ICYMI: Start Right Now
Applying the Five Steps from the post on complexity and societal collapse
Published January 28, 2022.
Revised for this posting.
The following is based on The Future is More Than Complex.
It is time for us to stop worrying about whatever has emotionally captured us right now. This is all part of the global crisis that I’ve seen coming for a couple of decades. We need to realize that when governments become highly restrictive it is not a sign of strength but of weakness.
If you want to be strong, or find the strength to be resilient then start to do these five things.
Educate Yourself
Simplify Your Life
Create a Purpose for Impact
Establish a Network of Relationships
Write to understand what you think and feel
These actions are from The Future is More Than Complex.
I’m going to say one thing about each of those steps. Think of this as a call to action.
To educate yourself, stop reading to feel comfortable.
Read to toughen your mind. If you don’t know where to start, read the eight books, one major and seven short that I’ve written. You can find them at https://amazon.com/author/edbrenegar.
Simplify your life, stop using your phone to numb your mind.
You are being diverted by dancers, angry people, and stuff that wastes your precious brain cells. Realize that virtually everything on a screen is a simulated reality. It is not real. Embrace reality. We can only do this directly. I describe this aspect of the crisis in The Spectacle of the Real. To simplify right now, just ask, “What is my purpose and how does this thing right now help me to become a person of impact.” Don’t wait to create a plan. Start with one thing where you can identify a direct effect to your actions.
Develop a purpose that helps apply your values in real and direct ways.
The key to understanding your purpose is to understand what you values are. I see that there are two kind of values. There are motivational values that are constantly changing because they are primarily focused on touching us emotionally. There are the foundational values upon which we base our lives. These values need to be ones that enable us to say yes to the right things and no to the things that are not going to advance our lives. The surest way to know what those values are is to ask yourself, “What are those values that I am willing to sacrifice some personal benefit in order to preserve?” When you are willing to suffer to sustain your values, then you are in a place of real strength and confidence.
Spend time with a person who shares similar values and concerns.
Here you are developing your network of relationships. When you meet with this friend or family member, talk through these five steps, or The Circle of Impact Guilding Principles or the Five Questions That Everyone Must Ask.
Lastly, read and write, listen and write, observe and write, talk and write, work and write.
Write about everything that crosses your path today. One word or a hundred words, it does not matter. The only rule is write something every day. Misspelled words don’t matter. Confusing sentences don’t matter. Writing is all that matters. Why? Because it forces your brain to coordinate with your entire mind and body to make sense enough to write something that you’ll look at a year from now and remember how you felt when you wrote it. I have journals going back forty years. Write. No excuses. Begin right now.