Laying tracks - making your mark

Anyway you look at it – the world we’re leaving for our children is going to be dramatically different to the one we live in now.??

Much of this is to be expected, and most may be out of our control. But, as a leader - of your family, community or organisation - how cognisant are you of what you can influence???

How often do you take stock of the tracks you are laying for the next generation?

This question should prompt some sort of reflection on the impact of our actions and the legacy we might leave behind. But many do not even bother with this work. How often and how deep we take this reflection is personal but it has a wide and lasting influence.

Taking stock is more than an assessment; it requires active engagement and a commitment to change where necessary. It involves being consciously aware about the long-term consequences of our actions and making - sometimes difficult -? choices that prioritize the future of those who follow in our footsteps.?

The thing is, we all view our tracks (or our influence) differently, because our perspectives and values are, very often themselves, influenced by the tracks our parents left for us. The way one person sees the world can be very different to the next. Not wrong. Just different.?

Sometimes the greatest impact we can make is when we lead from a mindset that is open to all the different ways there are to experience the world.

Do we challenge ourselves to actively consider why we think the way we think?? Or why we behave the way we do ?

Any action or influence - if it is to be meaningful and enduring - requires connection, curiosity and courage.

• Connection ?- to find and create opportunities for conversation and community-building.
• Curiosity - to explore these connections without judgement or the presence of preconceived ideas.?
• Courage - to be vulnerable, to consider our own shortcomings and to correct our actions.

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children*

While we can’t predict or direct the future, we must accept that our actions and words - shape the narrative we live by, the energy we share, and how we influence our community.? For many this might be a scary realisation. Because, whether we know it yet or not, who we are being each day, lays the tracks for our children.?

It is simply this - our state of being - that will encourage them to become connected, curious and courageous.? And to build bridges for humanity in a world that belongs, not to us, but to them.

*The quote has been attributed to a number of different speakers, including Wendell Berry, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Chief Seattle, Moses Henry Cass, Dennis J. Hall, Helen Caldicott, Lester Brown, David R. Brower, and Taghi Farvar. It has also been referred to as a Native American proverb and an Amish saying