ABOUT VIVIAN

As an author, speaker and wisdom teacher, Vivian Dittmar has been committed to fostering the holistic development of people, society, business and consciousness for two decades.

“My childhood and youth on three continents made me acutely aware of the global challenges humanity is facing at this time from an early age. Living in Europe as a child and then in the United States as a teenager, I was particularly impressed by the discrepancy between people’s overt material wealth and what I perceived to be an inner poverty. On the other hand, I had experienced people in Asia who had little material riches and yet were prosperous in a different, elusive way. I pondered the mystery of this experience for many years. The insights I drew from it continue to shape my work to this day.“

FIVE QUESTIONS FOR VIVIAN

What is your professional background?
“My childhood experiences of traditional life in a Balinese village had left me with the impression that the universities of the rich industrialized nations would not be the place to learn what I was truly interested in. Therefore, after completing my international baccalaureate in 1995 in the U.S., I took a very different path. I spent formative years of learning and development in India and Indonesia, traveled Central and South America, finally returning to Europe in 2003 to contribute to a much needed change in consciousness here.“

What is the source of your insights?
“My years of learning confirmed what I had suspected as a child: different cultures have different ways of generating knowledge. I appreciate the scientific method that has made our culture so successful, and to this day I enjoy reading about the latest findings in various fields. Yet I also know that there are other sources of knowledge. These have become increasingly accessible to me through decades of profound introspection and training. In my opinion, this form of knowledge or wisdom is of paramount importance for dealing effectively with the current crises in modern society. Much of my work therefore focuses on accompanying others in developing this access within themselves. This transrational approach to knowledge is also the source of my books, seminars, lectures and projects. It is complemented and tested through my own life experiences and what I learn accompanying others.“

How do you aim to contribute to social change?
“With the founding of the Be the Change Foundation for Cultural Change in 2009, the development of society as a whole increasingly became the focus of my work. The foundation aims to promote a new definition of prosperity, opening our eyes and hearts to how much better life could be for everyone if we as a society placed ecological sustainability, social justice and spiritual fulfilment at the center of our efforts. To this end, we collaborate with organisations from around the world, offering transformational educational formats such as the Be the Change Symposium. The foundation also continues to initiate implementation oriented projects such as Trees for Change. From 2011 to 2020 I worked as a consultant for the Terra Institute, a systems change consultancy, which gave me valuable insights into those mechanisms that enable or hinder systemic change.“

How and when did you write your books?
“In December 2007, my first book was published: ‘The Power of Feelings – A Practical Guide to Emotional Intelligence’. I chose this topic because at that time I perceived the greatest deficit in our society in the topic of feelings. From 2014 onwards, I devoted more time to writing, so that a new book appeared every year until 2019: ‘A Parent’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence’ (2014), ‘The Art of Relating’ (2015), ‘Sacred Sex – The Intimate Prayer’ (2016), ‘Feelings@work’ (2017), ‘The Emotional Backpack’ (2018) and ‘Your Inner GPS’ (2019). In March 2021, my latest book ‘True Prosperity’ was released. Some of my books are only available in German, yet new titles continue to be translated.“

What are you working on today?
“My heart aches for change. Since inner and outer change are mutually dependent, I consider the personal and collective development of consciousness as a prerequisite for the urgently needed systemic corrections towards a sustainable way of life. Here I am a cartographer, storyteller, researcher, companion and initiator. I listen to my own inner GPS, every moment anew, and practice following it.”

Vivian is a mother of two sons and lives with her family in Southern Germany.