by Paula Henry
Fair Trade Partner in Colorado
Henry David Thoreau said, “If you have built castles in the air your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” As a big dreamer, these words have served me well. They give me strength when I consider a wild possibility or take a giant leap. They allowed me to see the beautiful gift that Threads Worldwide offered to me.
It’s Dream Month at Threads. We are challenging ourselves and each other to dare to dream bigger and braver than ever. This team knows that when women gather, magic happens. And magic makes dreams come true — for each of us at Threads, for our artisan partners, and for our communities across the globe.
Sometimes dreams are characterized as random, wishful thinking. Gloria Steinem calls dreaming “a form of planning” and I agree! If we can imagine something in our hearts, we can take steps to create it with our brains. Our dreams are visions of who we are meant to be. They are messages from our deepest selves, pointing us in the direction of our true purpose.
Our amazing artisan partners share their dreams with us. Dreams to educate their children, build homes, buy land, start businesses, and improve the quality of their lives and communities. At our Artisan Partner cooperative in Guatemala, they have a saying: “We believe that individual dreams are strong and that collective dreams are unstoppable.” Threads Worldwide cultivates an environment that makes realizing dreams a reality for women all over the world.
2020 brought us Covid-19. While it has caused tremendous suffering, “The Global Pause” also allowed us to imagine what’s possible. By eliminating much of the noise and hubris of modern life, we’ve had the chance to push aside our routine ways, focus on what really matters, learn and reflect, practice patience, and build resilience. From the start, our Threads leadership lived our values by taking action and daring to see possibilities. They improvised a new way of doing business so that we could continue to support our partners around the world without interruption to reorders. Our artisans continue to support themselves, their families, and their communities, as well as support us by fulfilling orders of their beautiful products. I am proud to be a member of this team, particularly now.
All of us at Threads are dreamers. I have enormous dreams for the world and humanity as well as a zillion tiny dreams for every day. Threads Worldwide is a microcosm of the world I envision. One built on respect and kindness for ourselves, each other, and the planet, grounded in our connectedness and collective well-being, and where everyone has what they need to achieve their full potential.
While building the foundation for our mega-dreams, we can achieve little dreams every day. When we live by our Family Values, we choose to face challenges with grace, to treat ourselves and others with love and compassion, and to come from a place of gratitude. We live our dreams with each message, every gathering, and all those belly laughs.
Dreams make life beautiful, vibrant, or playful. The Threads community built a foundation that allows us to make dreams reality and create ripple effects across the globe. The world needs more dreamers! Join us in dreaming big and loud! We are building a brighter world!
