WE DID IT! From idea to ‘doing the thing’. Re-igniting hope and agency

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In August 2024, a small group of passionate people decided to 'create a bubble of good energy', and invited people to connect with a beautiful idea: the citizen story, the subject of Jon Alexander’s book, Citizens.  Goodlife is all about seeking out powerful - and empowering - ideas to connect people with, that might inspire us to see new possibilities in how we address the challenges we're collectively facing.

You couldn't find a speaker more likely to spark a sense of connection and agency than Jon Alexander, who's intellect, unbounding optimism and deep humility unite any room. What is hard to capture in an article after such an event - is the feeling in the room by the end of the evening: connectedness, buoyancy, delight. Humans are designed for this: to problem-solve together, to build cultures of growth. Seeds of hope, inspiration and connection were planted. We can't wait to see what blossoms in this space. 

One participant commented afterwards, 'my brain is still sparking'. Mission accomplished. Let's light that spark!

The need for connection and community is growing stronger by the day, and decades of research tell us of the correlation between a sense of belonging and myriad health outcomes. Can we fall back into collective attunement? Goodlife Collective believes that we can and this is part of our kaupapa.

At this point in time, it does feel that we all have more questions than answers, and we're keen to create supportive spaces tonavigate thesequestions together. How might we align and coordinate our collective desire to be of service to planet and people? How might we attain our collective ikigai? Maybe we can relax a little into enjoying the journey - the how and why - and trust that the destination will take care of itself.

Key to successful gatherings is the invisible: our intentions, checking in with our unconscious biases, our energy. When we show up to serve, and tap into our 'why' - and intentionally hold space and curiosity for each person's potential - magic happens.  Perhaps what the world needs right now is less about outcomes and deliverables, and more about understanding the conditions that can create those. Once upon a time, we all felt that the world was a little magic. We curled up for story time each evening, and were read fairytales and stories that lit up our imaginations. Maybe it is time for us to reconnect with our imaginations, and with some magic.

Context: Slightly meh

A catalyst for this event was a desire to lift the general mood hanging in the air in Aotearoa. The vibe in Wellington -and across New Zealand in general - has been a bit 'meh' lately, with 6,500 public sector job cuts and counting (edit as at Dec 2024: 11,000...) with the current government's moves encapsulated in short-term gain for a few, at great cost to the many, and to the environment. It feels like a time that we're called to look inward and draw on deeper reserves if we can, and to ask, 'what can we do?', 'what is needed?' 'what needs to shift?' The history of humanity is a tale shaped by the challenges thrown our way (or that we've created!). Each challenge invites us to consider, how will I show up? There are times however when this question seems more pressing…

Choosing to show up as our best selves can feel harder given much of what we read and hear in the news. Is it healthier to completely disconnect? There's a strong argument for it, as Jonathan Haidt reminds us in his book, The Anxious Generation. Yet, we want to remain informed and engaged, and we are wired to connect. One comforting trend we've observed when we widen our perspective, is that after a period of predominantly bad news, we see a sort of 'immune response', with people and journalists alike, seeking out stories that draw people's attention to the good. Why? Our feelings are telling us something important - acts of kindness feel good! This is a valuable reminder about the power of choice (notwithstanding structural power and privilege imbalances which is another article in itself) - we get to choose the stories that we see value in telling ourselves - and they speak to parts of our true nature that want to be activated.

Our 'Why' - as important as the 'what'

Bare with me as I go deeper into the 'why' of this event and the series that it has kicked off.  I think it deserves some time in the limelight, given it's transferability to other contexts.

The Doors of Perception

How does our thinking effect how we show up in hard times? Ample research findings have shown the power of curiosity and self-compassion in helping us through hard times - and more broadly through life in general. The qualities of curiosity and self-compassion help to shift our inner narrative or 'inner dialogue' away from disempowerment and despair, towards new possibilities.

Cultivating curiosity

So if curiosity is so essential, how do we cultivate it? Well, comfortingly, curiosity is fairly core to being human. It is hard-wired into us. Think about what two-year olds are famous for; "but, why?" 

We probably all agree that curiosity is a useful and virtuous thing, particularly to address the 'polycrisis' (let's say it together - poly-opportunity!), but what proportion of our day do we spend just being curious? How do we create safe spaces to cultivate curiosity, in a world that tends to incentivise 'knowing' and 'doing'? Because not knowing is invariably the starting place for any good curiosity! Allowing ourselves to be curious, shapes life into a more fulfilling journey, and builds a kind of cognitive foundation on which we can build a more constructive or broader sensemaking in this world. This is in contrast to judgment. Judgement is obviously not an inherently bad thing, indeed good judgement is invaluable in many situations. But without curiosity, judgement taking primacy can leave us being led by mental shortcuts, known as 'heuristics'. While reducing the cognitive load of task complexity, heuristics result in biases, which are "gaps between normative behaviour and the heurtically determined behaviour' such as confirmation bias, internal misattribution bias, gender bias, anchoring bias, authority bias, hindsight bias, halo effect, bandwagon effect... you get the drift. The role curiosity plays in enriching our lives is highlighted in many studies, including this light-hearted study showing that curious people are also optimists.

So, we created this event to water the seeds of hope and curiosity, which are key ingredients for helping us figure out what better might look like, and how to start to co-create it moment to moment. The adage, ‘where our attention goes, grows’ - is a useful touchpoint for our inner compass - which wolf do I want to feed?  What do I want more of and less of in my life?  Which inner narrative leaves me feeling empowered to be impactful in my community and this world?

Invisibilia: Social contagion

Another fascinatng fact driving our 'why': our nervous systems are constantly communicating with each other (see Dr Deb Dana’s book Anchored).  So, when I feel safe to be curious, to sit in a perspective of looking for possibilities, my nervous system is more regulated. Science shows that this regulation will ripple out to make others feel more regulated. Cool, huh?  We really are all connected, it's not really woo anymore, but scientifically proven. So what does this mean? If our psychological state impacts that of the group? Was Ghandi onto something all of those years ago when he said, "be the change you wish to see in the world"? Notice how your energy feels after spending time with certain people, lifted up or dragged down? There's your qualitative field research right there. This is another driver of Goodlife Collective's kaupapa - to create meaningful experiences in supportive spaces, something other than the doom and gloom headlines, or the stress-filled workplace.

From me to we - a virtuous feedback loop

Caring for others is caring for self, and vica verca (awareness of this is a core belief in the indigenous world view.)  Goodlife Collective was founded out of a deep love of seeking out and amplifying wisdom, the emotion of awe (which apparently moral beauty can create), the belief in all people's potential, and a passion for ideas that can inspire active hope and possibilities.  Because ultimately the more of us who FEEL hope, agency and a sense of possibility, the more healing social contagion will ripple out, the more we can collectively create a biophysically literate (a term we first heard from the uber inspiring Nate Kinch) future where planet and people can thrive.

It’s all a big feedback loop; ‘rehabilitating the world’, in turn rehabilitating ourselves.' (~ Maria Popova.)

"Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves" ~ Emily Dickinson.

Healing our social fabric is core to Goodlife Collective's mission.  It’s not always about grand gestures either, but takes place moment to moment in small things like random acts of kindness, smiles, warmth, inclusiveness, asking people how they are. Listening - truly listening, not just to respond, but to empathise, inter-relate and inter-be. We are all valuable threads weaving the collective social fabric together, and the more we understand and connect with others experiences, the more infused with a collective wisdom our perception can become. As Trinity Roots sing, "it’s the little things that really matter.”

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The Event! Connecting around questions

When the crews of ThinkPlace and Goodlife Collective met, our values-alignment was clear, along with our enthusiasm to create uplifting events for people. We agreed to have a little fun and collaborate on events to counter the doom-narrative with something uplifting.  The ‘exploring the new’ series was born! Our first event, ‘an evening in conversation with Jon Alexander’ in August 2024, was as heart and soul-nourishing as we'd hoped.

Sixty odd people gathered on a school night - 40 of them in a sun-filled, ocean-facing room at Victoria University, and 20 up at ThinkPlace HQ in Auckand. The room filled with happy chatter creating a warm backdrop for the evening. People were gently nudged to sit near people they didn't know - in line with the theme of 'exploring the new'.

Before introducing our speaker we invited people to pair up with someone they'd yet to meet, and asked them to chat about why they'd chosen to come along to the event, or anything else top of mind relating to the idea of good citizening -the topic of the evening.  An activity like this only take a couple of minutes, but is always worth the time investment (similar to the beautiful concept of 'whakawhanaungatanga in te ao Maori). Taking a few minutes to connect and relate, when it is so easy not to, transforms and amplifies the connection in the room, and shifts receptiveness and engagement to the rest of the evening. It's the little things - when we shift from passive recipient to getting involved, so much can shift.

Deputy-Mayor of Wellington City Laurie Foon spoke first, welcoming everyone and then sharing several great examples of good citizening happening right now in Wellington. Foon energised the room with her vivacious energy, and many people commented later on, how impressed they were with her astute and galvanising words. The examples she shared of good citizen work happening locally, were a powerful reminder that our media so often focus on 'bad news', such a disservice to the impactful work that is happening all around us in our communities, as well as to our collective nervous systems.

Jim Scully, Co-Founder of legendary design-thinking agency ThinkPlace, welcomed everyone with his signature warmth and lightness, followed by Freda Wells, Goodlife Collective founder, who introduced Jon, and reminded people that being able to say, "I don't know" is perhaps a key leadership trait going forward.

Jon Alexander - Author of Citizens

The early start for Jon on the opposite side of the world in London, didn't dampen his signature high levels of being fully present, and irrepressibly driven to connect people with their ability to shape things for the collective. Jon is naturally engaging - famously described as, 'an evidence-based optimist.' Jon stepped us through the framework of the subject-consumer-citizen story, a well-researched idea that has been refined over the course of his three masters degrees and deep involvement with practice in the field of social innovation and change. A noteworthy example of citizenship that he shared was the G0V zero in Taiwan, involving his favourite, "hacker turned Minister turned mentor" - Audrey Tang.

In a nutshell - Jon's work describes the three dominant stories that humans have told themselves throughout history about who we are as a society:

- Subjects are dependent; Consumers independent; Citizens interdependent.

- As Citizens, our individuality is precious, but we recognise life is only meaningful in interdependence.

- Subjects have stuff done to them; Consumers have it done for them; Citizens do it together, with one another, and with and through organisations.

- Subjects obey and receive; Consumers demand and choose; Citizens create and participate.

- And the role of leaders and organisations in relation to Subjects is to command them; in relation to Consumers to serve them; and in relation to Citizens, to facilitate and enable them.

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Click below to view Jon's talk.

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"We have pervasive inequality, and we are telling ourselves the story that our primary responsibility is to look out for ourselves." That is a key premise of the consumer story.

Jon goes on to write, "The story of the Consumer is dying, but it is still dominant. The Citizen is emerging, but it is not fully formed. There is no guarantee that it will happen — indeed, our daily news can make a step back to the Subject story seem more likely than a step forward into the Citizen."

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"Big things are changing, and this is just the beginning, but the nature of the Citizen story is that right at its core, it emphasises that what happens is up to us. All of us.

This will require inner work. Those of us who have grown up in the Consumer story will need to let go of many of our dreams, the lives we thought we would lead, the success we thought we were aiming for. Trust me, that is hard.

At the same time, we need to look out.

When you hear the Consumer story, challenge it. Humans are not lazy and selfish; when someone says so, they are speaking from and for despair. Instead, seek hope.

Look for the Citizen Shift in your world, and in your communities. In your city, in your neighbourhood, in the things you care about. I guarantee you will find it.

Take hope, and then, get involved. You are not a Consumer, and you are not a Subject. Now is the time to show it."

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To end on a good question, "What would you do today if you truly believed in yourself and those around you?"

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Thank you to Voice of Aroha for support with the venue.

https://www.newcitizenproject.com/

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