Updating what’s happening now, behind the scenes at New Horizons
Look for links to be added soon.
If you’ve been a longtime reader of this blog site, you may recall that the New Horizons Small “Zones of Peace” Project has built its various projects and programs, since its inception, circa 2006, on holding dreams and potentialities at the forefront of our mission and our motivations.
Overcoming Polarization, Moving Beyond Gender Tyranny and Making Violence Obsolete, even subtle violence, are among the initiatives we have taken up, suggesting the kind of intentions we have, typically, invested ourselves in, always aiming for the raising up of human capacities, rather than falling into the latest sink hole of the moment.
Nonetheless, staying true to this focus of continuously evolving in the direction of the best of ourselves and uplifting the people and various cultures surrounding us has been particularly challenging the past few years, our ideals more and more difficult to attain.
In the current climate, replete with dark and cloudy skies, hovering over our daily lives in the form of relentless social and political upsets, we have felt almost prompted to keep ourselves in a state of emergency preparedness, due to constant treacherous, stormy- weather and forecasts ahead without promise.
New Horizons, as a non-profit entity, is not one to easily give in to negativity. However, it has been challenging to keep our heads above water, as we plodded on, searching, always, for the sunshine we believed only to be hiding, at the darkest moments, when grey skies looked to be everywhere.
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| Keep your eyes on those whom you would emulate, not those who are, deservedly, disparaged. |
Endeavoring, in this manner, to find new inroads for reaching our ideals, we continued on, ever the optimists, adding new structures and strategies to already established foundations for creating personal and community health and well-being, taking on new social challenges, as they arose, weaving them in to our former methods for surmounting obstacles, never deterred for long.
For example, our response to the #MeToo movement, with our Beyond Gender Tyranny programs, has encouraged storytelling, one of our longest-held community development strategies, as a male-female problem-solving game plan. In the earlier stages of that upheaval, we had even expanded on our storytelling gateway by partnering with StoryCorps, with the intention of bridging gender disharmony through storytelling and story-listening.
Disappointingly, we have underutilized this resource in our seeking to resolve our larger dilemma, succinctly articulated as ….
“How is an organization, such as ours, intent on building and sustaining small “zones of peace” to contribute to personal and social advancement in a society -- and -- among people who seem to be more invested in maintaining, even promoting polarization, rather than moving beyond it?”This perspective has been our single, biggest challenge these past few years.
Thus, when we, not too long ago, discovered the Pro-Truth Pledge Movement, we were elated!
Like-minded others, we thought at last!
Believing that in all the world we had discovered in this project a critical missing piece for our overarching mission, in the Pro-Truth Pledge, that could enable us, on a grander scale than previously anticipated, to honor that which we stand for most – building and sustaining “zones of peace” in this challenging world where, in Gandhi’s words –
“…violence and deceit won’t be used.”As we, presently, begin our collaboration with the Pro-Truth Pledge Project, we are enjoying the experience of weaving elements of New Horizons together with it, imagining ourselves as being, once again, whole and healthy in ways we have been in the past.
Our Truth Or Dare GAME, now being revitalized and employed, first, to help transform the lives of our New Horizons Board Members, personally and as working associates (next to be a available to select, prepared others), and our Truth Or Dare Movement, slowly developing into a viable working fabric that can carry the weight of changes we anticipate for our emerging future, are fitting together nicely with the Pro-Truth Pledge Project.
Yeah!!
Some of the selected lyrics from John Lennon’s “Imagine” hold the image, closest to our hearts, with these words... “Imagine all the people living life in peace.”
At such moments, still we are reminded that rearranging priorities is no small or easy task.
So, we ask of you, please bear with us, at New Horizons, as we put old pieces and new -- and -- anticipated ones, still to come, into our next forms, being created now. We are definitely a work in progress, a work in which we hope you will join us.
For details and information, contact Anastasia at: MountainWomanRJ@aol.com.
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