A message for 2017 in Gandhi's last diary entry.

2016 has had no shortage of roller-coaster moments of uncertainty. Brexit, the US Presidential election, Aleppo, and the deaths of several icons including Carrie Fisher, Justice Scalia & Muhammad Ali have left us wondering if the world has ever been murkier.

All of this leads me to 1948 and the last diary entry of Mahatma Gandhi and a timeless inspirational message.

For historical context, if you lived in what were the newly independent nation states of India or Pakistan in 1948, anxiety and fear were the drivers of the day. After a decades long brew of war, displacement, civil disobedience and the separation of families, out from the womb of empire India & Pakistan were born. What was the blistering toll on humanity? "By 1948, as the great migration drew to a close, more than fifteen million people had been uprooted, and between one and two million were dead." (New Yorker, June 29, 2015).

At 78 years old, Mahatma Gandhi was no longer the energetic young lawyer that was driven to help free his people from the vestiges of British Empire. The charismatic bridge builder who fought to bring disenfranchised voices into the public square had dissolved into a beaten but not defeated man. Gandhi in 1948 was heartsick at the strife and death that had ensued in the name of securing freedom for the peoples of the Sub-Continent. The near octogenarian Gandhi had survived several assassination attempts, countless hunger strikes, rebukes from every part of the anti-colonial movement and numerous personal tragedies. Gandhi's legacy as a peacemaker was shattered as he witnessed two key leaders of the independence movement, Nehru and Jinnah head in opposite directions as the respective leaders of an independent India and Pakistan. The dream of a unified and free Indian people was torn asunder.

Gandhi had every reason to be hopeless as he jotted down his final diary entry of January 26, 1948. Instead of expressing a sense of loss and despair, Gandhi used his last drops of ink to encourage the following:

"I wonder if we can remain free from the fever of power politics or the bid for power which afflicts the political world, the East and the West. Before leaving this topic of the day, let us permit ourselves to hope that though geographically and politically India is divided into two, at heart we shall ever be friends and brothers helping and respecting one another and be one for the outside world."

4 days after this entry on January 30th, 1948, Gandhi's life would be ended by the bullet of an assassin in New Delhi.

Gandhi's final message of hope rings even truer today as we all strive towards a more just, prosperous and inclusive world. Amidst a bitter outcome, Gandhi chose to see his countrymen not through a binary lens but rather through a transformational view. History reflects not Gandhi's loss, but his commitment to the idea that unity must be our magnetic true north.

Every single one of us has the opportunity to channel this message of Gandhi in 2017. What specific elements of Gandhi's message can we apply to the coming year?

Here is a quick meditation for 2017 that is based on Gandhi's final diary entry and pulled into the acronym (INCITE)---->

1. Imagination to see solutions and not problems.
2. Nurture empathy with those whom you most disagree with.
3. Courage to be a champion for those who are voiceless.
4. Invest in building up others to reach their fullest potential.
5. Time to reflect, heal & evolve.
6. Energy to stay in the arena no matter the odds.