Journal Entry: Our Future is a Declaration Away

The Proximity Process

This week's episode was prompted by a quote I read in the book, Buddhism Without Beliefs, by Stephen Batchelor. The chapter on imagination began with this quote, "A talent for speaking differently, rather than arguing well, is the chief instrument of cultural change." In other words, we create change by first seeing a different future in our mind's eye and then speaking that vision out loud. This is very different from arguing about what is or has been, it's about declaring what can and will be in the future. I talk about how this approach of speaking differently applies to our ongoing conversation about Termination of Parental Rights, and how it can apply to anything that we may be working on. I lay out five steps that I've seen work for me and others that moves us from imagining and describing the future, to taking action, and then learning and iterating. I also reference a great resource, which is linked below, that can help us develop the skills of generative communication and declarations. I end the episode with a few journal prompts.
Journal Prompts

• What do I want to declare?
• Who am I without the work?
• Who am I?

Generative Communication e-book: Generative-Language-2021
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