Field of Dreams

Any day that starts with Field of Dreams is a great day. Today is one of those great days - we started our morning with one of our favourite movies ever. And as usual, the universe was up to something. 

In my circles we say this a lot, "if you build it, they will come" except we say it in terms of change. We built it, and they came - now they don't, so we need to do something different. This morning when Terrance Mann delivered his famous-in-my-heart speech to Ray Kinsella about his seemingly insane baseball diamond, I really listened. I really heard him, and I really think we've got this all wrong. 

Terrence Mann wasn't talking about the field. He wasn't talking about the bleachers, or the dug out, or the shale. He was talking about the experience. The memories, the feelings and emotions. Those deep-rooted urges that lead us through life, the connections that we have. The deep-seated world views and experiences that guide us. The reason your stomach flips when someone voices an opposing opinion or the reason you buy Tim Horton's instead of Starbucks, Macs instead of PCs, donate to the Children's Hospital instead of The Heart and Stroke Foundation, vote Liberal, NDP, Conservative or not at all. 

He got it, Terrence Mann got it. He knew who this was for. A baseball field in the middle of Iowa is not for everyone - thus it seems absurd to some. A baseball field in the middle of Iowa is for the people who remember it. The feeling and experience of peace that went along with baseball in the past. And he understands that people will come for that. That people will remember this, even if not consciously, that they seek out this experienced feeling of the past. That people want to belong and connect and experience joy together.

If we want to make a difference we need to focus on the people, the experience and the connections. It turns out - not surprisingly - emotions are everything.

If we build it - the experience, the connection, the joy - they will come. 

- lovefrommaria