Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in without Going Crazy

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The “Spiral” – four stages of a transformational journey that you can use regularly to support you to move gently from grief (which can be paralysing or make you manically busy) to a deeper, calmer, sense of purpose and agency - to a place of Active Hope.

Active Hope is a practice. Like tai chi or gardening, it is something we do rather than have. It is a process we can apply to any situation, and it involves three key steps. First, we take in a clear view of reality; second, we identify what we hope for in terms of the direction we’d like things to move in or the values we’d like to see expressed; and third, we take steps to move ourselves or our situation in that direction.Joanna had a particularly lucid and disturbing dream. She saw her children left behind in a barren, toxic world. Power-with arises from what we do rather than we we have. The shift in perception from seeing power as a noun to seeing it as a very has surprising potency. They offer an anchor point reminding us, again and again, of the purposes we hold dear and the behaviours that support us in serving them. In the Buddhist tradition, bodhichitta is seen as something very precious, something to treasure and protect.

History has shown us many examples of people whose allegiance to wider circles of life impelled them to act in ways that brought discomfort to, and even persecution from, their peers. Where did you find the strength to continue working so hard, despite all the obstacles and discouragements? How can we offer this valuable work to people who might never come to workshops or who don’t have access to them? Like many of you reading this, I’ve been deeply touched by my experiences in the Work That Reconnects workshops, and seen others deeply touched too. But how can we offer this valuable work to people who might never come to workshops or who don’t have access to them? Joanna Macy and I held this question in mind when we wrote Active Hope. We’ve been delighted that one of the newer forms of the work that has evolved is the Active Hope book group, where the book becomes a co-facilitator in the team supporting groups journeying around the spiral together. We’ve taken this a stage further now, with the launch of the Active Hope MOOC (massive open online course), also known as the Active Hope Foundations Training – a free, video-based online course available at https://activehope.training . What comes into view when we see with new eyes is this interdependence. There is no such thing as a “self-made man” or a “self-made woman” Take turns with each of you taking five minutes in each role, one asking “Tell me, who are you?” ad the other replying.Many people around the world have participated in Joanna’s workshops and trainings. Her group methods, known as the Work That Reconnects, have been adopted and adapted yet more widely in classrooms, churches, and grassroots organizing. Her work helps people transform despair and apathy, in the face of overwhelming social and ecological crises, into constructive, collaborative action. It brings a new way of seeing the world, as our larger living body, freeing us from the assumptions and attitudes that now threaten the continuity of life on Earth. Chris has been a trainer in the Work That Reconnects for more than three decades, working with Joanna on many occasions and running facilitator trainings in the United Kingdom. He has been active in the Transition movement since its very beginnings and contributed to a chapter on the psychology of change in The Transition Handbookby Rob Hopkins.