It is wise to cultivate compassion even for people you find deeply objectionable, as this helps in engagement and maintaining mental well-being.
Cultivate loving kindness for yourself, as it forms the foundation for self-forgiveness, the ability to begin again, and understanding the causes and conditions of your actions.
Get quieter and pay more attention to see the reality of how interconnected our lives are, and how individual actions have consequences for others.
Recognize that the intention or motivation behind your actions is a significant part of their energy, so understand where you are coming from and what is guiding you.
Employ mindfulness to understand your motivations, identify your core values (‘North Star’), and strengthen them through your interactions.
Do not shut down or shut out feelings like anger, frustration, or powerlessness; instead, engage with them and include them in your meditation practice, even political feelings.
Use mindfulness to switch your meditation object to a difficult thought pattern or attitude, observing it with tenderness and asking ‘What is this?’ without condemnation or prolongation.
To truly resonate with someone else’s situation and feel empathy, cultivate the ability to be present with your own pain and recollections of similar experiences.
Understand that compassion is a stronger force than anger for sustained, intense, and effective work in the world.
Engage in struggles with compassion as your motivation, which means you can fight for what’s right without resorting to hatred.
Consider that the greatness of your actions, including social engagement, can be measured by your own transformation in the act of doing them.
Cultivate an ’exquisite balance’ by putting tremendous effort into helping, while simultaneously accepting that you cannot control the outcomes.
Realize that nothing happens without taking that initial step, so move forward and take a shot, even when the path ahead seems unclear.
Engage in the good that is directly in front of you, no matter how small or meager it may seem, as this is the only way for change to occur.
Reframe your measure of success by focusing on bringing sincere and powerful love into every situation, rather than solely on immediate, tangible outcomes.
Move beyond mere reaction and choose to act based on your deeply held values and what you deem important.
Engage in inner work and cultivate the ability to be with uncomfortable feelings, as this process propels you into more skillful and effective external action.
Practice ‘faith’ by moving off the sidelines and into the center of possibility, taking a chance and showing up for what needs to be done.
Instead of just punishing or reacting to problems, look deeply at their underlying causes and conditions to find more appropriate and effective solutions.
Employ a steady, dispassionate way of looking to discern the truth of things and see more clearly what is actually happening.
Develop inner resources and resilience to sustain your engagement with suffering without crumbling, feeling overwhelmed, shattered, or ineffectual.
Consciously take in and admit joy, allowing yourself to feel it, as this restorative practice replenishes your energy and enables you to face painful things without being lost in them.
Identify what you are grateful for and what is good in your life, then allow yourself to truly enjoy these sources of joy.
Cultivate the ability to hold both joy and suffering simultaneously, recognizing that life can be a grind but also contains moments of happiness.
Do not allow yourself to hate what you’re going through, despair, or feel overcome by difficulties, as these states serve nobody.
Allow yourself to feel anger without fighting, resenting, or resisting it, recognizing that there is dignity and integrity in acknowledging your feelings.
Be mindful not to get lost in, overwhelmed by, or overtaken by anger, as allowing it to determine all your actions can be devastating to yourself.
Collectively honor the voice, even if it comes from anger, that insists on looking at unpleasant truths or issues that have been studiously avoided.
When you encounter feelings of helplessness, use it as a reminder to do one small, wholesome thing, like helping a neighbor, to channel that energy into action.
Utilize meditation to enhance self-awareness, compassion, and a sense of connection, which can make you more effective and engaged in the world.
Establish a profound sense of connection to others, as this naturally moves you to look for causes and conditions, look more deeply, and try to ease pain in the world.
Consciously apply the wisdom gained from meditation to address feelings of a lack of agency, such as ‘I could never do enough’ or ‘I could never be enough.’
Recognize that you can draw significant strength from your relationships with fellow travelers or colleagues, especially in challenging endeavors.
Apply compassion and equanimity in your relationships, especially when people are annoying or frustrating, by not trying to control what you cannot.
Before engaging in an encounter or relationship, mindfully examine your true motivations and goals, such as seeking resolution versus proving yourself right.
During conversations, be aware of two tracks: your content goals (what you want to say) and your relationship goals (how you want to maintain the connection).
Understand that even strongly conditioned patterns, like individualism or selfishness, do not have to be permanent and can be changed.
Understand that everyone embodies a bundle of different identities that can elicit various reactions from others, contributing to their unique experiences.
Balance the recognition of individual identities and their unique struggles with a vision of a beloved community where diversity is simply accepted without distinction.
Actively work to loosen the grip of assumed centrality, recognizing that there isn’t one normative type of family or societal structure.
Cultivate a mindset that normalizes diverse family structures, hospital staffs, and other societal compositions, rather than viewing them as exceptions needing special mention.
Cultivate skills to effectively and appropriately express your intentions, beyond just having good motives.
Identify and actively pursue strategies and ways of being that help you sustain engagement in a confusing, misleading, and traumatizing world.
In long-term campaigns for change, set a goal to achieve small ‘wins’ every day, such as writing an editorial or engaging new people, to maintain momentum.
Do not shrink back from engagement, no matter how scared you may be; at the very least, exercise your right to vote.
Participate in voting, as it reflects the innate dignity and rightful voice of every individual.
Acknowledge and honor your need for respite and relief from constantly witnessing difficult or overwhelming current events.
Actively work to limit your Twitter doom scrolling to avoid being overwhelmed by negative information.
Be much more moderate in your social media consumption to avoid being overwhelmed by negative influences.
When you realize you are doom scrolling, consciously decide that it’s enough and actively stop, letting go of the need to consume more information on the same issue.
Create a structure by committing to replace time spent consuming news or social media with practices like loving kindness, especially when you already know the information.
Engage in a significant amount of loving kindness practice, as it helps you stay engaged with difficult realities without becoming overwrought or flailing.
When overcome by painful emotions, recognize that your own feelings are taking center stage and shift your focus back to the situation of others, which is the actual point of engagement.
Do not hold rigidly to expectations for immediate results, as the dynamic of change is constantly shifting and outcomes are not always immediate.
When confronted with cruelty, it’s important not to turn away, but to find ways to stay engaged without being overwhelmed.
To avoid turning away from difficult realities and stay engaged, connect to something bigger than yourself, such as through loving kindness practice.