Have you ever wondered why stories from all cultures and regions have the same structure? Leadership trainer and author Manfred van Doorn discovered that this is no coincidence: it is the blueprint of our own quests to a significant contribution to the greater whole. The story is based on the twelve months of the year, each with its own rules. Each with its own opposite. When you know these rules, you can find the patterns in your own life stories, deepen your experience of them, and enrich the world with them.

The story is based on the twelve months of the year, each with its own rules. Each with its own opposite. When you know these rules, you can find the patterns in your own life stories, deepen your experience of them, and enrich the world with them. Under the title ‘DNA of Sustainability’, Manfred recently analysed the current era of humanity, starting with the industrial era. Humanity has now reached the ninth phase – the Dagger. the Dagger Phase offers both the deepest crisis and the biggest opportunity. In the case of humanity, the crisis consists of the loss of biodiversity, melting of permafrost, decreasing trust in media and government, destabilisation by increasing numbers of refugees, and the rise of extremism.

The opportunity, on the other hand, consists of the awakening of new insight, and the need for change, to choose a new direction, to tell a new story. But which direction is this? Do we go back to nationalism and prepare for a new great war? Or does the transition to a sustainable and jut society finally take shape? According to Manfred, we have a lot of influence in the direction we take. In this sense, we are free. But if we want to take the path of sustainability, it is our task to endure a number of trials. Trials that may not save the whole world, but through which we can restore our connection with the earth and find peace within ourselves.