Last week was pretty intense. I had little time to recover, and by the weekend, I felt deeply depleted. The news of far-right protests in The Hague, destroying the city frastructure and calling for no more migrants, only added to the weight.

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But then I stumbled on a new series of The On Being Project podcasts from Krista Tippett about the portal of hope. And I want to share it with you—because I think we need it so much right now. The world around us feels in turmoil, and yes, things can go very wrong. Yet these first three episodes gave me three insights that stayed with me.

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First, if we want to change the reality of our world, we must begin by imagining it—and live as if it already exists.

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Second, writing matters. It allows us to take ownership of our experiences, to shape them, and to gain just enough distance to reflect more deeply.

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And third, as the poet Ocean Vuong says in the interview, the future may not be in our hands, but it is in our mouth. She reminds us that in societies filled with loud, divisive voices, the real question is: how many of us are willing to step out of our comfort zones and become voices that unite? Loud bells, bridges, a force for good that gathers cattered dreams, heal old wounds and channels this raw energy it toward another future? If we alter our language, Vuong asks, where might our future be?

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A week later, returning from Luxembourg after an exhilarating meeting with people equally committed to a regenerative and equitable future— committed in spirit, even when our opinions might diverge—I felt this truth even more strongly. The future lies in our capacity to weave together new narratives. Narratives that unite. Narratives born of collective intelligence, helping us stretch the muscle of hope together.

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We reach these new narratives, these visions and “missions” for our economies and social contracts, only through brave conversations—where disagreement is not feared but welcomed. Where we dare to hold opposing truths with kindness, and search for the fragile balance between them. Nature whispers this lesson: life endures in the ension of seeming opposites—cooperation and competition, individuality and interdependence, divergence and connection.

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Abundance begins where fear ends.

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This is the work I long to keep doing with others: creating spaces where we craft stories that balance what seems opposed, and remind us of our shared longing for a livable and equitable world, for us and for all the generations to come.

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To get there, we must pass through fear and while not shying away from pain, look at injustice and despair right in the eyes, open ourselves to a new reality, rethink our assumptions, reimagine the world as we dreamed it as children, with fresh yes . We must let go of scarcity thinking. Only then can we step into a future abundant with possibility.

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Hope is not found in certainty, but in the courage to weave new stories together.

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👉 What gives you hope or despair right now? And what does hope look like through the story of your life? - you can download the journal that accompanies the podcast serie here: https://onbeing.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Journal-full.pdf

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