Em ’s Reviews > Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in without Going Crazy > Status Update

"The power of example is contagious. This is how cultures change." Word.

"When we experience frustration, failure, or obstruction, we need to remember that we are part of a very fine historical tradition."

"... commonplace saying is "you can't change human nature." But when we look at the breath taking span of our planetary history, the idea that "we'll never change" seems absurd. We are part of the most extraordinary un folding. Where will it go next?"

"Guilt is the uncomfortable awareness that our actions are out of step with our values."

"If we focus only on each separate activity, it is easy to dismiss it by thinking, "That won't do much." To see the power of a step, we need to ask, "What is it part of?".

"When we bring our fears into the open, they lose their power to haunt us."

Oh gosh, I'm going to run this quote to the ground.

"Admitting the depths of our anguish, even to ourselves, takes us into culturally forbidden territory. From an early age we've been told to pull ourselves together, to cheer shut up."

"Being able to make a difference is powerfully enlivening; it makes our lives feel more worthwhile. [It] is not about being dutiful or worthy so much as it is about stepping into a state of aliveness that makes our lives profoundly satisfying."