Nurture Active Hope and Make a Difference
How do we ready ourselves to contribute to the great shift needed for social and ecological change? Join Dr. Chris Johnstone, co-author with Joanna Macy, of the book Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re In with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power; Revised Edition as he shares how we can navigate these difficult times without fear or despair.
Chris is the is a codirector of ActiveHope.Training, a nonprofit organization offering online courses that help people grow their own resilience and increase their capacity to make a difference in the world. His online classes and programs now reach thousands of people with participants in more than 60 countries. An activist since his teenage years, Chris first encountered Joanna Macy’s work while he was a medical student in London. He’s been a trainer in her program Work that Reconnects and has worked closely with her for more than three decades. He now lives in Scotland
Chris Johnstone’s co-author on the book Active Hope is Joanna Macy, is a respected voice in the movements of peace, justice and ecology, a well-known author, and founder of the Work that Reconnects which helps people transform despair and apathy into constructive, collaborative action.
DR. LAUREL TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I really enjoyed having Dr. Johnstone on the program. I found his explanation that there are actually three stories happening now in the world very useful: the Great Unraveling, Business as Usual, and the Great Turning. We see evidence all the time of the Great Unraveling, as that is the narrative that is covered by news media. We see Business as Usual in the world and sometimes in our own lives. It was helpful to see that there is also evidence of The Great Turning all around us as well, if we look for it. Dr. Johnstone and Joanna Macy’s distinction between feeling hopeful (thinking that things will get better) and feeling hope (about how we want things to be), was very useful to me as well. Sometimes I may not feel hopeful, but I see that I can feel hope as I can see how I want things to change and that I can play a role in that (making it Active Hope).