Current e-Journal

Try this
In a recent newsletter, we focused on the power of creating a Celebrate List to document what you are accomplishing. When we don't take a moment to deliberately create such a list, our tendency is to skip over all we have accomplished, to instead focus on all that we have not accomplished.

That is the same tendency that leads us to feel like we are not doing enough to fight authoritarianism. Add to that the deliberate actions by those in power to make us feel helpless and powerless, and all of that combines to create a feedback loop that stops us from taking action.

What we need, therefore, is a feedback loop that leads to taking MORE action! That is what this week’s exercise is all about…

As it is with celebrating, this exercise starts by making a list.

List what you are already doing in your daily life, to build what you want to see in the world, and to refrain from participating in what is harmful. List everything, large and small.

• Did you attend a rally? Participate in a march?
• Are you boycotting companies you disagree with?
• Are you calling your elected representatives?
• Are you helping your neighborhood with a block party, for folks to connect and enjoy each other?
• Are you donating to causes you believe in?
• Is your day job at a place that is working for a more humane world?

Perhaps you’re choosing not to eat meat, or choosing to shop at the farmer’s market instead of a corporate grocery store, or perhaps planting your own small garden.

Perhaps you’re reading stories to your kids about people who aren’t like them, or taking them to museums to broaden their horizons.

Or perhaps you’re practicing Catalytic Thinking, asking questions that bring out the best in the people you encounter. And you are certainly reading this newsletter every week (and probably reading others like it!).

Doing this in a group can be helpful, as we tend to remember each other’s activities more than our own. “What about the City Council meeting you went to last week?” And, “What about all the calls you’ve made to your congressman?” All that stuff we discount as “nothing” is actually a lot of somethings!

So make a list, and keep adding to it. Ask others what they see you doing.

Each drop of water, added to the other drops of water, creates an ocean, a tempest, a tidal wave. Our power comes from realizing the aggregate of all those simple actions we are taking. It comes not just from doing the work, but realizing we're doing the work. Feeling it.

That is what Catalytic Thinking is all about. A small action, like asking a different question, can change absolutely everything. So keep adding to your list of ways you are stepping into your power. And keep asking the questions that will change the world.