the thing about words

 Our emphasis at the moment is on understanding the psychology of change: what makes some people hurl themselves at it with abandon and joy, and what makes some people hide behind the sofa and throw the cushions at anything that seems in any way different, new or "other". If we don't understand what makes our messages of change and renewal so horrifying to some, we are never (big word. we mean it. ) going to find a way of connecting. And connect we must: across all our sectors of environmental, social and economic change becasue we *really* need to get better at working together; and with all those who think we must be actually inhinged to want it.

I had a conversation with someone recently where I casually mentioned we are facing so many complex, difficult problems, what we probably need is revolution. She was a lawyer for a local municipality in the US. She almost choked on her fruit cake and fell off her chair. She turned grey,  look at me aghast and asked, mouth still full, why would I want something so destructive, that would lose all the structures we had put in place to fend off the barbarians?

Wow. Now, *that* made me think. We are actually speaking different languages. She sees "revolution" as an INCREDIBLY BAD THING that will TEAR DOWN THE WALLS OF CIVILISATION AND LET ALL THE VERY VERY BAD AND LAWLESS PEOPLE GET EVERYWHERE. Whereas I see it as an amazing thing of renewal and change and improvement and can only feel happy when I feel the word coming out of my mouth.

It made me think a *lot*.

No wonder we're all getting nowhere....

Come and join us on 13th March.