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The purpose of this page is to highlight actions which can be taken to help create a society in which all people can build healthy, resilient and sustainable lives. In a society with economic classes, particularly classes that include a poverty class, it is important to take actions which give all citizens the opportunity to climb out of that class. Government and non-profit entities cannot do this alone. As the saying goes, “It takes a community to raise a child”. Communities must create a society and a culture in which people have the opportunity for growth and change. Equal opportunity becomes the key concept here. Some individuals will not choose to change; however, the social safety nets from government to non-profit to religious organizations are not collectively resilient enough; they are not interwoven tightly enough to create equal opportunity as an underlying cultural value in the US. This is a large portion of what Sustainable Lives is designed to achieve.
This page will be in development over time. Each action will be explored in more detail as time goes on.
For Individuals
Be Person Centered – Person Centered is a Rogerian concept. Rogers was trained in psychoanalysis but learned that when he conducted the therapeutic protocol, people were still suffering with the original complaint. From this experience Rogers began to develop his Person Centered Theory. It is easy to fall into false conclusions about anyone, their circumstance or what they need to overcome it. By listening to the person, you can understand their dreams, goals, aspirations and their road map to get there. Truly helping someone is most easily achieved by supporting them on their journey, not deciding what their journey should be.
Be Non-Judgemental – As humans, it is normal to fall into a pattern of judgement. We are designed to live in social groups that create the within without (families, cliques, religions etc) pattern of human society. Suspending judgement can be difficult; however, if you cannot suspend judgment, you may not be able to help the individual you hope to reach. Humans have innate intelligence which allow us to discern if someone is really going to help us or not. If we are judgmental, we may fail to be person centered and as stated above, person centered is the easiest approach toward helping another person succeed.
Be Compassionate – Oxford dictionary: sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. The act of meditating, thinking and acting in a compassionate way tends to decrease self center and increase other centeredness. Compassion can allow individuals to see past their within group and see humanity as a within group. This is similar to what Jesus was preaching about when he emphasized loving your neighbor. Compassion is a powerful emotion and it can increase personal well being and happiness.
Show Kindness – Kindness is the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate (Oxford Dictionary). Kindness is similar to compassion. While compassion can become an emotional state, kindness is more a matter of behavior and action. The quality of kindness is a personal characteristic that shows outwardly. When kindness is reinforced as a character trait it is less likely that harsh behaviors, actions or even potential actions will take place. Choosing to be kind as a core value will reinforce the behavior over time, even when experiencing anger or frustration. When kindness is integrated as a character trait and value, it is more likely to result in kind actions even under stressful situations. Kindness tends to have the affect of improving the well being of others on an emotional level. Kindness helps rebuild a persons emotional resiliency. Having emotional resilience make people more capable of working hard toward their goals. When a persons goal is overcoming homelessness, kindness goes a long way. Best of all, kindness is free. In fact, while kindness is improving another’s emotional resilience, it has the added benefit of improving your’s also. Compassion and kindness are both energy repleting.
Be Empathetic – Empathy is a big part of what makes us social animals. Empathy is our ability to replicate the experience someone else is having as our own. This happens because we have mirror neurons in our brain which replicate the experience another person has based on our sensory input. Empathy has positive and negative affects. Empathy allows us to approximate the experience another person is going through which prompts us to take action. Empathy is good because it helps us relate to other humans at the same time as drive us toward action. Empathy can be negative also. A person who has poor boundaries or is overly empathetic may be chronically stressed, emotionally depleted or even dissociative in some ways. While empathy drives us to act, it is important to keep empathy in check and not let us lose sight of ourselves. What has been titled Compassion Fatigue may be attributed to empathy in the future. Compassion increases human happiness and well being. Too much empathy decreases human health and happiness. The great thing about empathy is how it drives us to act so that we feel better ourselves. This creates the prosocial behavior that make humans resilient as a whole. This article explains the idea that empathy is the real culprit of Compassion Fatigue, not compassion.