcome to my blog!

You just landed on a site focused on Healing International Relations, but you will read little about what goes on in the world or about international relations as we study it in university or practice it internationally as diplomats, military, grass root activists, or aid workers. Should you wish to register (see left column below) you will read every other week a post about the individual behind these roles.

As the world faces man made challenges on a scale beyond recognition, as international organizations and well-known institutions crumble all around, the level of disruption is calling for a different approach, a new system. We are collectively seeking answers through innovation, artificial intelligence, sciences. We are seeking answers in history, philosophy, religion, stuck at the crossroads, still unable to integrate all these fields. The task, however, is well beyond a new school of thought or even a new world order. At the same time, it may well be much closer to home, within our own personal power to change for ourselves and by ourselves, going back to basics and focusing on how we relate to life and thrive as an individual.

This blog stems from the premise that the time has come to disrupt ourselves – to reinvent ourselves individually with the help of each other to weave a new way of life. Disruption is commonly understood as an act of forcible separation, division into parts, break-up, dislocation that interrupts the flow momentarily or upends an industry. It typically offers also an opportunity to reconnect, re-assemble, and start anew, imagining a future catalyzing our own evolution as a species. While we tend to focus typically on the disruption around us, I have found that the rules of disruption apply to the individual as well, and I believe that innovation ultimately begins within ourselves. It takes courage to disrupt ourselves, stepping beyond our zone of comfort, beyond our doubts and embracing the scary and lonely path into the unknown. It is especially challenging as it calls for discovery rather than conventional planning and strategy. It requires searching where no one else has gone, switching to different performance criteria – an inside-out job – redefining the attributes of success. Albeit an individual path, we do not have to go it alone. You may resonate with others on the way to affirm yourself, tell your own story. I hereby offer my lessons learned from a personal disruptive trajectory, along with tips and insights on how to cope with the level of disruption within, which I believe to be necessary for healing our relations at the international level, and usher a different world one person at a time for everyone to thrive. Healing ourselves is the path to a new international environment.

Big data, small me

In today’s information age it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data around us, from news to specialized information, from inbox to waves and digital overload. The sheer amount of information out there has had a serious impact on the way we feel as an expert, a leader, a parent, a decision-maker. It is easy to fall in the trap of feeling insufficient and ill-prepared. How do we trust that we have enough information when we know that there is no longer any way to master all there is to know about a topic? How does one rely on specific information when everything and its contrary exist out there? We may be tempted to close off, stop the flow of information, dismiss new knowledge for the sake of finding our way and keeping our balance. While tempting, this will likely become a hindrance, a limiting belief for our worldview.

There is another way. While thoroughly annoyed at my inability to “know for sure” the best way forward, the best medical advice, the right diet, the truth… I have come to welcome this overwhelming feeling, recognizing that there is no truth, there is no “best advice” to give or receive. There is only a possible option, at this particular time, in this particular place, in the face of many possibilities and multiple futures. How humbling! I actually wonder whether there ever was a best piece of advice. We may have lived in the comfort of less knowledge and therefore less possibility to be wrong. Can we even talk about being wrong? Should we simply approach “wrong” as a different experience – learning to fail and fail again? Even more humbling!

Life has certainly become more complex. This complexity can no longer be dealt with solely on the basis of our mind. Intuition is becoming increasingly salient in the face of increased complexity. Intelligence will still rely on our mind processing information, but decision-making seems to increasingly demand transcending powers, intuition, an ability to know not only on the basis of external factors but also on inner wisdom. This small inner voice may at times defy logic. Increasingly using our intuition may bring us to a place where the way forward is essentially our choice, our experience to live: SMALL DATA BIG ME, or the power of being 100 percent responsible where failing is the path.

Our path to the world

At a time when our institutions are under severe stress, paralyzed by internal sclerosis and unable to adjust to a fragmenting world, answers lie within. We often search for our roadmap in guides and GPS, relying on external sources for guidance and information. The future belongs to those who have discovered their inner GPS and can trust it at all times, in all circumstances.

What kind of world traveller are you? Are you the type to research your trip through maps and travelogues, seeking information to get inspiration? Or are you the type to just take off, trusting that you will find inspiration on the road, and relying on your instincts?

The roads we are to travel in today’s world have not been paved. They will not appear in the maps and guides, which have been developed by others for other times. The only true expert on your path is you. Does that mean that you have to travel alone? Absolutely not!

Fellow travellers are key to humanity’s wellbeing. We are not meant to live our experiences alone. We need to congregate; we need to belong; we have to serve a community of likeminded individuals. When you find yourself travelling alone, consider joining a group of travellers or founding your own, sharing similar interests, ideals, or purpose. This is your support team to inspire you on the road.

In groups through resonance you will find the way. Give the group time and space to evolve in a natural rhythm of its own. Let it grow without influencing and shaping, but rather listening and feeling the rhythm – its own heart and soul. This circle will develop into a source of great strength, endurance, and will nurture each and every one through connecting to a sense of community and finding its place into the world

What to do about today’s war of words?

Today many observers of international relations are pointing to the dangerous impact of the ongoing war of words at the highest political level between North Korea and the United States. Indeed, words are energy. Language is power and has the potential to hurt as much as to heal. In fact, many people are becoming conscious of the connection between the public discourse reflected in our media daily and the way they feel generally. Many of us are therefore “turning off,” mindful of the fact that words are not abstract, disconnected entities used only to transmit information. They are transmitters carrying powerful feelings. What we hear and say is affecting our physical and emotional state as much as our thoughts.

We are effectively taking flight mentally–lifting off–at best seeking a different perspective, but often escaping, freeing ourselves from the energy carried around. We feel the urge to break free mentally when we experience new insights. Mentally, we feel constrained by habitual ways of thinking. Emotionally, we may experience the need to shake up the power of blockages, such as fear. Spiritually, we may be called upon to escape beyond the boundaries of our world in its current form and state. Taking flight is always an expression of opening up to new ways, opening our minds, hearts, and ourselves to new patterns.

However, increased awareness and opening up to new ways is insufficient for healing. Healing requires transformation. Without transformation, healing runs the risk of repeating negative patterns, and even reinforcing them through repetition. We may understand how we feel and why; that is enough to turn off from the news. But we do not know what to do about it in order to shift fundamentally how we feel and avoid a repeat of the story the next time we hear the news, or the next time we face conflict. To transform the impact of any war of words, let us remember Einstein, who said: “we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

It is not by mental construct that we will ultimately find solutions to the way we feel. We may have to create mentally a wall around us for protection. Such defensive methods may actually ensure that we survive emotionally and physically through challenging and threatening times. But time will pass and we will feel safe again. However, the same walls and mental constructs we’ve created will sabotage our future. The wall will no longer be needed, and yet it will remain as a force of habit. The stories we continue to tell ourselves will only fortify the wall. Let us invent new stories with heart and spirit.