This episode is with my friend and fellow podcaster Vicki Robin. Vicki is a prolific social innovator, writer and speaker, activist and life long learner. She coauthored the international best-seller "Your Money or Your Life." I decided to reach out to her to compare notes and ask her about insights she has gained from her 9 months of asking the question “What Could Possibly Go Right?” the name of her podcast.
Music is “Gambrel” by Blue Dot Sessions https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ Learn more about Vicki's work: https://vickirobin.com/ What Could Possibly Go Right Podcast: https://www.postcarbon.org/what-could-possibly-go-right-series/ About the podcast: https://www.astemperaturesrise.com/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/m/astemperaturesrise
Show notes: Vicki's main insights: 1. History Matters — tracking the patterns of the rise and fall of civilizations over time; how the events of 2020 are changing her life recognizing privilege; the Victor Frankl choice; there is a humility that comes when we realize history matters 2. Stories or explanatory frameworks matter — especially the indigenous stories of how to live well on the planet; how to take only what we need and leave the rest; indigenous stories are about their screw ups, they got wise by learning from their mistakes; e.g. maturation or developmental frameworks; Peter Buffet uses the birth canal; the AA framework for people who have been addicted to oil and money 3. Solidarity matters — the justice movement and the climate movement MUST come together; one of the benefits of Covid is that put vulnerability to external forces to those who thought they were protected (ie white people) 4. Systems matter — we need to get out of our habit of linearity when existing within complexity; everything is connected to everything else 5. Ethics matter — original instructions and first principles; society is constructed in ways that force people to violate their moral codes in service to surviving; redemption is possible and we are on a redemption path — we need a truth and reconciliation 6. Empathy matters — if we can’t feel the consequences of our actions we cannot get to the truth; public execution of George Floyd was a collective feeling 7. Power matters — the embodiment of our power when it’s in service to something that we love that is greater than ourselves; power is the ability to move things; power wed to empathy and part of what makes a cultural scout, they care about something enough to wield power * Framework that Vicki like is the formation of a cell and the movement from the me to we; so much resolves itself in the realization that I- am you and you are me; we can’t survive without acting from this knowing/reality; it’s like an autoimmune disease that we recognize less and less of ourself as we go deeper into mistrust and polarization * The pressure of modernity is a forge pushing us through this birth canal * Social movements are the green new shoots of what’s happening and what’s going right now — I see us all claiming our power that may have not been possible without 2020; these movements have taught us to be strategic; we can’t just be nice people * Vicki’s list of scouting skills: * ambiguity * humility * inquiry * engagement * urgency within patience Mentions: * Money & Life documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3szcNsbeSc&t=2s * Vicki’s book Your Money or Your Life: https://yourmoneyoryourlife.com/ * Covida Conversations: https://vickirobin.com/podcasts/covida-conversations/ * Post Carbon Institute: https://www.postcarbon.org/ * Transition US: https://www.transitionus.org/ * Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE): https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financial-independence-retire-early-fire.asp * Victor Frankl: https://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/viktor-frankl/