Launch Party

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Hear Rosemary’s remarks about the deeper meaning and purpose behind A Show of Hearts, from her launch party on February 13th in New York City.

Excerpt:

Years ago I started noticing more and more that our culture causes us to be really in our heads and stressed out, and that can cause this hardening and closing of our hearts. …I was really focused on activism, trying to change the world by being an activist, and that took on a number of different forms. But one of my biggest takeaways from those days was that broken people create a broken world. So, I’m basically on a mission to heal the hearts of as many people as possible, open the hearts of as many people as possible, and not just healing hearts that have been broken, but preventing hearts from breaking in the first place, starting young. So the other realization I had, I felt as an activist like we were spending so much of our time fighting against things, and it felt to me so much like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill. Is this actually what’s gonna change things? And I came to a point where rather than pushing against, I wanted to focus more on solutions. So there was this quote that I came across years ago that became the thing I lived by as an activist. It’s by Buckminster Fuller,

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

So I realized, in order to have the power to change the world, we couldn’t do it from a place of trying to control or force or push, because that’s not where true power comes from. True power comes from presence. Being present to ourselves, to our thoughts, to our bodies, to our hearts, to our feelings, to each other, to the world, and present to the truth of what’s actually happening.

So, in order to find that presence, we need to shift from our heads to our hearts, go inside and sit with ourselves and find that place of stillness and get really centered, so that we can hear the subtlety of the heart and what it’s trying to tell us.

So you heard a little bit in the first episode about the darkest time in my life, and for a long time that experience, which lasted years, felt like hell. But I came to learn more and more, throughout that time of suffering, that it wasn’t just hell. There was meaning to it. But it started to feel more and more like a womb or a chrysalis, in which some kind of magic was brewing. And I didn’t know what it was, what it was going to look like. I discovered a new form of pushing. This new kind of pushing was about giving birth, to a new self, to various creative things, including this show.

So, I guess what I’m saying is that it all really comes down to courage. That’s what we all need. And I think for that we need presence and heart.

I wanted to read a quote from my grandfather’s book. The book is called Thoughts on Management.

“If we cannot believe one another, there is no point in communicating. That being the case, why is communication so often less than completely honest and forthright? The answer is chiefly lack of courage, the inability or unwillingness to face up to unpleasant realities because of fear that the truth will have negative consequences. Lack of courage pressures all too many individuals to withhold facts, alter facts, embellish facts or to simply lie.”

So, without courage, we can’t handle the truth. We can’t be present to it. So then how can we change things if we don’t have the courage?

I saw this picture the other day of petrified wood that had been filled in the cracks slowly over time with opal, and not just any opal, but fire opal, and apparently this is very rare. I saw that image and was like, “oooh! I feel like that! That’s what I feel like!” It felt like this brilliant metaphor for the magic that came in and filled in the cracks of me in the time in which I was suffering.

Listen to the full episode to hear the rest, including some fun stuff they did at the party.

Links:

March for our Lives: https://www.marchforourlives.com
Mbira NYC: https://mbiranyc.wordpress.com

Transcript

You’re listening to a show to A Show of Hearts, the podcast about finding the courage to live a deep and magical life. I’m your host, life coach, Rosemary Pritzker.

(singing)

Hi everyone. Rosemary Pritzker here. Welcome to the show. A Show of Hearts launched on Valentine’s Day, and the night before I threw a beautiful launch party at my home in New York City. It was a lovely evening with many of my dearest friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in years. My friends Nora, Susan, and Kevin and I performed the same song you hear at the beginning and end of every episode. And then I shared some clips from the first two episodes.

We took a moment to celebrate the official launch. I thanked a few people and then I gave some remarks. I began to speak about some of the deeper meaning of why I started this show.

Years ago I started noticing more and more that our culture causes us to be really in our heads and stressed out, and that can cause this hardening and closing of our hearts. Years ago I was really focused on activism, trying to change the world by being an activist, and that took on a number of different forms. But one of my biggest takeaways from those days was that broken people create a broken world.

I gave the example of Hitler. He had a really difficult childhood with a father who was raging, dominating, and cold, and a mother who was a doormat as women were expected to be at the time. His father died when he was 14 and his mother when he was 18. And then he was basically on his own. I once heard a former skinhead say that the reason he took to such a dark and hateful path was because he desperately needed to feel a sense of belonging. He said this is the case for every other skinhead he’s ever met.

Imagine if someone had come along and showered young Adolf Hitler with love, gave him a sense of belonging, and showed him what real courage looked like. World War II might not have happened. Millions of people might not have died if that one person hadn’t been broken. The day this show launched, on Valentine’s Day, is when the shooting at the High School in South Florida took the lives of 17 innocent people. Imagine how broken that boy must have been to commit such a horrific and heartbreaking act of mass murder.

So, I am basically on a mission to heal the hearts of as many people as possible, open the hearts of as many people as possible, and not just healing hearts that have been broken, but preventing hearts from breaking in the first place, starting young. The other realization I had, I felt as an activist like we were spending so much of our time fighting against things, and it felt to me so much like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill. Is this actually what’s going to change things? And I came to a point where rather than pushing against, I wanted to focus more on solutions. So there was this quote that I came across years ago that became the thing I lived by as an activist. It’s by Buckminster Fuller. “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

So I realized, in order to have the power to change the world, we couldn’t do it from a place of trying to control or force or push, because that’s not where true power comes from. True power comes from presence. Being present to ourselves, to our thoughts, to our bodies, to our hearts, to our feelings, to each other, to the world, and present to the truth of what’s actually happening.

So, in order to find that presence, we need to shift from our heads to our hearts, go inside and sit with ourselves and find that place of stillness and get really centered, so that we can hear the subtlety of the heart and what it’s trying to tell us.

So you heard a little bit in the first clip about the darkest time in my life, and for a long time that experience, which lasted years, felt like hell. But I came to learn more and more, throughout that time of suffering, that it wasn’t just hell. There was meaning to it. But it started to feel more and more like a womb or a chrysalis, in which some kind of magic was brewing. And I didn’t know what it was, what it was going to look like. I discovered a new form of pushing. This new kind of pushing was about giving birth, to a new self, to various creative things, including this show.

So, I guess what I’m saying is that it all really comes down to courage. That’s what we all need. And I think for that we need presence and heart.

I wanted to read a quote from my grandfather’s book. The book is called Thoughts on Management. He wrote it for his company. So it’s not released to the public.

“If we cannot believe one another, there’s no point in communicating. That being the case, why is communication so often less than completely honest and forthright? The answer is chiefly lack of courage, the inability or unwillingness to face up to unpleasant realities because of fear that the truth will have negative consequences. Lack of courage pressures all too many individuals to withhold facts, alter facts, embellish facts or to simply lie.”

So, without courage, we can’t handle the truth. We can’t be present to it. So then how can we change things if we don’t have the courage?

I saw this picture the other day of petrified wood that had been filled in the cracks slowly over time with opal, and not just any opal, but fire opal, and apparently this is very rare. I saw that image and was like, “Oh! I feel like that! That’s what I feel like!” It felt like this brilliant metaphor for the magic that came in and filled in the cracks of me in the time in which I was suffering. Yeah.

There’s one last thing I want to do. Tim, do you want to do the matches? Yeah. So we have something we’re going to pass around …

After I spoke, we handed out matchbooks with the A Show of Hearts logo on them.

On one of the ends you’ll find a little number. There’s two of each number. So the idea is for you guys to go around and find the person with the matching number because they are matches.

I asked them to introduce themselves to their match and then to share one thing they love about themselves. One of the reasons I chose matches was because of the tagline at the end of each show where I say join me in igniting the world with our hearts.

Who’s number nine? You’re nine? Yay, buddies.

Many people came up to me afterward telling me about the great conversation they had with someone new or someone they hadn’t known very well. I’m sharing this with you guys in case you might want to recreate something similar at a gathering of your own because it was so simple but was truly special. And keep your eyes peeled on my website as I intend to make similar matchbooks available for purchase there soon.

Thank you all so much for coming. I’m really touched that you all showed up and enjoy the show tomorrow.

Thank you for listening to A Show of Hearts. If you enjoyed what you heard, please subscribe in iTunes and share it with your favorite people. Visit our website ashowofhearts.com where you can sign up for emails and explore all our episodes in depth. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at A Show of Hearts. Remember to choose courage even when it’s scary and join me in igniting the world with our hearts.

(singing)