Inspiring hope for a future of peace

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"You practice mindfulness, on the one hand, to be calm and peaceful. On the other hand, as you practice mindfulness and live a life of peace, you inspire hope for a future of peace." - Thich Nhat Hanh

A notebook about how we work, learn, love and live.

Holy shit. The crisis in Israel, significant and ongoing offensives by the Russians in Ukraine, and the House of Representatives brought to its knees by a rabid right-wing minority makes me feel powerless.

But we're not powerless. As Thich Nhat Hanh was so good at reminding us, by practicing mindfulness and engaging in Sangha (community) building we can foster peace. In turn this (small p) peace does transform suffering.

World Peace (capital P) is not a top-down endeavor. It starts within and spreads, person to person, from the bottom up.

We can't run. We can't hide. We've got to show up, right where we are.

Happy Friday.

Personal Strength
Researchers find that feeling powerless can lead people to support systems that disadvantage them.

"When do people voice opposition to social systems that disadvantage them, and when do they, paradoxically, support them? Recent research suggests that feelings of powerfulness play a critical role in whether people take on these systems of oppression. When people feel powerful, they are more likely to express opposition to the status quo, but feelings of powerlessness can lead those same individuals to support systems that disadvantage them.

"A recent paper by Stanford GSB professor Robb Willer and a team of other social scientists finds that the likelihood that people will oppose these forces depends on their feelings of personal empowerment. Those who feel powerful, for example, no matter what their social and economic status, are more likely to criticize social conditions as unfair. But people who feel powerless are more likely to support the existing order, even if it hurts them, the research finds." - Marina Krakovsky

Article: The Powerlessness Paradox

How We Live
A simple smile has more influential power than you may think.

Image by Lizel Louw via CC

"One of the most powerful things the world shares is the universal smile. A smile can cut through all barriers. It knows no age, gender, color or culture. No matter where you are in the world, what language you speak, or social status, a smile will always be understood.

"A smile represents something bigger than itself. A smile represents goodwill, affection and openness towards others. It communicates happiness and acceptance. It is one thing that connects and encompasses us all." - Megan Bailey

Article: How a Smile Can Change the World

Come Together
"Powerful things happen when women gather with intention."

Activist, Jungian analyst and author Jean Shinoda Bolen has written The Millionth Circle: How to Change Ourselves and The World’. In it she shares the belief that when there are one million women's circles being held around the world, the patriarchy will finally fall.

This week in her newsletter, The Sunday Soother, Catherine Andrews invited her readers into the practice of sitting together in a women's circle. "Because women's circles are places of activation of power. Of healing. Of knowledge, passed from woman to woman, generation to generation. Of receiving, of vulnerability. Of sisterhood, of friendship, of acceptance, of action, of activism, of community.

"Powerful things happen when women gather with intention. And things happen in those circles that are dangerous to the patriarchy, which is why for centuries women's circles have either been outright banned at worst, or mocked as "woo woo" or hippie-ish at best."

I appreciate the place and role of a women-specific circle, especially in the context of a dominant culture that is patriarchal at it's roots. But I want to hold up her call to create and sit in circles, no matter their gender. I am lucky enough to be a member of a men's group who call ourselves The Men of Teal. By design we challenge the concept of being men of steel, and instead support each other in living Teal Operating Principles. It's magic to sit (via Zoom) with a small group who give each other permission to feel, to share those feelings, and to support each other in our growth, no matter our specific learning edges. And I start every day sitting with a group of drunks in an AA circle. Our collective healing power routinely brings me to tears.

There is great power in the circle. Catherine provides a good list of ways to find or even start your own circles. She refers to a book she finds of value: Sacred Circles: A Guide To Creating Your Own Women's Spirituality Group. Come. Sit. Surrender. Share.

(BTW, I checked in with my men's group. We agreed unanimously that we are a women's circle.)

Article: The Millionth Circle, and How it Might Help Patriarchy Fall

Related Article: Embracing Interdependence as Our Hidden Common Ground is Our Best Hope for the Future.

How We Live
Dog people meet other people.

Sparky and Debbie sharing some jammie time at an airbnb last weekend.

There are some things science simply cannot explain. There is science that measures that pet owners have better physical and mental health, increased self esteem and better sleep. There are other studies that show that pet owners are more likely to be lonely and depressed, to have more asthma, obesity, and high blood pressure, and to use more medicine.

In our house the unscientific evidence is unequivocal. Our dog Sparky brings delight into our lives. One of the biggest joys is that he gets us outside. Every day we're home we bring him to Highland Park so that he can run in the woods. Being in the woods regularly keeps us in touch with nature, with the ever-changing seasons.

Walking in a park gives you a chance to meet other people who like to get outside.
Image via Friends of Greenfield Highland Park

And walking a dog gives us the chance to meet people we otherwise might not meet. 20 years ago we met two guys in the park who we now call old friends. Both of the dogs we were walking then have died, but our friendships have matured into family-like closeness. We've met an opera singer we didn't know was a neighbor. We've met a middle-school drama teacher who shared on-the-ground reporting on the challenges faced by today's kids. We've met an amateur botanist who showed us wild foods we didn't know about. And in a couple of weeks we're driving a new friend we met in the same park to a medical appointment near Boston. And while she's with her doctor we'll get to take her dog and Sparky on a walk in a new park.

Article: The Benefits of Owning a Pet – and the Surprising Science Behind It

Related Article: Competitive, Warm and Conservative: What Exactly Makes Someone a Dog Person?

How We Work, Organizational Structure
"The only method is no method."

Buddhist scholar Robert Buswell tells a story about meeting with the Theravada monk Maha Boowa. He asked for a meditation method that would help him achieve enlightenment. Instead he was told that “the only method is no method” and he needed to figure out what worked for him based on his own experience and interests.

In the past 50 years myriad ways to organize our organizations for greater flexibility, responsiveness, inclusion and effectiveness have been developed, tested and proffered. Presented under names like Holacracy, Theory U and Teal Organizations, the sheer abundance of operating principles can be daunting.

Perhaps the monk's advice about finding enlightenment is relevant here. Maybe the best method is the one that works for us. To help us consider our options Joost Minnaar has assembled a list of the different "adaptable organizational structures" he's come across. To keep things real he's listed only the progressive organizational structures that are rooted in practice, not theory. In fact, he links each practice to a specific company.

Article: 10 Progressive Organizational Structures Developed By Real Companies

Design, Circular Economy
Who will compost your chair?

Oakland, California–based company Model No. 3D prints its furniture using bio-resins at a facility that runs entirely on wind and solar energy. Any hardwood components are FSC-certified or salvaged, and all finishes are nontoxic and made with natural oils and waxes. The pieces are produced to order and packaged in recycled materials. PHOTO COURTESY THE MANUFACTURER

We can learn to mitigate and even reverse climate change and other global challenges, like biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. A clear way to do so is to build a circular economy, one in which products and materials are never considered waste, but are instead kept in circulation by maintaining, reusing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, recycling, and composting. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation identifies three principles for circularity: eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerating nature.

The building sector scores pretty badly on these three principles. But many within the industry are working to make the built environment green. Metropolis’s editor in chief Avinash Rajagopal has summarized the challenges and opportunities. Treat it like you would a punchlist.

Article: 10 Provocations for Circular Design

Retailing, Circular Economy
The "world's first circular store," where any garment can be bought new, rented or subscribed to, just opened.

Houdini Circle on Norrlandsgatan 12, Stockholm: "If we want to truly transform our industry, we need to start offering seriously better alternatives to what’s out there, and make sure these alternatives are accessible to more people." - Eva Karlsson, Houdini CEO

"Challenging traditional consumption patterns, Houdini Circle is about putting your needs first, while at the same time offering a more sustainable alternative to the linear business models that still prevail when it comes to consumer goods. It's not just a smarter way to access your favorite outdoor gear. It is something we create together, and together we can care for resources, give more people access to the experiences that we love and, honestly, redefine the whole idea of consumption. Nice, right?" - Houdini Circle Website

Web Page: Houdini Circle Opens in Stockholm

One-liners

Article: Cannabis doesn’t make you more creative — it makes you think you’re more creative.

Article: YouTube passes Netflix as top video source for teens.

Article: ‘People are happier in a walkable neighborhood’: the US community that banned cars

Article: “Sustainability is also about sustaining yourself.”

Article: Boston’s high school dropout rate fell by more than half. Here’s their blueprint.

Playlist

Video: Peacable Kingdom. Recorded live at Electric Ladyland Studios

Peaceable Kingdom
A song in memory of Rachel Corrie

"On March 16, 2003 the twnty-three year old activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an armored bulldozer in a Gaza Strip combat zone while attempting to protect the Israeli demolition of Palestinian property. As a mother I found myself grieving for her parents and wrote the lyrics to this song as a comfort to them.

"My pianist and bass player Tony Shanahan wrote the music. This is a live recording from Electric Lady Studios. Thinking of the dying young all over the world. Young soldiers, young women fighting for their freedom, for their education, their voice. And also thinking of the mothers and fathers who bring them into the world, only to see them unjustly taken away." - Patti Smith

On Monday of this week, October 9, she posted this live version of the song with these words: "For John Lennon's birthday. Tears for our troubled world."

Weekly Mixtape
Debbie and I spent last weekend in Provincetown, the town where we fell in love 41 years ago. I visited a favorite bookstore, East End Books Ptown. That afternoon they were sharing a great playlist of jazz. It got me combing my own library. I love how the walls in jazz are so porous.

Playlist: East End Books

Image of the Week

COMING OUT AGAIN AND AGAIN (2019)

"Typographic diagram recording the moments of revealing and concealing my gay identity during the first forty-five days in a new city. Timeline is shaped like a heartbeat at a moment of amplified emotion, annotations are revealed and concealed, hero text becomes gradually more visible." - Shoshana Schultz

I discovered Shoshana's work when Metropolis Magazine used some of her work to illustrate an article about the book Feminist Designer, On the Personal and the Political in Design.

Website: ShoshanaSchultz.com

Article: A New Book Explores the Intersection of Design and Feminist Theory

What's Love & Work?
Love & Work is the weekly newsletter by me, Mitch Anthony. I help people use their brand - their purpose, values, and stories - as a pedagogy and toolbox for transformation.
If you get value from Love & Work, please pass it on.

You can learn more about me and my work here: mitchanthony.net

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