This book is like a warm, buttery croissant fresh out of the oven.

I had made it a point to not read more books written by white, cisgender, heterosexual men. Then I found "From What Is to What If: Unleashing the Power of Imagination to Create the Future We Want" by Rob Hopkins. I devoured the digital copy in 2023. Then in early 2024, when I was at the cusp of a major surgery, I ordered a paperback to fill time during my recovery.

From What Is to What If is such a beautiful, moving book. I recommend it for anyone who is interested in the question: how do we bridge the gap between the present – that falls short on many counts – and build futures where we flourish.

"What If Things Turned Out OK?"

In the introduction, "What If Things Turned Out OK?" Hopkins accurately identifies the growing despair and hopelessness that accompany the polycrisis, especially afflicting those of us in progressive movements worldwide. "Sadly, it seems far easier to imagine almost any dystopian scenario than the possibility that we might actually still have the competence to act, to create something else. The message that 'it can't be done' is strong and pervasive," he notes.

My main takeaway from this book was: Progressives know what we are fighting against. But can you smell, touch, taste, and visualize the kind of world that you actually want to live in? How much time have you invested in imagining a future for you and your community where 'things turned out OK?'

I'd venture that most people don't invest much time in imagining a future for their community beyond their family. And if that's you, Rob lists out questions and examples that make it easier to start. Every chapter is a What If question:

• 1. What If We Took Play Seriously?
• 2. What If We Considered Imagination Vital to Our Health?
• 3. What If We Followed Nature's Lead?
• 4. What If We Fought Back to Reclaim Our Attention?
• 5. What If School Nurtured Young Imaginations?
• 6. What If We Became Better Storytellers?
• 7. What If We Started Asking Better Questions?
• 8. What If Our Leaders Prioritised the Cultivation of Imagination?

From What If to What Is is a balm for the times we're living through. Beyond injecting me with hope, which is in short currency right now, this book made me want to use my privilege to practically benefit communities around me.

When I first read it, I had returned from the US to India, but I still worked fully online for myself. I had set up Unearth Freedom LLC and I provided anti-oppressive growth coaching services to environmental and social justice leaders in the United States and Europe. I thought, but what about all the potential leaders here in India who are just stuck in 'survival mode'? Who is sitting down with them to connect the dots between imagination (aka foresight) as a tool for justice and flourishing? I knew I had the passion and the facilitation skills to contribute. After all, didn't I train as a leadership coach so I could help structurally excluded people unearth and use their generative power for good? This book was a lighthouse that informed the design of my latest initiative: Playshops for Flourishing Futures.