01 Dec I’d like to Teach the World to Sing

You may not know the song, but it’s a great one. This song is by The New Seekers, and it was released way back in the early 70’s. Yes, there was music back then. Very good music in fact!

The most famous lyrics from this song are:

“I’d like to teach the world to sing

in perfect harmony.

I’d like to hold it in my arms,

and keep it company”

Not being negative, but clearly, we have a lot more singing to do before the world is singing together in “perfect harmony”. What are we missing? When you want to reach big goals like bringing harmony to the world, I believe it can only be done with the efforts of many, and it takes a lot of different values working together in sync. And that’s not easy, right? Or is it?

At the risk of sounding lofty, I think that it can actually be kind of simple. I think, if we were to mash up a good dose of compassion, with a large overflowing boost of empathy, plus a generous layer of kindness, followed by a heaping scoop of love,
that we would have the right values in place to get us closer to a world that exists in perfect harmony.

Wait, before you write this off as fluff, stop. Think about your life. Your daily existence is a mix of different habits to a large degree. It’s your habit to check your phone, tablet at least once a day, right? Now, replace your phone with your values.

Check your values once a day. Be mindful of how your behaviours are (or not) reflecting your values. If we can make this a habit, then I bet we’d all be much better at “singing in perfect harmony”. This is a choice. Nothing is in your way, but your lack of choosing to be this way. If you disagree, share with me what is in your way? What holds you back from living through the values of kindness, compassion, empathy and love?

Harmony is not going to rid the world, or our lives, of all things bad or hard. But it will equip us with the ability to support one another, at a community, city, country or world level – but most importantly, at a human level. I believe that if we could all make the choice to make value-based thinking a habitual and daily way of being, that we can all contribute to a world that is in “perfect harmony”.

Cristina Kim
Creator of mybestfriendinni