Bringing mindfulness off the cushion and into social change efforts.
This is a test. It’s only a test.
Scott Sherman researched the question: "what strategies correlate with success when people try to change the world?" He found three effective strategies: exposing injustice, social aikido, and building alternatives.
Using mindfulness as a way to create change by sensing from an intuitive place what is already trying to emerge instead of fighting against the old system.
I was in high school when Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech. I would have loved to take off for Alabama, helping with voter registration, but that didn’t go over so well with my parents...
Nonstriving is at the core of bringing about change from a mindfulness perspective. What exactly does nonstriving mean?
I've had little exposure to police and the court system beyond being on jury duty. That is, until the moment, some time ago, when I was accused of a serious crime that I didn't commit...
I watched Survivor on TV on Wednesday night. It’s a program I follow sporadically and there I was watching it that day. On Thursday I heard about Mandela’s death. These two things made strange bedfellows in my brain. On Wednesday night there was tribal council and the vote to eliminate a member from a tribe. … Continue reading Mandela’s Legacy
Recently I came across this video of Carolyn Mabry. Here's one experience she describes in the video. It's a cold, snowy night. She's standing on a bridge. There's confusion, people are standing around. Her focus has narrowed to nothing more and nothing less than one person, a person threatening to jump. I imagine myself on … Continue reading Mindfulness in the Midst
What did it take to really listen? First of all, I let go of any role and moved into "fellow human being". I entered a space of not knowing, while finding the strength to stand in the midst of very difficult emotions...
One way sustainable change happens, I believe, is when one is able to: see the situation from the other’s perspective; encounter and work with whatever is happening while making it clear that you are not willing to let the other person’s energy overwhelm you; connect with yourself and the other person in a deep and … Continue reading Push Hands
This week I joined a MOOC (a free online course) run by Otto Scharmer and the Presencing Institute out of MIT. It's called U.Lab: Transforming Business, Society, and Self. Over 7000 people from all over the world are registered. I pause to just take it in. That many people are joining together for this?? There … Continue reading Sensing the Emerging Future