Creating is the updraft for ASCEND
How things appear is always a matter of perspective
Combining perspectives to see more than one view.
Being able to see from more than one point of view is at the heart of well-being in a digital age.
Below, you see an example of our intro conversation, combining viewpoints to draw from the power of place (history, culture, language, kinship), and our connections (with ourselves and others).
To begin, how things appear look different to me (personal) and we (interpersonal).
ASCEND origins
ASCEND is inspired by Indigenous understandings of well-being that evolved over tens of thousands of years. We recognize that the root cause of many (if not most) of our problems is the disruption of connection. This is why we are connecting our communities, promoting well-being through creation.
Well-being stems from a healthy relationship between people and their environs. Those relationships include both human and nonhuman relationships, such as relationships with one’s ancestors, other animals and the land.
We may begin as individuals, yet quickly realize the exponential power of connection, weaving together the insights of cultural wisdom available to us from ancestors, the nourishment of connecting with place, the creative healing of making meaning through story, and the discernment to choose which benefits of modern society to bring forward and which historical harms to recognize and retire.
Well-being through empowered learning
Work is changing at an unprecedented pace, driven by advances in global supply chains, artificial intelligence/ChatGPT, robotics, internet marketplaces, and a gig economy. In discussions of the Future of Work, it is widely accepted that lifelong learning is the most important factor for individual opportunity and resilience, yet rare is the acknowledgement of the prerequisites for a person to meaningfully engage in lifelong learning: a person must know how to learn, must know what to learn, and have the confidence to do so.
Ferdi Serim, ASCEND founder