Current e-Journal
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April 07, 2026
Gaining a sense of control when the world feels out of control
In this week’s Systems Change Newsletter…
- Invitations and Announcements
- Catalytic Thinking Exercise: How to move from “Thinking about it” to Doing it”
- Resources to Further Your Practice
Invitations & Announcements:
Consultants: Create a path to ACTION for your clients
Right now, perhaps the greatest gift a consultant can give to your clients is the ability to build on their strengths. When nonprofit leaders are feeling whipsawed at every turn, how can you know what steps those clients are actually ready for? That’s what the next class in our consultants-only series is all about. That path to action starts here…
Catalytic Thinking Exercise:
Gaining a sense of CONTROL when the world feels out of control
These days, so much feels outside our control. The rules are changing every day. The economy is in free fall. A state of existential dread feels like it has become the new normal for 2026.
As a species, we humans crave a sense of control and predictability. We crave a sense of our own agency. In this new normal, those feelings can be mighty hard to come by!
If we are to continue to fight for a better world, that sense of futility and lack of control will be our undoing. Because we can’t build strength upon weakness. If we are to do the work we’ve all committed to do, we must remember that strength builds upon strength.
Where, then, can we find that strength when there is so much that is outside our control?
Try this:
When it comes to the sense of helplessness so many of us are feeling, the most effective antidote we have found is to focus on what you CAN control. That’s why the few minutes you will take to do this week’s exercise can change everything.
1) Breathe: Take a deep breath to quiet your mind. In times of stress, we are not just figuratively holding our breath, but literally forgetting how to breathe, taking only shallow breaths.
As you take a moment to get more oxygen into those lungs, it is important to also take a deep, cleansing breath OUT. Science has shown that a long, slow, OUT breath calms the nervous system. Our colleague, Jackie Bradley, encourages us to think about that out-breath as the “Ahhhhh” we exhale when we step into a warm bath.
So take a moment to center yourself with that Warm Bath Breath. (Around here when we take a moment to do that, we find we instantly smile. And we can all use some smiles these days!)
2) List at least 5 things you have control over, no matter how small.
I have control over _______________
That’s it.
Try this practice every day for a week. You might do it once in the morning as you are anticipating the day, or in the evening, after the day’s occurrences have all piled up in your head. Because it only takes 2 minutes, try doing both.
Each time you remember all that you DO have control over, you are actually building the mental muscles to keep fighting the good fight.
In addition to practicing this in your personal life, bring this conversation into your staff meetings and your planning sessions.
- In your community, what CAN you control?
- In your programs, what CAN you control?
- In your conversations with elected officials, with fellow citizens, with community partners – what CAN you control?
Here’s why this exercise works:
Rooted in Catalytic Listening, this exercise is rewiring your brain as you listen for the strengths you have to build upon.
When we are feeling powerless, our self-talk becomes weakness-focused. This simple practice refocuses you on your power, your agency, your strength. You start to realize that your self-talk is one more thing over which you DO have control.
Sometimes just the simple act of listing those 5 things is enough to help your shoulders relax a bit.
At other times, it is helpful to take action – to do one of the things you’ve identified. Clean out a closet or junk drawer. Tackle the pile of filing you’ve been ignoring. The satisfaction you feel from those tasks is all about regaining that sense of control.
As you step beyond the immediate sense of control over your junk drawer, you can start to move your thinking out into your neighborhood, then your community. In each space, what DO you have control over?
At each step, you will be interrupting the fear-based feedback loop in your brain. And you will be sparking a new feedback loop, one that will insert more and more reason and creativity into the conversation you are having with yourself.
In the weeks and months ahead, we all have a ton of work to do. We can only accomplish that work if we focus on what we do have control over, building strength upon what is already strong.
That is why this exercise – and all of Catalytic Listening – is such an important part of the Catalytic Thinking framework.
Resources to Further Your Practice:
- WATCH: The only way our brains can process all the information they encounter is to create shortcuts. In this video clip from our Continuum of Potential class, you’ll find one more thing you can gain control over. Watch this short clip here…
- READ: You have control over not just what you say, but what you listen for in conversations. Find out what you’re listening for at this link…
- LISTEN: In this podcast episode, the CEO of Philanthropy Ohio, Meghan Cummings, talks about identifying not just our individual strengths, but our collective strengths. Listen here…
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