It was early evening and I was walking along a street in Toronto, shaking in my boots. It was pure nerves -- I was on my way to Salon Voltaire in September 2006 to give my first speech about what I described as a growing movement of people looking for positive, constructive, and hopeful ways to live their lives, help others, and change the world. Would I get thumbs up or down from this enlightened crowd?
To my everlasting delight, the speech was a huge hit and landed me a contract to write a book about this movement. I coined a phrase to describe the men and women who are carving out positive paths of service -- I called them "New Radicals." The book was published internationally by McGraw-Hill, New York in 2008 (it's full of inspiring stories as well as practical advice). Since then, it's been a whirlwind -- I was invited to write a Huffington Post column, and have been blogging and giving talks about these world-changers ever since. (Here's my HuffPost archive.)
In six years, the world has changed dramatically. And now people from all walks of life are talking about these ideas, and searching for ways to make a difference.
Now look how the idea is taking hold! I was thrilled when several readers shared the news that the Observer (a British newspaper) and NESTA, an organization that promotes innovation in the UK, have launched a program to help find and celebrate 50 people who are "actively changing Britain's communities for the better."
Here's how the Observer and NESTA describe what they're doing:
People across Britain are coming up with fresh, exciting and highly practical ways to tackle a range of challenges concerning health, community living, education, employment and the green economy, if the stream of applicants who have applied to be included in the first annual list of Britain's New Radicals, organised by the Observer and Nesta, is any guide. Ingenuity and innovation are the hallmarks. The final list of 50 will be published on 12 February.Isn't that fantastic?
Whenever someone tells you the world's going to hell in a handbasket, tell them about the New Radicals. I'm traveling all year talking about this extraordinary shift in the way we see our potential to do something about what ails our world (including Chile -- yes, my book New Radicals is available in Spanish!). We're going global. Stay tuned.
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Julia Moulden is a speaker, columnist, and author of "RIPE: Rich, Rewarding Work After 50", a 12-week course on discovering passion, purpose and possibility at midlife. Check out the video (a.k.a. book trailer!):
Be part of the "RIPE" community on HuffPost, Facebook and Twitter. Or feel free to email me via my website. Together, we are going to change this phase of life!
Follow Julia Moulden on Twitter: www.twitter.com/juliamoulden
I got my last "challenge"...to the UK Radio Times, in early before the Radio Times Christmas edition started its validity, and the letter writing campaign...the BBC as a policy circulate complaints to ALL STAFF....achieved a Monarch neutral subsequent series of publications...at least they KNEW what I meant, and how damaging M.P. was to their brand whilst we still have minds to think for ourselves.
Please, the Huffington Post, had a reputation. The number of people aware of the crawl of Monarch Programming through our intellectual lives should complain, and complain in general since individual apologists for the program sadly will not be aware of what they have lost, or are losing for the rest of us. They can Hef and Puff, but their house if they are known by association, is rotten if the motifs
are promoted and the calibre of the journal starts to decline.
Since then, well, read that, look around you, google Monarch Programming with any other random word. Enjoy. Mengele ...no one is going to believe that. But not a reason to pull my claim.
Remember Mengele was an Ipsimmus, (brainwashed to a crisp by unseen masters or somesuch) which means he may be innocent through having more than one "front alter" for different functions, his core being not aware, just as he told his son. And the film Fantasia (google it and M.P.) was released 1940 so Fritz Springmieier's study was way ahead of Mengele being the so called Father of Monarch Programming". Now we need to identify the true villans.
Its nice to find someone who expresses so beautifully the work some of us are doing and to give us such a righteous name. New Radicals.
How does it feel to be now an international woman of mystery and generally so widely known?
Bill
Keep writing - and keep me posted on Portland!