May 1 is my favorite day of the year for a variety of reasons, but in Celtic tradition the day is known as Beltane and it marks the beginning of a new season.
I arose early this morning because I wanted to witness the sunrise and greet this new day. I also wanted to reflect on the very letter I am writing to you now because it was my intention to let you know that today starts a new beginning for me.
As fate would have it as I was walking through an area known as “Thoreau’s Woods” (Henry David Thoreau visited the area in 1861) to both watch the sunrise and contemplate the wording of this letter, I was passing through an adjacent wooded area known as Robert’s Bird Sanctuary when a large buck strolled directly unto the path and stared at me for almost half a minute.
While such a sighting is not outside the bounds of rational explanation, the odds of having a large buck look directly into my eyes in the middle of a major metropolitan city on the very day I was planning to announce a major life change felt, at the very least, a strange coincidence. And, if you believe as I do that animals can sometimes act as spiritual guides or messengers, it felt like so much more–a sign, an omen, or somehow synchronistic. (In Celtic lore, bucks or stags–due to their ability to shed their antlers–are symbolic of regeneration and growing into something new.)
In a powerful way, the encounter with the buck gave me increased confidence to write what I was already felt called to write in this letter: I am changing the direction of my life, my career and my work.
I am a writer and a futurist and I do not intend to walk away from either of these vocations or, as I now refer to them, ministries. I do, however, intend to take my writings and work in a new, more meaningful and more hearted-centered direction.
After years of study, reflection, contemplation and prayer, I have come to three simple insights. The first: The only guaranteed way of positively affecting the future is to first change yourself.
The second insight: The only time to create the future is NOW! The paradox is: In the eternal “now” both contemplation and action are essential. The paradox is resolved by understanding that our thoughts become words which, in turn, become ideas. These ideas then become plans and, eventually, these plans turn into actions. It is these actions that then shape the future.
The third insight: The future is not a resource simply to be harvested for ourselves. The future is a fertile field to be planted on behalf of our future descendants. We must do this because future descendants are, quite literally, our blood. They are us! Everything is interconnected–including the past, present, and future.
In the days, weeks, months and years ahead, I intend to write and say more about all of these things. For the time being what is important for you to understand is that my work as a “professional” or “corporate” futurist has come to an end.
I will honor my existing contractual obligations through the end of January 2025 and will continue monitoring future trends and writing my weekly newsletter until the end of the year but now is the time for me to heed my own advice and work on changing myself, learning how to be more present “now,” and nurturing and creating a future worthy of all of our descendants.
As a futurist this is difficult for me to admit but at this stage of my own life I have no idea what my own future will either look like or be. Nevertheless, my Celtic Christian faith tells me that now is the time to shed my old “antlers” and grow in new directions. More importantly, the Holy Spirit has called me to “prune my branches” with the faith that I can and will bear more and healthier fruit.
Sincerely,
Jack Uldrich
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