I awoke this morning very grateful to have prepared three books for publication yesterday. And that opened up my gratitude for all of the other people, places, and things in my life.
Last week, I participated in a webinar my housemate, Don Hall, was hosting through Transition US which featured Rob Hopkins, author of The Transition Handbook, The Transition Companion, and The Power of Just Doing Stuff. His latest book, from which the webinar was drawn, is called From What Is To What If, and the basic notion is that the combination of the words ‘what’ and ‘if’ can be an amazing catalyst for creativity, and in order for us to create a world we truly want to, and are able to live in, we have got to start using our imaginations.
I’ve been a big fan of ‘What if…’ throughout my life. Some of the more memorable ‘What if…’ questions I’ve asked myself were “What if I went to Alaska for the summer?”, “What if I hitchhiked across the country?”, “What if I lived a year without money?”, “What if I wrote a book?”, “What if I wrote another book?”, “What if there were a way to base our economic system on the concept of flow, rather than growth?”, and “What if I created a journal that would empower people to come up with ‘What if…’ questions in order to get them imagining the world we are capable of, rather than the residue of the antiquated and outdated?”
The last question was actually asked as I was in the hammock, listening to the webinar. Before the webinar had ended, I was at my computer, putting the book together. Throughout the process over the last few days, I have asked myself a number of ‘What if…’ questions, resulting in a journal that I believe will help people through their own processes of personal transformation as well as a stimulant for the collective innovation we need in order to create a brighter tomorrow.
So, I will soon have six versions of The What If Journal available. There will be thirty day, sixty day, and ninety day editions, featuring the option of lined and unlined for each. Each entry features a different inspirational quote and a blank space to craft a ‘What if…’ question every evening, and two extra pages for journaling the answer the following morning.
Of course, I still have some tweaking to do, and I have to design the covers, so the actual journals probably won’t be in print until at least mid-March, but the fact that I can conceive, construct, and publish a book in such a short amount of time does lend some credibility to the notion of ‘What if…’ Because there were a whole lot of ‘What if…’ questions between the time Guttenburg invented the printing press and Amazon developed their print-on-demand program.
But you don’t have to wait for the paperback to start using the ‘What if…’ program. All you need is paper and a writing utensil, or you can use your phone or computer. Simply write down a ‘What if…’ question sometime before you go to bed at night, and when you wake in the morning, write out the answer to the question.
After all, we are at the tail end of the Information Revolution. We don’t need any more information. What we need are the right questions to ignite our imaginations on how to best use the information we have.
So, around the time I’ll be releasing The What If Journal, I should also be launching my Patreon campaign, the answer to the question of “What if I were to just let people support me in doing what I feel inclined to do, and then do it really well?” I’ve also been asking myself, “What if I were to travel the world introducing people to my books, performing my shows, and telling the story of the journey?”, “What if I were to continue using ABC2 Economics as I have been and seek out people who will be able to help me scale it in order to use it as a more democratized foundation for our economic system?”, and “What if patriotism were more about what we do for the people of our country, rather than what we do for the government?”
It is certainly going to be interesting to see how the answers to my questions unfold beyond the page, and to see what can be imagined when people start to use The What If Journal. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter for regular updates, answers, and more questions.
