My experience with Theory U
Melany Poppe
A way to start
After my father’s death, I began to question myself about how we see life and how we take for granted that we will have a “tomorrow”. I started to question all the reasons for everything I was doing: especially my profession, my master’s degree and what I wanted to do for the next few years of my life. I was feeling lost, sad, and afraid of not knowing if the things that I decided for myself were something that I really wanted or something that I only wanted because it was going to make my parents, family and society in general happy.
Many times we live in automatic mode, doing things without question, to please our family, partners, or what others expect from us and above all, we think that our career or our job is something that is not necessary aligned with what makes us happy.
How does Theory U come into my story?
One day, still lost and with many questions in my head, I went to a workshop that Katerina and Laura organized. I didn’t know what to expect or what the objective of the workshop was, only that during the session there was a space to meditate and answer important questions about life, and that was exactly what I needed.
I decided to join the workshop and we experimented with 3D Mapping and Prototyping tools. In the first exercise, creating my 3D map, I was able to connect with my body and start remembering the things I loved the most, I grabbed the flowers, branches, seeds, and a few leaves to create something that had only meaning to me.
I remembered how my mom used to teach me to arrange flowers when I was a child and how she admired the beauty in each flower, its color, shape and how different each one was even though they belonged to the same plant. I took the flowers, each one representing the women in my family, I put them together and I could observe and feel how there is an energy of collaboration, support, community and strength among them all. When I saw the seeds, I placed them in the center of my prototype and thought of my niece, who would like fertile soil so that she can grow and bloom like the other flowers. I took the branches and thought of my dad, the toughness, strength and determination he taught me, I put them around my model to represent the energy of perseverance and courage. Finally, when I took the leaves that had the colors of autumn, I remembered my vacations as a child, in the countryside, with trees and a place where I could be free and happy. In my model, the leaves represented nature, the forest and the space that allows you to heal and feel at home. I also felt that I wanted to share the emotions that nature allows you to experience, the feeling of being part of something bigger.
At the end of the exercise, we started prototyping and two questions that I was asked were the ones that brought me to what I am doing today. The questions were not difficult to answer, because I was still experiencing the emotions of my prototype. Images of strength and collaboration between the women in my family, landscapes, forests and the feeling of peace that comes from being in nature came to my mind. The questions were not difficult to answer, because I was still experiencing the emotions of my prototype. Images of strength and collaboration between the women in my family, landscapes, forests and the feeling of peace that comes from being in nature came to my mind.
What do I want to create in my life?
I want to work on what makes me happy in life, I want to be a strong and sensitive woman at the same time, I want to be free and decide for myself. I want to inspire more girls and women to take ownership of their lives. I want to meet people and travel the world. I want to work with women, and create leadership and collaborative communities.
I also want to have more time to appreciate the forests, the birds, the rivers, I want to share this feeling with people. The beauty of every sunrise, of rainbows, of how to live in harmony with nature, represents living in harmony with ourselves and with others.
What future do I want to create?
I want to create a community of women around the world, with a different vision, one of collaboration instead of competition, one of respect instead of confrontation, and one of empathy instead of indifference.
I want girls to have the right to study, and to decide if they don’t want to. That being a woman does not mean having to follow a pattern imposed by society or the community in which you live. That each person can connect with their heart and be free to follow that path and follow their purpose.
I also want to create a change in the mindset of the perception we have towards “Mother Earth – Pachamama”. I want us to accept that we are part of “she”, no more or less important than any species that inhabit the earth. To accept that we cannot control nature and that instead, we can observe, admire and feel part of “her”.
Going back to Theory U
Participating in the Theory U workshop, doing the exercises and answering those questions helped me to rediscover and connect with my purpose and to feel motivated again, to remember what made me happy and how this master and my studies were going to contribute to fulfilling my purpose, if I gave it that direction.
Although many more questions arose after the workshop, as time went by the answers and opportunities arose, which helped me to define more clearly what I really want to do in my life and in this way, contribute at least a little bit in the transformation for a more beautiful world.
And why do I recommend joining this community?
There are very few opportunities in which Universities, professors or academics generate spaces to be able to “feel” and reflect on the personal purpose of each student and what motivates them to learn. It is still believed that an excellent professional is a consequence of academic demands, when in reality good professionals are those who work for their purpose and use knowledge as a tool.
Many of us choose our careers, master’s degrees and even our thesis topics, because of what the labor market demands of us, or for reasons that make us believe that it will help us get a job we don’t want and therefore a life we won’t enjoy.
In this community, I was able to learn to apply tools, which helped me to trust my intuition, and the wisdom of my body; and to understand transformation in a different way. And above all to meet people who inspire me and teach me to see things differently.
