How to Create Unity Where it Matters Most
I have not been able to get the word “unity” off my mind lately. It seems the world is on this endless ride of drifting farther and farther apart, quite dramatically. Tensions are high and opinions are vastly different. All of this and what we witness in the world today can feel overwhelming, daunting, and even scary. In efforts to help soothe my worries (and hopefully yours too) I interviewed Steve Carlston (my dad) to chat about how to create unity where it matters most.
Steve Carlston currently presides over NBC Los Angeles. Throughout his career he has worked his way from advertising sales in radio and television to leading the stations and bringing them to their highest rankings. He has met all kinds of people throughout his life and has led them to unity time and time again.
Since I’ve been pondering unity lately and how I could create it within my community, I thought it was perfect timing to chat with my dad about it. I love his thoughts on it, and he’s shown his expertise in unity as he has been surrounded by all kinds of people with different opinions and has created strong communities everywhere he leads.
How to Create Unity Where it Matters Most
Humility is the first thing Steve says you need to create unity. Humility comes from the word hummus, which means “deep, dark soil.” You need soil to grow. If you are humble, you create opportunities to grow into who you are meant to become.
What does humility look like?
It looks like you having the perspective, “I don’t know everything, so I need to learn.”
Every single person on this planet is unique. No matter how many similarities we have, there is not one single person who has seen the world the same way as you. Every person and perspective is different and valued. This is one of the greatest gifts we have today, although it’s quite often seen as a curse.
Why Are We Easily Offended?
At the very core, we are afraid. We are afraid of the unknown. We are afraid that someone else is attempting to change our core beliefs and how we view the world. It makes us feel threatened and we jump to defend ourselves before asking ourselves how we first feel about the new opinion.
It’s OK to change your opinion. Even if the opinion is attached to a core belief, those can change too and it’s OK. Instead of attacking someone in order to protect ourselves, we need to have humility by honoring and respecting a new belief or opinion. You don’t have to accept it as your own, but just respecting it is what will help unite us with others.
Why Humility is so Important
Steve had a huge “aha” moment when he was a young boy. It was when he realized every person on earth is a child of God. When he realized that, he wanted to meet everybody. And he’s made a great effort in meeting as many people as he could throughout his lifetime.
The reason he wants to meet as many people as he can is because when he gets to know God’s children, he gets to know God. If we are all God’s offspring, we all have a piece of God in us. Steve loves that truth and lives by it any time he gets the chance to meet someone new.
Having this perspective–that we are all children of God–helps us to exercise humility. Suddenly, we don’t feel threatened by different opinions and instead we feel excited to become aware of a new perspective.
This blog post is just a piece of an amazing podcast episode, so listen to the full episode here to learn more about how to create unity where it matters most. If you liked what Steve had to say, you can listen to this episode where we go into more detail about connecting with others.
I hope you enjoyed the thoughts about unity on this post. Remember, you don’t have to change the world as a whole. But you can change YOUR world–your home, families, and communities. It all starts with changing yourself. Follow me on Instagram @cakebycourtney for all the latest cake recipes that are so fun to make and even more fun to eat!
