One of the biggest personal challenges I face is starting things. It is so hard for me to find the inspiration and even harder, the willingness to begin. What if it fails? What if nobody cares about it? There is always that small devil in my shoulder saying I’m not going to make it, and starting this journey was not an exception. Fortunately, I was not alone and I was surrounded by amazing people that together, helped me to find the power to overcome this and take the first step.
“Social Presencing Theater”, “The Stuck Exercise”, “4D mapping”, “The Village”… I’m almost sure I’m not the only one that had absolutely no clue what all that meant at the beginning of the semester. Yet, I’m totally sure that I’m not the only one that decided to stay after experiencing them. Since the beginning of the semester, Theory U was implemented in several ways at ITT. Workshops, interventions and mindfulness sessions are just some of the activities that have taken place in the past few months, and I would dare to say, all of them were initially surrounded with skepticism and uncertainty. After taking part in most of them, there is one thing I’ve noticed: in the first events, when the participants were asked why they went there, most of them would say: “Because I had nothing else to do”, “because I wanted to meet new people”, “because I was free this weekend”. But after a few events, the answers changed: “because I was really curious about how to apply it”, “because I really liked the previous workshop”, and for me, the most inspiring one: “because everyone is talking about Theory U and I wanted to be a part of it”. There it is – people like it! It is useful and we have fun with it.
The creation of the website is one of the products, which has the purpose of reaching out to more students and expanding the group. There is already a community and now we want to spread the word. It has been a very productive, inspiring, and most of all, joyful journey and we invite everyone to be a part of it and find a way to the emerging future. Trust me, I was one of the skeptical ones at the beginning and now here I am – talking about it and inviting everyone to be a part of it. There is nothing more inspiring than being surrounded by all these wonderful people with an open mindset and willingness to make a change.
But what is it? How can I apply it? Now that’s what makes it so interesting. I can tell you that it is an awareness-based methodology of transformation, you can go and read a thousand articles about it on the internet or even take an online course in Edx and get a fancy diploma to brag on your resume. But you will never get a grasp of it until you experience it by yourself. So, I really invite you to take the first step into the journey with us. If you’re struggling with your thesis, you’re stuck with a project from work or even if there’s a personal issue that has been revolving your mind, just give it a try. That’s what’s so wonderful about it – it adapts to everything; it adapts to U!
by Dennis Castillo
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