The 5 I EM traits
Practicing these traits isn’t always easy. It takes courage, time and above all effort. Every day. We have to make an effort every day to turn our society around.
From hate to love, from anxiety to trust and confidence, from wanting and needing to accepting and gratitude. From judging to embracing. From knowing to wondering and from ‘doing to’ to ‘working with’.
Join I EM and show that you value these traits in life. Show ‘m what you’re made of; how you think we should treat each other, ourselves and the earth. Help change the world.
Being open means you’re open to have meaningful conversations; in the train, while drinking your favourite coffee in that nice place around the corner, while taking a walk. You’re open to contact, however volatile or profound it may be. You’re open to others’ opinions and lives. You’re open to everyone and you can expect it from others too. You know you’ll be met openly as well.
The beauty of I EM is, we can recognise each other instantly. Wherever you go, you’ll be able to see and meet your people. With your people around you, you can feel at home anywhere.
Honesty is a great good. It means being honest to yourself and to others. About your intentions, about what you want and what you need. It’s about answering truthfully when you’re asked. It’s not always easy, honesty. But if practiced it betters your life and the ones around you. It means accepting things as they are and acting upon it. It means making your own choices and being able to be honest about them. Because it’s okay. Your choice is always okay. Even if sometimes that means disappointing someone else. Selfcare is vital. Only when you are taking care of yourself properly will you be able to care for others.
Being interested means wanting to know what’s going on in the lives of the people around you. What is really going on. If someone makes choices you would not, it means being interested in why they did so. Not to judge or condemn them, not to make you feel better about yourself, but to know what it meant to them and to learn from that. It means being met the same way. It means wondering over judging and it means listening before speaking. It means conversing even, no especially, when opinions collide. It’s the thing we understand the least, we can learn the most from. What moves others can open your eyes.
In this era of digitalisation respect seems far gone sometimes. Although name calling and disrespecting is easier behind your screen than in real life, respect in real life isn’t always present anymore. Practising respect means knowing every human being is who he is because we all are. Feeling that, you can only meet them respectfully. Put away your phone while talking to the cashier. Greet people walking down the street. Small things. But also: stop assuming peoples bad intentions, stop judging people for choices made or paths taken. Practice respect as a default setting. People deserve your respect, until proven otherwise. Not the other way around.
Multitasking is a disease and no one is really able to do it (despite the ongoing man vs. woman discussions about that). If you’re doing things while doing something else as well, you’re not doing anything fully. Period. When interacting with people we should strive to give them and what we’re doing (conversing, playing with our kids) our full and genuine attention. That means you care, that you want to be there with them. That you want to hear what they are telling you or showing you. Genuine attention shows you care. Think about how good it feels when someone really listens to you. This can only be done with full and genuine attention. We all deserve that.
HOW
Do you recognise yourself in these traits? Don’t hesitate and join us!
Or maybe you’re not really sure how to? Let us help!
“It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving, I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together.”
— Jack Johnson | Better together