Changemakers' Field Guide: Recent Episodes
Ryan Thompson
Weekly wisdom for impact leaders: The Changemakers' Field Guide covers insights, reflections, and practices from the world’s great traditions to help leaders solve complex problems.
Few activities create more anxiety than thinking about the future. However, when we let go of the need for certainty, we prepare our minds for clarity and creativity to bloom.Whenever we’re faced with a hard problem or a major decision, we often find ourselves gripped with anxiety. Our minds churn with visions of the many ways things might go wrong.
However, we can take comfort in the fact that nobody knows what's going to happen. While uncertainty often makes us uncomfortable, it also equals possibility.
When we let go of our need to have everything all figured out, we can open the door to new ways of thinking and being.
The Buddhist concept of “store consciousness” offers a helpful approach to do this. When you have a problem, rather than ruminate endlessly, we can rest in the wisdom of “not-knowing” and allow insight to arise organically.
Listen to the full transcript here:
https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-50-i-dont-know-and-thats-ok/
We fill our homes with too much stuff, our calendars with too many activities, and our minds with too much mental chatter. When we practice saying no and letting go, we make more space for the things that truly deliver value in our lives. If you’ve ever been in the home of an extreme hoarder, you will recognize how useless a room becomes from an excess of stuff. With junk piled on every surface from floor to ceiling, you have to carve a path just to walk across the room.
When we lack space, the utility of emptiness becomes clear. Over 2000 years ago, the Tao Te Jing pointed out that form and space work together to make things useful.
We can experience this with material things in our lives, like rooms or the surface of our desks, or more intangible things like our calendars or our minds. Too much stuff filling every corner diminishes the utility of these things.
To make space, we must practice the challenging but liberating art of saying no and letting go. Doing so allows us to make the best use of the forms and spaces in our lives.
Check out the full transcript here:
https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-49-i-need-some-space/
We have greater access to information than ever, but not all is reliable. Who should we trust? The Buddha’s ten criteria for countering misinformation can help.We live in an age in which actual misinformation farms exist. However, the problem of untrustworthy information is not new. The difficulty of sorting out signal from noise goes back at least 2,500 years to the Buddha’s time.
Frustrated and confused by the conflicting messages they received from wandering spiritual teachers, a group of residents approached the Buddha for advice.
He gave a sermon known today as the Kalama Sutta, in which he offered ten criteria to assess the quality of information. He encouraged people not to accept a message simply because of repeated hearing, tradition, or even because they respected the monk, among other reasons.
His advice stands the test of time. In essence, we should maintain a healthy skepticism. We should pause, doubt, and investigate everything we hear with an open mind.
Check out the full transcript here:
https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-48-the-buddhas-antidote-for-misinformation
We make hundreds of decisions each day. Making the right decision depends on the possible outcomes. One helpful approach is to ask ourselves, “Will this action create more suffering or less?”Some of the decisions we make every day are easy enough: what to eat, what free-time activities to pursue, or when to make a dentist appointment. Other decisions have a bigger impact and require more thought.
A Buddhist teaching called the Eightfold Path offers a practical approach to improving the outcomes of our decisions. Consisting of eight non-sequential steps, this path encourages us to make choices that reduce suffering.
The step called “right view” encourages us to consider that many of our actions – and thoughts – create needless suffering. In contrast, other actions promote well-being for ourselves and others. We would be wise to choose the latter.
The eight steps work closely together, cultivating the mental discipline to think more clearly. This clarity gives us a more accurate perception of our situation. Which in turn strengthens our capacity to make beneficial decisions.
Check out the full transcript here:
https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-47-right-view-right-decision/
We humans are far less rational than we’d like to believe. Even very smart people make all kinds of bad decisions. Aristotle’s rules for deliberation still serve as a practical method to slow down, clarify thinking, and improve decision-making.
Aesop’s classic fable of the Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs conveys an issue at the heart of human society: we can be really bad at decision-making. We often make decisions that satisfy a craving in the short term but at the expense of the long term.
Recognizing our tendency toward poor decision-making, Aristotle devised an approach over 2300 years ago to help make better decisions. Modern-day scholar Edith Hall presents his rules for deliberation, which offer us a systematic framework for making better decisions.
These rules include slowing down the decision-making process, ensuring that we incorporate the perspectives of everyone affected by the decision, considering the range of possible outcomes, and other insightful considerations.
Employing a systematic approach like this helps us to counter some of the biases and mental shortcuts that can lead us toward bad choices. With these methods, may you conserve your golden gooses for many years to come!
See full transcript here:
https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-46-aristotle-and-the-art-of-deliberation/
No doubt this is unwelcome news, but your brain is riddled with biases that can lead to unclear thinking and poor decisions. Intentional, systematic decision-making processes can reduce their influence.
We are faced with countless decisions every day. To help us make sense of the world and make rapid decisions, our brains evolved a wide range of biases and mental shortcuts called heuristics.
Most of the time, these shortcuts serve us well. Other times, they can lead us to make some really dumb decisions. No one is immune to their effects, however smart or accomplished we might be.
Our biases operate at a speed faster than thought. Their stealth can cause us to be tricked in all manner of ways, such as failing to see our mistakes or being subtly influenced to spend more money.
While we can’t eliminate these biases – and we probably wouldn’t want to, anyway – we can reduce their potential negative impacts by using a systematic method for slowing down and making informed decisions.
Read the full transcript here:
https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-45-avoiding-stupid-decisions
The human capacity for reason sets us apart on the evolutionary stage. But our intuition also played a crucial role in our rise to the top. We can cultivate greater intuition through systematic learning and persistent exposure to high-quality information.
Hundreds of millions of years of animal evolution forged a crucial tool for survival — animal instinct. The power of instinct allows animals to respond instantly to threats.
Our species stood out not for our powerful jaws or lightning-fast speed, but due to our capacity for reason. However, the problem with reason is that it takes time to execute — a luxury that animals don’t have when facing threats to survival.
Humans evolved another capacity that played a crucial role in our rise to the top of the food chain. The uniquely human power of intuition blends the speed of instinct with the knowledge gained through reason.
We can cultivate our intuition through intentional and systematic efforts to consume high-quality information over a period of years. Highly attuned intuition can be a superpower, analyzing complex patterns and instantly generating profound insights into novel solutions to thorny problems.
Check out the full transcript here:
https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-44-instinct-reason-and-intuition/
Even if the destination is clear, there are many roads to get there. Nobody knows the “perfect” path. We must decide the route based on our unique conditions and companions on the journey.
Every year, thousands of people from around the world travel to Spain to take the Camino de Santiago — the Way of St. James. While the destination is the same, the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, there are countless routes to get there.
Even with a map, nobody knows the “best” way to get to Santiago. Based on the hundreds of little decisions they make each day, everyone will have a vastly different Camino.
Many pilgrims on the Camino describe the experience as a metaphor for life. You never know who you’re going to meet, what setbacks you will experience, and what lessons you might learn along the way.
Some of the many insights we might gain from the Camino include walking with humility, being adaptable, and being willing to take a leap of faith. But you’ll never know what your experience will be until you set out on the journey.
Check out the full transcript for this episode here:
https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-43-many-roads-to-santiago
Our childhood fear of the dark never went away; it merely changed forms. Our irrational fear of the dark blinds us to the vital power of darkness.
As children, we fear the dark because of what we think we see lurking in the shadows. This fear is perfectly reasonable and rational, since recognizing dangerous creatures can keep us alive.
As adults, culture and language embed an irrational fear of darkness in our collective thinking. Deeply ingrained metaphors brand darkness in all its forms as immoral, dangerous, and undesirable. These metaphors are particularly harmful for people of color, who endure persistent discrimination related to this branding of “darkness as bad.”
Taoism offers a more balanced perspective, recognizing darkness and light as inseparable parts of a whole. Light can’t exist without darkness; darkness can’t exist without light.
Likewise, our lives would be unbearable without darkness or with an excess of light. Darkness brings creation, comfort, and a potential for growth – if we open our eyes to the dark.
Check out the full episode transcript here: https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-42-darkness-in-a-new-light/
Unlike your eye color or your height, your brain can change over your lifetime. Through intentional effort, you can enhance our mental capacities – while inattention can cause your skills to wither.
Up until a few decades ago, science generally believed that the brain you were born with was the brain you’re stuck with. It was believed that once you hit adulthood, your brain stopped growing.
We now know this is not the case. Research into neuroplasticity demonstrates the many ways that the brain can change, even well into adulthood.
If you excelled at math as a youth, the brain’s plasticity means you can lose your capacity if you stop practicing those skills. This is the neuroplasticity principle of “use it or lose it."
The converse is also true. If you were terrible at math, you might never become a mathematician. But you can train your brain to overcome its deficits – the principle of “use it and improve it.”
Read the full transcript here: https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-41-the-plastic-brain/
Can you rise up to meet the challenge in front of you? If you feel “in over your head,” consider that a call to action. You have an opportunity to grow.
From the moment we’re born, we’re thrust into a path of non-stop growth. Every moment of our childhood is marked by major milestones: crawling, walking, speaking our first words… in a blink, we’re all grown up.
As adults, we reach a few big turning points, like getting our first real job, buying a home, or getting married. But generally speaking, we often feel like we’re done – we made it to adulthood. We’re grown up.
Thinking we’re done growing is a mistake. As Robert Kegan and other researchers point out, we can advance through several stages of adult development well into our lives.
Taking on experiences that stretch our capabilities and challenge our worldviews can help us unlock greater potential at higher stages of growth.
A diamond covered in mud doesn’t lose any value. Wash off the layers of mud, and you easily recognize it as a treasure. Likewise, if we purify our mind of delusions, we can see our innate wisdom.
One of the fundamental teachings of Buddhism is that all beings possess innate wisdom and purity – we all have the seeds of enlightenment. Yeah, this concept is a tough one to wrap our heads around. The Buddha taught that we don’t recognize our inner purity because of the Three Poisons: ignorance, attachment, and aversion. Ignorance leads us to believe external things can bring us happiness or cause our suffering. This delusion leads us to grasp tightly onto things we desire and forcefully push away things we dislike.
Like washing mud off of a diamond, we can train the mind to see through these delusions. Doing so can give us a glimpse of our innate wisdom and purity.
Access the full transcript of this episode here:
https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-39-the-muddy-diamond/
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.” ~ Probably not Carl Jung
Jung most likely never said this, despite the frequent attribution for this quote. Nonetheless, it’s a good tagline for his insights.
Deep in the hidden corners of our minds lies a part of ourselves we’d prefer not to acknowledge – what Jung called the shadow. Our repressed emotions, fears, and storylines that remain unaddressed build up in our unconscious mind.
From time to time, the shadow rises up and demands attention, driven by our unfulfilled needs. It can lead us to make some really bad decisions.
To prevent the shadow from causing havoc in our lives and harm to others, we need to bring it to light. We can integrate aspects of the shadow into our conscious mind, using its energy for growth and attaining wholeness.
Check out the full transcript here:
https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-38-embrace-your-shadow
We sat in darkness. Inky black, question-your-existence darkness. Our panicked voices echoed off the walls of the cavern. If we were bats, those echoes might have given some comfort. Alas, we lacked the capacity for echolocation, so we were, quite literally, lost in the dark.
Two hours later, we emerged from the cave.
From time to time, we’re presented with an opportunity to break free from the things holding us back. We are invited to be transformed. This story of the cave is one such experience.
In this episode of Apotheosis, I kick off season 3 and a series focused on personal transformation with a story of my descent into a cave in Costa Rica. This experience opened my eyes to the deep potential lying untapped in all of us.
If we are willing to go into discomfort – to descend into the deepest depths of our fears – we can reemerge from that experience transformed. We can become the people we are meant to be.
Check out the transcript here: [LINK]
Haste makes waste, as the cliche goes. The Stoic concept of festina lente suggests we will achieve better results by taking our time and doing things right.
Especially in our hyper-busy world, we can be really impatient for results. We want something, and we want it now. But sometimes, we need to suppress this urge for immediate action.
When we rush, we’re more likely to make mistakes. We’re more likely to miss seeing important details.
When we take our time, pay attention to what we do, and execute each action with intention, we will avoid having a mess to clean up down the road.
Real, lasting progress often requires a slow – even boring – process of consistent action over a long period. The turtle beats the hare if it just keeps moving.
Read the transcript here: https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-36-hurry-up-slowly/
Nothing exists in isolation. Parts form groups, which then form systems. The health of the system relies on effective integration between all of its components. This is as true in organisms as in families, organizations, or societies.
We often take the health of our bodies for granted. Until we’re struck with illness or injury, we don’t appreciate the flawless symphony of cells, tissues, organs, and systems. We suffer greatly in body and mind when any part is not at its best.
Likewise, we can easily take the health of our families, relationships, organizations, or social institutions for granted.
All of these complex systems rely on healthy integration to function. Each individual part plays a critical role in the larger system.
While ideas like “work-life balance” are well-intentioned, we will rarely, if ever, achieve a proper balance between these parts. Instead, paying attention to integration can yield better results — giving each part the resources it needs to contribute to the whole.
Read the full transcript here: https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-35-vitality-through-integration/
Over 2000 years ago, sages around the world arrived at a similar conclusion: we should treat everyone with kindness and concern. Cultivating compassion for all beings, friend and enemy alike, is foundational to spiritual growth.
Here's an unfortunate reality: we will have enemies in this life, or at the very least, people we really don’t like. Despite the obvious difficulties, feeling compassion for our enemies – not just our family and friends – can be a powerful means of growth.
As the Buddha realized over 2500 years ago, all of us experience suffering in various forms. Our suffering causes us to behave in foolish ways, often causing harm to others and ourselves.
However, we can train the mind to break free of mental habits that create suffering. We can learn to see the delusions and misperceptions that cause problems in our lives. But gaining wisdom isn’t enough; we must also cultivate compassion for others to truly be free.
Because how could we ever be truly happy if those around us are suffering? If people are in deep pain, they will behave unskillfully. While we can’t change the behavior of others, extending them compassion fortifies our own resilience and capacity to rise above.
Check out some additional resources and a transcript for this episode here: https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-34-the-wisdom-of-compassion/
“Life is long if you know how to use it,” declared Seneca 2000 years ago. The years can pass in a blink if you squander your days on pointless pursuits. Find your sine qua non and focus on that above all else.
Each of us can easily identify activities that take up a lot of time but that contribute very little to our success, mission, or wellbeing. The days can fly past, caught up in a whirlwind of busy-ness and distraction.
We can instead choose to focus on important things, whatever those might be for each of us. Spending our precious days focused on our sine qua non will lead to a more fulfilling life.
But of course, we have carefully engineered distractions buzzing in our pockets, 25-mile priority lists, and a culture that prizes being hyper-busy and stretched thin like too little butter on too much bread.
While it’s clearly not easy to break free of the pull of cultural gravity driving us to distraction, it is achievable. If we use our time well, our life can be filled with the things we love.
Read the full transcript here: https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-33-sine-qua-non/
Change is coming for you. No matter how skilled you were in the past, what worked yesterday might be irrelevant tomorrow. We’ll never have everything figured out. In the latest episode of Apotheosis, I look at the art of kaizen and how it promotes continuous improvement — helping us rise to each moment.
Imagine the best 15th century army in the world squaring off against any modern army. There would be no contest. The strategy that dominated warfare for millennia – thousands of men lining up and charging – was rendered nearly useless.
Like military strategy, our own strategies and approaches will one day fail. Skills that served us well in the past can become outdated as new challenges and threats arise. We all benefit from seeking to constantly improve and adapt to the needs of the present.
The business practice of kaizen, popularized in Japan, offers a systematic way to identify problems, design and test solutions, and make continuous improvements. Delving into root causes of problems can help uncover solutions.
To adopt kaizen, favor gradual changes over time. Minor tweaks over time can lead to sustainable change and positive impact.
Read the full transcript of the episode here: https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-32-kaizen
A societal or organizational vision based on harnessing fear and anger will typically fail over the long term. Basing a vision on shared values stands a much greater chance of solving real problems and creating something people want.
The recent failures of the MAGA movement in the U.S. elections offer a case study of uninspiring visions. Turns out that blind obedience to one man and baseless accusations don’t attract a critical mass of voters.
Fear-based visions are the nutritional equivalent of a candy bar: satisfying in the moment, but ultimately won’t sustain you for long. When the rush wears off, it leaves you exhausted and frustrated for being unable to tackle what’s in front of you.
Instead, basing a vision on shared values is more like brown rice and broccoli. Might be less satisfying to the senses, but offers much greater long-term energy and potential to do hard work.
Striving to realize shared American values like equality, justice for all, and innovation can help this country to live up to its full potential. Other values like continuous improvement, compassion, and contribution can help anyone or any organization to succeed.
Read the transcript for this episode: http://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-31-vision-based-on-values-not-fear/
American culture bombards men with images of who they’re meant to be. Often these images portray men as tough guys who value winning at all costs, playing by their own set of rules.
The problem is that this image of masculinity is a fabrication – a marketing campaign dreamed up in a Madison Avenue conference room to sell more products to men.
Being a “real man” doesn’t mean being a relentless winning machine and doesn’t need someone else to be weak.
Secure masculinity means competing with yourself, not others, and striving for constant growth. It means empowering others and celebrating the success of other people, even when they’re different. It means being genuine and living by a set of values. It means contribution and sacrifice.
Listen to the full transcript here:
http://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-30-manufacturing-masculinity/
Every organism occupies its own unique sensory world, arising from the combination of sensory apparatuses it possesses. We can never truly know what it’s like to perceive the world through the “eyes” of another being.
Imagine being in the depths of a cave. You can hear the water dripping, feel slippery rock under your feet, and smell the guano. But you can’t see a thing. Your eyes can’t gather information in the total darkness of the cave. Where you suffer, though, other animals thrive.
In this same environment, cave-dwelling bats, spiders, salamanders, snails, and crickets have an entirely different experience. Their sensory apparatuses allow them to perceive details we cannot. These unique sensory experiences demonstrate a concept in biology called “umwelt.”
All sentient beings have an individual, subjective experience of their environment. You, me, and other humans – along with every cat, dog, snail, lizard, fish, or any other sentient being, for that matter – we are all subjects, the protagonists in our own stories. Our umwelt.
Each living being (or at least every human) sees its own reality as the “right” view. But this is just a mental bias. Just because we have a picture of the world in our brains, that doesn’t mean we have the most accurate picture of our environment.
What might we be missing?
Transcript and other resources: http://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-29-how-to-see-like-a-bat/
The fight-or-flight response can keep us alive when faced with a threat. But our brains often prepare us for battle even when the threats are just words or thoughts. Pausing before responding to perceived threats helps expand our options.
When we’re under attack, we don’t always have time to think. When perceiving a threat, the body responds automatically, increasing blood flow, dilating the pupils, and shutting down non-essential systems in the body. The brain readies the body to fight or flee. The fight-or-flight response has served the animal kingdom well for countless eons. However, humans face a far more complex world. Our brains don’t always differentiate between an actual, physical threat and one posed by words. An email, a social media post, or even a thought about a possible problem in the future can trigger the fight-or-flight response. Yet the brain can rely on the context to flip between feeling threatened and feeling excited. A lion in the grass ahead could cause us to flee in panic – unless that same lion is behind a barrier at the zoo. Recognizing the context can diminish the grip of the fight-or-flight reflex.
Several actions can help create some space so that we can assess our options: pausing and taking a few deep breaths, labeling our emotions, and noticing sensations in the body. With this space, we can better see the context, question the threat, and devise reasonable responses.
See the full transcript and additional resources here: http://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-28-to-fight-or-not-to-fight
Reality dictates that we will face difficulties ahead. As the pandemic showed us, it’s easy to succumb to panic, anxiety, and any number of largely unproductive coping mechanisms like hoarding toilet paper. Calmly facing down difficulty requires intentional effort.
Barbara Frederickson’s Broaden-and-Build theory offers one helpful perspective for cultivating calm and clarity. Negative emotions like fear or anger narrow our view. In contrast, positive emotions broaden our sense of possibilities and build valuable mental resources that serve us now and in the future.
According to Frederickson, positive emotions also have an added benefit she calls the “undoing effect.” When our body and mind get riled up in fight or flight mode, positive emotions cool the fires, bringing us back to a normal resting state.
Grounding techniques can also help to cut through the mental noise of anxiety by connecting us to the present moment. Paying attention to sensory perceptions like sounds, colors, textures, and physical sensations can calm the mind and help us to think clearly.
For references and further reading, check out:
http://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-27-undoing-negative-with-positive/
When you wake up today, there is a strong chance you will encounter someone rude or antagonistic. Coworkers, employees, bosses, or clients will frustrate you. Politicians will be corrupt, inept, or both. Can you be calm despite these difficulties?
Stoicism teaches us that we are capable of maintaining a tranquil mind – one that is unphased by the challenges we will inevitably face. Tranquility allows us to think more clearly and experience joy despite our circumstances.
How can we achieve this state? One way is to do less – as Marcus Aurelius wrote, to ask ourselves, “is this one of the unnecessary things?” We should focus only on those activities that matter and ignore frivolous or wasteful things.
The trichotomy of control provides a useful framework: there are things we cannot control at all, things we can control, and things over which we have partial control. Don’t waste time on the first; focus on the latter two.
No matter how hard we try, we cannot avoid setbacks, discomfort, or other difficulties in our lives. These turbulent winds will continue to blow no matter how hard we fight against them. In the latest episode of Apotheosis, I explore some Buddhist insights for cultivating calm even when the storms are raging all around us.
Pointing out the futility of trying to stop the wind, Buddhist meditation master Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche describes another option: rather than being the flag, getting beaten around by the winds, we can be the flagpole. The flagpole stands tall and steady no matter how wildly the storm might rage.
We don’t have to react to every thought or feeling we have; and we don’t need to react to everything that other people say or do. Some things are worth our reaction, while others are not. When we do react, we’re far more likely to achieve positive outcomes if we stay calm.
Buddhist meditation practices like object-based meditation help to train the mind, much like physical exercise trains the body. These practices help us to cultivate a sense of calm, even when the winds are howling all around us.
My first night at sea was almost my last. Over 20 years ago, I set sail on a 70 foot sailboat from New York harbor in the middle of January. That night, we were hit by a brutal storm. Snow fell in horizontal sheets while massive waves periodically and unpredictably rose out of the darkness to smash into the deck. I looked out and saw 360 degrees of icy death – there would be no way of surviving going overboard in those conditions. Over the next few hours, the captain guided us to haul on ropes and crank the winches when needed, providing the muscle to wrestle the boat into a manageable course. His calm, focused confidence kept us alive that night.
How does one develop such calm under fire? How can each of us cultivate the capacity to face danger, difficulty, or any other intensely stressful circumstances? (And we’ve sure got plenty of those these days).
In this latest episode of the Apotheosis podcast, I kick off a series on this topic, looking at techniques and practices for cultivating calm in even the most stressful times.
How much is too much? Or not enough? If we work too hard, we get burned out. Work too little, and we go nowhere. If we’re too fearful, we never take risks and thus miss opportunities. Or if we’re overconfident, we rush into situations that we’re grossly unprepared for and make costly errors.
Finding the answer to this question of “how much?” dates at least back to Aristotle, who explored this question in his Doctrine of the Mean. Often called the Golden Mean, this insight guides us to avoid the extremes of excess and deficiency – finding the sweet spot that helps us achieve our goals.
I just published the first episode in season 2 of my podcast, Apotheosis. This episode introduces Aristotle’s doctrine and the immeasurable value of finding that golden mean.
Imagine you just had the best day ever. You had a major win, everything went your way. You’re floating on cloud nine. But then maybe a coworker said something to undermine your success – just joking, they said, although sure didn’t sound like it. Suddenly all the elation evaporates. One negative remark has the potential to completely derail our happiness. One negative incident outweighs ten positive things.
In this final episode of season 1 of the Changemakers Field Guide, I examine this tendency to fixate on the negative – and insights on how we can flip the script. This episode concludes a series on dealing with people, exploring some insights from neuroscience on how we cultivate healthier relationships. Making the effort to forge better connections pays off tenfold: helping us collaborate better, make a bigger impact, and enjoy better physical and mental health.
Sometimes we can get uncomfortably reminded that we know less than we think. Or that our stories are not as accurate as we once believed. For me, the story was that I was a quiet but dedicated supporter of equality and racial justice. One night a few years back, a woman asked a simple question that opened my eyes to how little I knew. A bit of discomfort can be a helpful reminder of where we need to grow.
In this episode of the Changemakers Field Guide, I continue a series on dealing with people – looking at the history of civil rights in America, with lessons on how NOT to treat people. Righting wrongs always involves acknowledging there’s a problem. Listening to the stories and experiences of Black people is a critical step in living up to our ideals of justice.
What does it take to get ahead in the world? Do we need to claw our way to the top, determined to win at all costs? Or can we succeed by bringing others along, working for mutual gain? In this latest episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide, I explore the value of cooperation through the lens of evolutionary psychology, as part of a series looking at dealing with people.
Studying the past, and in particular how our ancient ancestors managed to survive and ultimately flourish in a landscape filled with danger. Contrary to what we often hear, fierce competitiveness and being the strongest isn’t a guarantee for survival. Those humans who survived and passed on their genes didn’t succeed just through brute force or ruthlessness. Rather, their superpower was cooperation. They outcooperated their prey and rival animals competing for that prey. They were better at sharing knowledge and skills than any other animal. We’re here today because of their ability to cooperate well.
While our challenges today are very different from our ancient ancestors on the savanna, cooperation remains a critical skill. Realistically, cooperation is more important than ever in the complex and deeply interconnected world we live in. Join me as I look at ways we can cooperate better and ensure our story continues to be told!
One of the first lessons I learned as a young boy also happens to be one of the most important lessons I’ve learned to this day. I was about four or five years old, and my mom sat me down on the edge of the bed one evening. “This is the Golden Rule,” she said, looking me gently in the eyes. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” No doubt I looked confused, and she continued to explain: “You like it when people are nice to you, right? Sobe nice to other people. You don’t like it when someone is mean to you? So don’t be mean to other people.”
This episode is the fifth in a series looking at dealing with people. When it comes to practical advice for interacting with our fellow humans, few practices are as clear as the Golden Rule. In this episode, I’ll explore its historical background and insights into practicing the Golden Rule in modern times.
There’s a good chance you will encounter someone soon that is a pain in your backside. Maybe it’s someone rude in line at the sandwich shop. Or a coworker talking over you at a meeting, undermining your efforts to make themselves look better in front of the boss. Or maybe someone is wrong on the internet. There is no shortage of frustrating behaviors when it comes to dealing with human beings.
In this episode of the Changemakers Field Guide, I explored some ideas from Stoicism that can help us maintain tranquility even when facing difficult people. Whether you’re an average person or the leader of a company or the ruler of an empire, you will encounter some real jerks at times. It pays to have some practical tools to respond well and keep our mental peace.
I’ve taken a risky stance in this latest episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide: I’ve gone full moderate on the subject of political divisiveness. I explored some insights from Taoism on the unity of opposites that can help us to find balance in our lives and interactions — not least in the way we interact with people who hold different views.
Taoism points to a flow between opposites, in which each side supports the other. Within light, there is an element of darkness; within dark, there is an element of light. Recognizing the value of the other side contributes to harmony. Overemphasizing one side over the other contributes to toxicity. These insights Taoist insights offer a valuable perspective on dealing better with other humans.
If I could choose a superpower, it wouldn’t be speed or strength or lasers out of my eyes. I’d choose something far more practical: immeasurable compassion. The world needs kindness and compassion a heck of a lot more than it needs people who can bend metal with their hands. In this episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide podcast, I explore the Buddhist concept and practice of compassion.
This episode is the second in a series looking at ways to work better with other people. Cultivating compassion can help us to gain a better perspective on human behavior, in turn helping us to feel more joy and peace in our interactions.
Working with people we know and like and see eye-to-eye with is often hard enough. Working to address major issues like climate change raises the stakes – and the difficulties – of collaboration. Competing agendas, unhealthy forms of competition, power imbalances, and dealing with toxic antagonism can stymie our efforts to cooperate our way to success.
Effective collaboration is critical. So we might as well get as good as we can.
Join me as I kick off this series on dealing with people. I'll explore some ideas from across time and around the world on how we can get along and collaborate better with other humans.
Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow was one of the most influential books I read in the last decade, if not my life. His insights into how our minds work have changed the way I think about decision-making and human interaction in general. In the latest episode of my podcast, the Changemakers’ Field Guide, I explore some of these insights. Understanding some of the biases and errors in judgment that our minds (ALL of our minds) produce can help improve the quality of our decisions. Or at the very least, help us go easier on ourselves when we make inevitable mistakes in judgment!
In the latest episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide, I travel back in time 200,000 years to the dawn of Homo sapiens. Our ancestors were very good at their jobs of survival. Favorable adaptations in our brains arose due to specific evolutionary pressures, constantly repeated over millions of years. However, the complex world we’re in today definitely doesn’t resemble those conditions. Our ability to survive and flourish will undoubtedly depend on how well our brain can adapt to this complexity.
Cooperation, communication, and prioritization of threats helped our ancestors. While the scale of our problems is exponentially larger, these same cognitive programs can still serve us well.
To understand the present, we must understand the past. No field of study does this quite like Big History. This emerging discipline looks WAY back in the past, tracing a path from the Big Bang to modern times, with rising complexity at each step of the way. In this episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide, we take a journey through space and time, exploring some insights from Big History to shine light on the complex problems of today.
How do we know when we're exerting enough energy? Or too much energy? Taoism teaches that we're probably trying far too hard much of the time. Sometimes the softest touch is what is needed, rather than a brute force exertion. This episode presents the Taoist concept of wu wei, or non-doing. In doing non-doing, we might just do a bit better.
We focus a significant amount of attention on things that can be measured, quantified, or otherwise described (perhaps more so in the Western world). We study these things because we can know them; but in the process, we can lose sight of the unknowable mysteries at the heart of our existence. This episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide looks at insights from Taoism into the nature of the knowable and the unknowable. When setting out to address complex problems, knowing the difference between these two might make a difference in how we invest our efforts.
Many of the problems facing human society seem daunting, monolithic. Issues like poverty, climate change, and inequality are a tangled knot of complexity. The latest episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide looks at this idea through the lens of Buddhism. I explore the view of interdependence and how it might help us to make sense of these wicked problems.
Many of us get into the fields of conservation, sustainable development, or similar "do-gooder" fields because we want to make a contribution to the world. But it doesn’t take long to realize that some of our most important problems to tackle are some of the hardest to solve. These wicked problems — like poverty, climate change, racism, and many others — are maddeningly complex and resistant to many of our best efforts.
This episode of the Changemakers’ Field Guide kicks off a series looking at these kinds of complex problems — and what we might learn from multiple traditions and perspectives on how to navigate complexity.
Even without the anxiety, fear, setbacks, and general crappiness of living through a pandemic, building resilience to bounce back from adversity always has value. With this in mind, I set out to explore some insights from various traditions on how to build resilience. This episode wraps up a series looking at the concept of resilience from five different perspectives, including Buddhism, Stoicism, Logotherapy, Neuroscience, and Ecology.
Just as we all have our limits, so does nature. This latest episode of the Project Indra Podcast explores the resilience of the natural world — how ecosystems can bounce back following major shocks to the system.
We need to take care of ourselves to fortify our own resilience against adversity. Likewise, we all benefit when we take care of the natural world, working to reduce our impacts on the ecosystems that help us to thrive. As Aldo Leopold said, "We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."
How does the same stressful incident cause some people to fall apart, while others grow stronger? What conditions help us to bounce back from adversity — is it mostly our mindset and attitude, or are there other factors at play? While previous episodes have explored mindset shifts that support resilience, this fifth episode in the series looks at the neuroscience of resilience.
For some more info on the science of well-being and some great practices to cultivate awareness, connection, insight, and purpose, check out the Healthy Minds app from the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison:
https://hminnovations.org/meditation-app
In this fourth episode on resilience, we explore insights from Viktor Frankl on how we can find meaning in even the worst of circumstances. Doing so can sustain us through tremendous adversity. Our capacity to find meaning gives us the will and the drive to tackle the inevitable challenges we will face. As he describes, "Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."
As we confront some of the greatest social, environmental, and economic challenges in human history, embracing this mindset of meaning could be a vital practice.
“Don’t insist that what happens should happen as you wish; wish that things happen as they do happen. Then your life will go well.” This insight from the Roman philosopher Epictetus captures the Stoic practice of amor fati - or love of one's fate. When adversity strikes, rather than curse our misfortune, we can embrace these circumstances as if we chose them. We can reframe problems as opportunities, setbacks as lessons. While it might be tricky to wrap our heads around it, the amor fati mindset can be a powerful addition to our resilience toolkit.
"It's easy to be happy when the sun is shining, and your belly is full" is a common refrain in Tibetan Buddhism. It doesn't matter how calm or happy we are when things are going our way. The true test of wellbeing lies in our response to adversity. How do we respond to crappy weather, hangry bellies, or even worse situations? Every one of us will face setbacks, bad days, and hard times. The Buddha offers some practical insights for not making a bad situation worse — building our resilience by reducing our resistance.
This episode is the second in a six-part series on resilience, which introduces some insights from ancient and modern traditions that could be a valuable part of anyone's resilience toolkit.
A question keeps coming up in this crazy and chaotic era of Covid: How can we make it through hard times? How can we learn, grow, and become even better people by overcoming adversity? This episode discusses the importance of resilience: both for the inevitable downturns in life and for the path of impact leadership.
This is the first in a six-part series, which introduces five insights from ancient and modern traditions that could be a valuable part of anyone's resilience toolkit.