Day 192: The Lego Movie - An Example of Leadership for Kids and Adults

My son and I like Legos - we like building stuff with Legos and we also very much enjoy playing the  Lego video games together.  A few weeks ago, we cuddled up on the couch and watched The Lego Movie and we had a great time as we both found that the movie was quite interactive.  While he was getting into acting out the scenes with the multitude of Lego characters that we had previously played with in our Lego games, I got into some cool perspectives that were shared in the story such as the consequences of accepting authority without question, the power of being free of preconceived ideas, how one does not have to be unique or special to make a difference, and how each of us can learn from each others individual strengths and weaknesses.  However, what made the Lego Movie a stand-out story for me was that it showed a great example of leadership.  Which, as a parent watching a kid's movie, was kind of like a 'halleluiah' moment because most movies for children begin with tragedy, continue on with relationships and conflict within the relationships and then end with some sort of happily ever after. 

This movie was fun and interesting.  The main character, Emmet, a normal Lego guy, teams up with a group of extraordinary builders and Lego game characters. My son and I got some laughs as we watched the brooding Batman character as he attempted to be all moody and dark and we had a 'WHOA! COOL!' moment when the Star Wars characters were integrated into a scene.  For sure, the movie creators didn't hold back on the character introduction and development - it was definitely an 'anything goes' kind of movie.

So being a normal kind of Lego guy, Emmet, like many people in the world, wakes up every morning, does his morning routine, goes to work, does what he's told, tries make friends, goes home for dinner and works on projects in his free time. Emmet's self-proclaimed strong point is that he is awesome at following plans.  In one moment, Emmet's life changes from pattern and routine to awareness and purpose where he is told that he is 'The Special', the one, and an elite Master Builder - a part of a prophecy in which he will lead the way in freeing the Legos from the bad guy, Lord Business.

With this purpose, he comes together with a group of creative Master Builder Legos that refuse to follow plans and instead insist on expressing themselves in whatever way they like in any given moment.  When they find out that Emmet has no particular creative ideas and that he's only followed plans, the Master Builders no longer value Emmet or believe that he is 'The Special' and continue on with their random building and not getting anywhere.  This is where Emmet, who sees everyone's potential, including his own, puts together a plan that utilizes each Lego's ability and individual creative talent and then he uses common sense and practicality to show them how it could work and within this group effort, realize their objective of saving their existence.  Though there were mistakes along the way and things didn't go exactly as planned, they pushed forward until eventually coming to an agreement with Lord Business and thus ending the conflict.

To me, this was a really cool example of leadership that aligns with how we're becoming leaders within the Desteni I Process where leadership is no longer a position of authoritative power over others and instead a creative process of seeing and utilizing our individual potential, learning from each other, challenging each other, looking at innovative ways of doing things, and seeing plans through within our collective agreement of principles and purpose.

Day 169: I Hope Things Get Better - Part 2

Here continuing with Self-Correction and Self-Commitment from Day 168: I Hope Things Get Better - Part 1.

When and as I see that I am going into Hope as indicated by me deliberately attempting to ignore, put-off, and wait-for the events and situations in my reality to ‘work themselves out’ in a positive way, I stop, breath, and do NOT go into a distraction. I realize that I must stand up, take responsibility for myself and my reality and move myself to make decisions for change, plan how to implement these decisions, and then physically do the work required to change the situation.

I commit myself to stop going into Hope and within this stop attempting to ignore, put-off, and wait-for the events and situations in my reality to ‘work themselves out’ by instead standing up, taking responsibility for myself and my reality and moving myself to make decisions for change, planning how to implement my decisions for change and then physically doing the work required that will actually change my situation.

When and as I see that I am not being the direct guiding principle of myself as indicated by me becoming overwhelmed with problems instead of going into solutions, I stop and breathe. I realize that this is how I begin the process of my self-sabotage and that if I go into this overwhelmed experience that I will then trigger my pattern of procrastination and justify my not standing with the statement, “there’s nothing I can do to change this at the moment,” where I wait and do nothing.

I commit myself to be the direct guiding principle of myself by not allowing myself to become overwhelmed when I see problems and stopping myself from saying, “there’s nothing I can do at the moment,” and stopping myself from procrastinating. Within this, I commit myself to go into the solutions creation process when and as I see problems.

When and as I see that I am deliberately attempting to ignore what I see are problems and/or overwhelming events as indicated by me distracting myself with other tasks, ‘forgetting’ about a problem, and/or telling myself that, “things will work out on their own if I leave them alone,” I stop and breathe. I realize that problems don’t work themselves out and that problems are actually potential solutions that require physical movement/force to be worked out. I realize that I have limited myself by allowing myself to believe that I am not capable of physically moving a problem to a solution and within this, taking the easy way out instead of facing my personal beliefs of insecurity and fear.

I commit myself to STOP my deliberate attempts at ignoring a problem and then trying to pass the problems off to others when I am unable to forget the problem and/or the problem doesn’t ‘work out on its own’ and continues to emerge by when and as I see problems, remind myself that problems are potential solutions that require physical movement and from here, push myself to be that force that moves the problem to a solution. Here, I show myself that I am able to realize solutions and within this, assist and support myself to see that how I have allowed my beliefs, insecurities, and fears have limited me.

When and as I see that I am not moving myself to assist and support myself to make changes, improvements, and/or preventative actions with the reason, justification, excuse, and/or belief that I have had miraculous experiences in the past where my life ‘suddenly gets better’ and so it’s ‘okay’ to Hope that it will happen again, I stop and breath. I realize that within Hope, I am looking and waiting for a positive energetic experience – I am addicted to and possessed with/by this tiny sliver of ‘goodness’. Not once have a stopped to question why I apparently need this positive energetic experience nor have a looked beyond placing my trust in Hope and investigated ways of making changes, improvements, and/or preventative actions so that I am no longer looking-for and waiting-for a positive sudden energetic fix.

I commit myself to stop looking for and waiting for something positive to happen – I commit myself to stop going into Hope by when and as points come up that require to be fixed, improved, and/or change, I physically move myself to fix, improve, and/or change these points.