CELEBRATING LIFE AFTER RESIGNATION

Celebrating Life After Resignation

Kimberly Chiswell Team Sydney, Australia, T1,Q4

Before Kimberly Chiswell joined the Team Management and Leadership Program (TMLP), the world looked scary, filled with threats of global warming, terrorism, corruption, epidemics and global financial crises. The impact on Kimberly was that she often felt overwhelmed with fear and afraid of the future, so much so that she was could not fathom bringing a child into this dangerous place. She didn’t believe that anything she did, not even her job as a social worker, could really make a difference.

But in November of 2008 she joined the Landmark Education Team Management and Leadership Program and within a couple of weeks her worldview shifted. Even her apprehension about bringing a child into the world changed and she asked herself. “Kimberly, if you were to not add any judgments but simply come from nothing and create, what would make a difference at the end of this year-long course?” Her response was “I would have a baby”.

In the first quarter of the course, she created a colorful, musical festival entitled “Viva la Vida! (A celebration of life the Latin American way!)” The event was alive, exciting, and raised $3000 for a Mexican orphanage.

A week later she and her husband conceived a beautiful soul.

In the last quarter of her year in the Team Management and Leadership Program Kimberly realized she’d been saying she couldn’t really do anything about the threats to the environment, but she saw she was afraid to be responsible for the difference she could make. She created a ‘game’ designed around building a community of gardeners who would get together and inspire each other to harvest and share their produce.

The result for her game was to have ten neighbors sharing ideas to improve their soil, sharing the food grown in their local gardens and fish from the sea. But her game really began when she realized she could be accountable for the environment by having her community reduce carbon emissions for transporting food and by putting healthy fresh food on the table. She says, “There is nothing like eating fruit and veggies freshly picked!” The unexpected benefit of her game has been a stronger sense of community.

Kimberly now knows herself as someone who can make a difference with the environment. She is being the change she wants to see in the world for her family and for her community. Rather than living in a world filled with fears, her new life is filled with incredible heroes and heroines committed to creating love, peace and abundance with freedom and ease!

Written by Kimberly Chiswell/ edited by Judi Romaine