What if, in conflict, we thought as no person is our enemy? What if it is misunderstanding, extreme desire and anger that cause poor behavior? Then, are not misunderstanding, extreme desire and anger are our only enemies? So if we want to stop conflict, shouldnt we reduce misunderstanding, extreme desire and anger?
Activism and Social Change
The science that predicts whether you will make an impact on the world
it turns out that, according to the science, one of the biggest predictors of whether we have potential is whether we have people around us who believe that we have potential. This post is about surrounding yourself with people who believe you will have an impact on the world.
You Are Invited To Join A Special Group!
Do you care about having a meaningful impact on the world? If so, this is your invitation to be part of a small intimate group of visionaries who support each other in living with purpose and finding their calling but also in self-care, abundance and balance.
Want Friends To Hold You To Those 2018 Resolutions?
What if you had a group of friends who refused to let you fail to achieve your vision for 2018 or any other time? With this blog post, I wanted to help you start that kind of group–a mastermind group–or, if you would prefer, to enroll in my exclusive, facilitated How To Be Alive Mastermind Group.
Fierce Compassion: A Workshop About Spirituality And Activism
We all know about accelerating climate change, failing democracy, endemic racism and other dire global news. Should we have hope? Should we be in despair? What, in fact, should we do? How can we respond in ways that make us feel we are taking care of ourselves while actually helping the world? That is the subject of a workshop on Spiritual Activism I’m co-leading with Lama Willa Miller at the Garrison Institute this September. You should come!
A Zen Approach To Deciding Whether To Give To Beggars (Or Anything Else)
A Zen student had travelled to India and had become overwhelmed when he gave to beggars there. On the one hand, he had an intention to help in the world. On the other, he wondered if he was incentivizing begging. I did not want to give him “advice,” but instead to offer an approach to decision making that does not depend on the concepts and stories we tell ourselves but that instead arises from our True Self. The approach involves trusting our intuition and then adjusting our actions over and over as we get new information.
Using Optimism To Help You Build A Better Life And World
Those of us who want to build better lives that also help the world tend to be suspicious of optimism. Being optimistic causes you to sit on your butt and do nothing about world problems, right? We need anger, fear and desire to motivate us, no? But what if I told you that the science shows that a 20-minute optimism exercise can actually help you be more effective in building a better life for yourself and a better world for others?
Maintaining Energy As A Change Agent And Other Thoughts
Someone emailed me a bunch of questions as an interview for publication. Questions include What do I worry about for future generations? and How do I maintain my energy as a change agent? and more. I share the answers here.