The United Nations General Assembly has designated 12 July as the International Day of Hope — a day to celebrate and promote hope as a guiding principle for individuals, communities, and nations alike.

​In September of 2024, I held a speech during a United Nations Summit of the Future Action Days Online Live Event. I spoke about letting go of fear and becoming the hope, daring to tell our stories as they are and thus inspire and initiate change:

​First within ourselves and our own hearts and then by daring to speak and tell our personal stories, share our medicine and wisdom and by doing so, become the hope and the gardeners tending to the garden in which the dreamers of tomorrow, our children, can take root, grow in their own time, blossom and come into full bloom sharing their unique beauty and gifts.

The title was “Voices of Change – Empowering Communities through Inclusive Dialogue and Storytelling”. Here is my speech in a transcript:

“My name is Kristin Raphaela Otti. I was born and raised in the Lavant Valley in Southern Austria, a province called Carinthia. I am a shaman, storyteller and artist. 

Above all, I love learning and listening to stories. I remember the time, when I was allowed to play cards with my grandma and listen to her stories very fondly. She was a businesswoman and in politics, so our conversations were a never-ending stream of new information, adventures and learning. I am also a change manager, organizational designer and teacher by trade.

​One might think that there is a contradiction in being a shaman and being in business, but a shaman empowers people by listening and by telling stories and a change manager does the same.

We go into organizations and businesses, listen to the stories told and then by telling new stories, we help shape the future of the organizations and businesses. 

As in everything, the stories told by the people, the individuals coming to us or by the businesses and organizations vary.

​There are stories of hope that are beautiful. There are stories of despair, demise and fear. There are stories filled with fear of the past and the hurt that was being done and inflicted upon us. 

In the end, there is no story that cannot be told. There is no story that is not worth being listened to. There is no story that is better or worse, none is bigger or smaller than anybody else’s. 

​Stories and storytelling are the fabric of our world. They have always been used to create either division or unity. Every word spoken bears power. 

A single word can grow into a sentence, a sentence can grow into judgment and thus become a sword dividing. And yet, a single word can grow into a seed of change, blossoming and blooming, and become an open hand and a guide into a new tomorrow. 

In working together, in telling our stories in conversation, on social media, in daily life, in business, there is always a choice: We can be the fear that brings division and despair or we can be the hope of a new dawn, a new day, a new tomorrow.

Let us choose to be the hope. 

Let us come together in a circle, listen to each other with open hearts, as equals, standing side by side. 

Through listening to one another with open hearts instead of trying to seem bigger or better, let us welcome different points of view and diversity in approaching matters and life.

Let us turn our stories into hope and whatever we have experienced as individuals, as the children we are, as communities, as people - Let those stories grow into seeds of hope! 

I have done so in my life and at the moment, I am building and creating three organizations that aim to helping people become healers instead of being victims and to bring change. 

Animal Wisdom Speaks helps through storytelling to make aware of environmental issues and by having storytelling events at schools aims to empower children and teenagers to stand tall and powerful.

The past is a teacher not a place to live in or dwell on, the present is the moment, we can shape with our stories. The future is the playground we create for the dreamers of tomorrow, for our children. 

Let go of the past, let go of fear.

Dare to dream. 

Dare to be the hope of a new tomorrow.

Dare to tell your story. 

Dare to inspire.”

​Kristin Raphaela Otti 

​Our dad walked home gently yesterday at 23:48. I was sitting vigil with him, when he decided to return his body to Mother Earth. For the past two days, my mother, Wolfgang and I took turns sitting with him.  We invited Wolfgang to sit with us, for our dad was like a father to him growing up. One does not need to be a biological father to be a dad.

​Dad was – and is – an incredible human being, artist, philosopher, tobacco aficionado and during the past few weeks we enjoyed many a cup of ice cream together which we openly “smuggled” into the hospital. He preferred banana, lavender lemon and watermelon, but for some reason he never said “No, thank you.” to any other flavor. Or coffee. Hot. Black. Not too sweet.

​He also served as a UN peacekeeper on Cyprus, when he was younger, loved Karl May and the Wild Wild West, was a guitarist with the “Griffner Buam” back in the day and showed my brother Tommy and me, how to build bow and arrow, we also built a tipi one summer and one winter we tried to build an igloo. 

​In other words, he was a fun loving jack-of-all-trades.

Being allowed to walk with him, being home and sitting vigil with him was a gift. Some of you may know, that I also work as a shaman, so this is part of what I do. Being allowed to sit with our father was a gift, feeling each other, the subtle changes in the energies and the physical body, and guiding the spirit home into the heart. He went home accompanied and welcomed by late aunt Anni, late uncle Karli and late aunt Rosmarie, better known as the “gang”, as well as other late relatives and friends. 

Let us celebrate his life. He is in our hearts, one again.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all the friends, companions and relatives who came to visit, who spent time with him and who smuggled his favorite cheesecake in.

I want to thank the team at LKH Wolfsberg for the kind and gentle way in which you cared for my dad, embraced my mother and your openness to my way of prayer and ceremony. You are awesome.

​I also want to thank Marco Polo Eiscaffé, Konditorei Cafe Eberhard and Hotel, Café & Konditorei Hecher, as well – your ice cream and the cheesecake with strawberries made his day many a time. 

July has arrived and this month Animal Wisdom Speaks is dedicated to the Swan who teaches us about our role as the Guardian of the Gates to our hearts. 

As cygnets they are unassuming, brown and black. They radiate their beauty from within, but their surroundings are blind to it. In the fairy tale, a cygnet was adopted by a family of ducks. It was ridiculed and made fun of, because it did not look like they did. 

The cygnet albeit stayed true to its heart and transformed into its beautiful adult swan self, never belittling those that had belittled it, but becoming a beacon of hope and resilience embracing others with love unconditional.  ​