WEBVTT
1
00:00:14.990 --> 00:00:18.730
Hi there, this is Radio Headspace, and I'm Dora Kamau.
2
00:00:18.989 --> 00:00:23.329
Thanks for stopping by. So a few years ago, I
3
00:00:23.370 --> 00:00:27.269
was in Kenya visiting family and hosting a meditation session
4
00:00:27.530 --> 00:00:31.280
for local community groups. In one of the sessions, we
5
00:00:31.420 --> 00:00:33.719
opened the group with a check-in, and I mean a
6
00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:38.020
real one. I asked everyone, how are you really doing?
7
00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:41.600
A young person in the group raised their hand, took
8
00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:44.229
a breath, and said something that has stuck with me
9
00:00:44.549 --> 00:00:48.229
ever since. They said they had been feeling much better
10
00:00:48.829 --> 00:00:52.429
after they stopped making plans for the future. They just
11
00:00:52.490 --> 00:00:56.509
genuinely couldn't imagine one. The climate crisis had taken that
12
00:00:56.570 --> 00:00:59.409
from them. What was the point of planning, they said,
13
00:00:59.509 --> 00:01:03.630
if the world might not be there to receive it? Instead,
14
00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:06.200
they were just focused on living in the moment and
15
00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:11.400
focusing on one day at a time. I think we
16
00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:13.500
live in a world that is very good at now.
17
00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:21.260
Instant everything. Gratification in seconds. The long, unguaranteed future. Well,
18
00:01:21.299 --> 00:01:26.060
that takes something different. It takes imaginations. It takes a
19
00:01:26.099 --> 00:01:30.019
kind of faith that can hold uncertainty without collapsing under it.
20
00:01:31.060 --> 00:01:33.859
And here's what I keep coming back to. You don't
21
00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:36.260
have to be certain the future will be good to
22
00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:39.920
live as though it matters. One is a prediction and
23
00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:45.859
the other is a choice. I think about activists like
24
00:01:45.939 --> 00:01:50.120
Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in prison. He had
25
00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:53.870
no guarantee he would walk out. He had no guarantee
26
00:01:53.950 --> 00:01:57.620
apartheid would end in his lifetime. And yet, he kept
27
00:01:57.659 --> 00:02:00.939
showing up, kept thinking, kept writing as if it would.
28
00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:07.620
That's something beyond optimism. That's faithful investment. Wangari Mathai, a
29
00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:12.319
Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel laureate, started planting trees on degraded
30
00:02:12.379 --> 00:02:16.000
land in the 1970s, and then she was arrested for it.
31
00:02:16.889 --> 00:02:21.990
She planted 47 million trees over her lifetime. knowing that
32
00:02:22.069 --> 00:02:24.129
she'd never sit in the shade of most of them.
33
00:02:24.849 --> 00:02:29.770
But she planted anyway. Harriet Tubman made 13 missions to
34
00:02:29.870 --> 00:02:33.469
free enslaved people with no map and no promise of safety.
35
00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:37.900
She kept going back, acting as if freedom was possible,
36
00:02:38.819 --> 00:02:42.860
and pulling others toward it with her. What they shared
37
00:02:42.919 --> 00:02:46.740
wasn't certainty. It was a willingness to invest in something
38
00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:51.060
beyond their own lifetimes. The things we build, the words
39
00:02:51.099 --> 00:02:55.360
we use, the seeds we plant or leave unplanted. Slowing
40
00:02:55.400 --> 00:02:57.960
down is how we begin to feel that weight and
41
00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:04.479
that possibility. So I want to close today's episode with
42
00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:07.199
a short offering and practice that can help us to
43
00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:10.599
feel connected to the future and connect us to that
44
00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:15.840
sense of hopeful imagination. When you're ready, take a moment
45
00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:20.319
to find a comfortable position. And eyes closed if you can.
46
00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:29.180
Taking a deep breath and letting go. Now beginning to
47
00:03:29.259 --> 00:03:37.060
imagine the world a hundred years from now. People, places, animals, plants.
48
00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:44.969
All the inhabitants. And just allowing the world to be
49
00:03:45.050 --> 00:03:51.030
here in your mind's eye. holding it gently and compassionately,
50
00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:58.370
and repeating after me, offering these phrases. May you be
51
00:03:58.509 --> 00:04:05.750
safe and protected. May you be cared for. May you
52
00:04:05.789 --> 00:04:12.229
be nourished and nurtured. Just staying with that for a moment.
53
00:04:14.259 --> 00:04:18.610
imagining an earth that is cared for and protected, looked after.
54
00:04:22.410 --> 00:04:27.100
Now taking a deep breath, and when you're ready, opening
55
00:04:27.139 --> 00:04:34.120
your eyes if they were closed. So that young person
56
00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:38.620
in Kenya wasn't wrong to grieve. Grief means they care,
57
00:04:38.870 --> 00:04:43.310
and caring is actually where this starts. So many people
58
00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.839
before us had every reason to stop investing in the future.
59
00:04:47.579 --> 00:04:51.040
And yet, they kept going anyway. And here we are,
60
00:04:51.420 --> 00:04:55.480
living inside the choices they made. You don't have to
61
00:04:55.540 --> 00:04:58.639
see the outcome to plant the seed. And I'm learning
62
00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:03.930
that's what it means to be a good ancestor. I'll
63
00:05:03.949 --> 00:05:06.889
leave it here for today. Take care, friends.
1
00:00:14.990 --> 00:00:18.730
Hi there, this is Radio Headspace, and I'm Dora Kamau.
2
00:00:18.989 --> 00:00:23.329
Thanks for stopping by. So a few years ago, I
3
00:00:23.370 --> 00:00:27.269
was in Kenya visiting family and hosting a meditation session
4
00:00:27.530 --> 00:00:31.280
for local community groups. In one of the sessions, we
5
00:00:31.420 --> 00:00:33.719
opened the group with a check-in, and I mean a
6
00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:38.020
real one. I asked everyone, how are you really doing?
7
00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:41.600
A young person in the group raised their hand, took
8
00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:44.229
a breath, and said something that has stuck with me
9
00:00:44.549 --> 00:00:48.229
ever since. They said they had been feeling much better
10
00:00:48.829 --> 00:00:52.429
after they stopped making plans for the future. They just
11
00:00:52.490 --> 00:00:56.509
genuinely couldn't imagine one. The climate crisis had taken that
12
00:00:56.570 --> 00:00:59.409
from them. What was the point of planning, they said,
13
00:00:59.509 --> 00:01:03.630
if the world might not be there to receive it? Instead,
14
00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:06.200
they were just focused on living in the moment and
15
00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:11.400
focusing on one day at a time. I think we
16
00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:13.500
live in a world that is very good at now.
17
00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:21.260
Instant everything. Gratification in seconds. The long, unguaranteed future. Well,
18
00:01:21.299 --> 00:01:26.060
that takes something different. It takes imaginations. It takes a
19
00:01:26.099 --> 00:01:30.019
kind of faith that can hold uncertainty without collapsing under it.
20
00:01:31.060 --> 00:01:33.859
And here's what I keep coming back to. You don't
21
00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:36.260
have to be certain the future will be good to
22
00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:39.920
live as though it matters. One is a prediction and
23
00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:45.859
the other is a choice. I think about activists like
24
00:01:45.939 --> 00:01:50.120
Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in prison. He had
25
00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:53.870
no guarantee he would walk out. He had no guarantee
26
00:01:53.950 --> 00:01:57.620
apartheid would end in his lifetime. And yet, he kept
27
00:01:57.659 --> 00:02:00.939
showing up, kept thinking, kept writing as if it would.
28
00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:07.620
That's something beyond optimism. That's faithful investment. Wangari Mathai, a
29
00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:12.319
Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel laureate, started planting trees on degraded
30
00:02:12.379 --> 00:02:16.000
land in the 1970s, and then she was arrested for it.
31
00:02:16.889 --> 00:02:21.990
She planted 47 million trees over her lifetime. knowing that
32
00:02:22.069 --> 00:02:24.129
she'd never sit in the shade of most of them.
33
00:02:24.849 --> 00:02:29.770
But she planted anyway. Harriet Tubman made 13 missions to
34
00:02:29.870 --> 00:02:33.469
free enslaved people with no map and no promise of safety.
35
00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:37.900
She kept going back, acting as if freedom was possible,
36
00:02:38.819 --> 00:02:42.860
and pulling others toward it with her. What they shared
37
00:02:42.919 --> 00:02:46.740
wasn't certainty. It was a willingness to invest in something
38
00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:51.060
beyond their own lifetimes. The things we build, the words
39
00:02:51.099 --> 00:02:55.360
we use, the seeds we plant or leave unplanted. Slowing
40
00:02:55.400 --> 00:02:57.960
down is how we begin to feel that weight and
41
00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:04.479
that possibility. So I want to close today's episode with
42
00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:07.199
a short offering and practice that can help us to
43
00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:10.599
feel connected to the future and connect us to that
44
00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:15.840
sense of hopeful imagination. When you're ready, take a moment
45
00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:20.319
to find a comfortable position. And eyes closed if you can.
46
00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:29.180
Taking a deep breath and letting go. Now beginning to
47
00:03:29.259 --> 00:03:37.060
imagine the world a hundred years from now. People, places, animals, plants.
48
00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:44.969
All the inhabitants. And just allowing the world to be
49
00:03:45.050 --> 00:03:51.030
here in your mind's eye. holding it gently and compassionately,
50
00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:58.370
and repeating after me, offering these phrases. May you be
51
00:03:58.509 --> 00:04:05.750
safe and protected. May you be cared for. May you
52
00:04:05.789 --> 00:04:12.229
be nourished and nurtured. Just staying with that for a moment.
53
00:04:14.259 --> 00:04:18.610
imagining an earth that is cared for and protected, looked after.
54
00:04:22.410 --> 00:04:27.100
Now taking a deep breath, and when you're ready, opening
55
00:04:27.139 --> 00:04:34.120
your eyes if they were closed. So that young person
56
00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:38.620
in Kenya wasn't wrong to grieve. Grief means they care,
57
00:04:38.870 --> 00:04:43.310
and caring is actually where this starts. So many people
58
00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.839
before us had every reason to stop investing in the future.
59
00:04:47.579 --> 00:04:51.040
And yet, they kept going anyway. And here we are,
60
00:04:51.420 --> 00:04:55.480
living inside the choices they made. You don't have to
61
00:04:55.540 --> 00:04:58.639
see the outcome to plant the seed. And I'm learning
62
00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:03.930
that's what it means to be a good ancestor. I'll
63
00:05:03.949 --> 00:05:06.889
leave it here for today. Take care, friends.
