Local Futures

  • Home
  • Media room
  • Blog
  • Store
  • Contact

The Economics of Happiness

Donate
Menu
  • About us
    • Local Futures
    • Our team
    • Founder, Helena Norberg-Hodge
    • Get involved
    • Our history
    • Close
  • Projects
    • Connect globally and locally
      • World Localization Day
      • Voices from the Field
      • Localization Action Guide
      • International Alliance for Localization
        • Join the IAL
        • IAL members
          • IAL member organizations
          • IAL Listserv
      • Ladakh Project
      • Planet Local
        • Culture
        • Eco Communities
        • Ecology
        • Health
        • Local Business & Finance
        • Local Energy
        • Local Food, Farming & Fisheries
        • Local Policy & Community Rights
        • Place-based Education
        • Sharing & Repairing
    • Gain a big picture perspective
      • Blog
      • Local Futures Podcast
        • Jeremy Lent: Shifting Paradigms
        • COP, carbon and high-tech: who is setting the agenda?
        • Beyond Conspiracy: Framing Meaningful Activism
        • Unpacking Global Empire from an Indigenous Perspective
        • More than Just the Vegetables
        • Food Sovereignty in the Global Economy
        • Transition, Tradition, and Trade
        • Not-for-Profit Businesses
        • Love, Values, and Wellbeing Economies
        • Growing a Farmers Market from the Ground Up
        • Beautiful Places: A Conversation with Wendell Berry
        • Creating the Framework for a New Economy
        • From GDP to GNH
        • Rebuilding Healthy Communities: The Growing Ecovillage Movement
        • Seeds of Resilience, Seeds of Sovereignty
        • Why Local Ownership Matters
        • Local Alternatives to Globalized Development: A View from India
        • How to Feed the World? A Political Agroecological Approach
        • Helena Norberg-Hodge on how corporate ‘free trade’ deals threaten local communities and economies worldwide
      • Webinars
        • Sacred Activism in a Post-Trump World Webinar
        • Talking Climate Webinar
        • People Power: Democracy and the Economy Webinar
        • Beyond Trump: The Path to Real Change Webinar
        • Bringing the Food Economy Home Webinar
        • A World Without ‘Free’ Trade: What it would look like and how to get there
        • Beyond ‘Free Trade’ – Alternatives to Corporate Rule
        • Education: Promises, Myths & Realities Webinar
        • Debt and Speculation in the Global Economy Webinar
        • A New Activism Webinar
        • Climate Change or System Change Webinar
        • Going Local Webinar
      • Powerful talks
      • The Economics of Happiness film
      • Films and short videos
      • Books and reports
    • Close
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
    • World Localization Day
    • Economics of Happiness conferences
    • Other past events
    • Close
  • Action resources
    • Getting the facts
      • Globalization – drivers and impacts
      • Localization – a solution-multiplier
      • Big Picture Activism – rethinking basic assumptions
    • Action tools
      • Localization Action Guide
      • Covid-19 response: let’s localize like never before
      • Maps of alternatives
      • Organizations for change
      • Independent media sources
      • Films for change
      • Recommended readings
    • Close
  • Books, reports & videos
    • Books and reports
      • Local is Our Future
        • Endorsements for Local is Our Future
        • Translations of Local is Our Future
      • Ancient Futures
      • Free reads
      • Translated resources
      • Annual reports
    • Films and short videos
      • PLANET LOCAL : A Quiet Revolution
      • LOCAL: A Story of Hope
      • Local Food Can Save The World
      • Going Local: the solution-multiplier
      • Insane Trade!
      • The Economics of Happiness
      • Ancient Futures
    • Close
You are here: Home / Inner transformation / Inner Transition: an introduction

Inner Transition: an introduction

September 8, 2016 by Stephen Hinton 3 Comments

640px-004a_mwuerfelI recently took up the challenge to talk about inner transition in the garden of an eco-village project in Värmland County, Sweden. A lot of sun, beautiful place,  no flip-chart or power points. Here is a short account of what I talked about.

To me, getting to the heart of inner transition is about understanding our own dual nature: if we feel threatened we are likely to get in a mode of fleeing the scene, aggressively fighting for what we want or just freezing. But absent the feeling of threat we are calm, relaxed, loving and often generous.

The prospect of having less fossil fuel or money to go round puts most people into threat mode. But in threat mode we are not thinking long-term. It is just this problem that faces civil society when developing the dialogue around how we can develop society to show more planet care and at the same time more people care and fair share.  We need to create the space where the dialogue can be held without fear driving us.

It is good to talk about this together. I tried dividing the circular space in front of me into two sections illustrating the two modes. (I had help from some remarkably tame hens.)  The group could then use this space to explore what it is that puts you into the different states, and what it is that drives decision-making.

Presented with threats, quick, decisive reactions are needed. You focus short-term, trust authority, use force, and are goal-oriented.

In the more peaceful mode, you are looking long-term; love and appreciation are at the center. Force is not at the forefront, but discussion, dialogue and envisioning are.

bild15

You quickly come to see how much of what might appear reasoned, rational decision-making is actually fear-based.

Actually, in the resilient, balanced society, you create and carry a preparedness to deal with threats whilst setting up a society that offers security of inclusiveness, where having food and shelter is the norm rather than a privilege.  In a community like a municipality, town or village the planning approach could look like this:

bild20

Lynne Twist, the founder of the Hunger Project, offers the idea of the three poisonous thoughts that persist as a result of being exposed to a culture overly focused on threat.

  • There is not enough
  • You have no power
  • More is better

These thoughts can pervade everything in our life and take over, fueling addictions, aggression and alienation.

We asked what we can do to create a culture of peace. Below are some ideas that are especially relevant for eco-villages and other communities, like local transition initiatives.

bild24

Stephen Hinton spoke about Inner Transition at an event in London on September 14th, 2016, which was sponsored by Local Futures, Initiatives for Change, and the Global Hub for the Common Good. Other speakers included Helena Norberg-Hodge, Lawrence Bloom, Diego Isabel La Moneda, and Michael Smith.  For more information about this event, click here.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Related

Globalization and Terror
Positive Thinking in a Dark Age

Filed Under: Inner transformation, Resistance and Renewal Tagged With: community, inner transition, peace culture, renewal, sustainability

Author: Stephen Hinton

Stephen was one of the founders of the Transition movement in Sweden, an original member of the Humanitarian Water and Food management team, and the co-founder of the Swedish Eco-village, Änggärdet.

Comments

  1. Lynn Lamoreux says

    September 8, 2016 at 4:43 am

    Very useful. I tried to repost to my FB page, but it would not let me.

    Reply
    • Sean Keller says

      September 8, 2016 at 6:04 am

      Sean from the Local Futures team here. Sorry about that. It should be working now!

      Reply
  2. Jim Lovestar says

    February 24, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    Beautiful. I am often confronted by my internal thoughts: There is not enough
    You have no power
    More is better
    As Lynne Twist noted. Then I can remember what is true and practice gratitude, the antidote.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I accept the Privacy Policy

Subscribe to the Economics of Happiness Blog

Sign up for our email updates

Latest Blogs

  • Can small-scale farmers feed the world?

    August 16, 20221 Comment
  • Of George Monbiot, mathematical modernism and the case for agrarian localism

    August 3, 20222 Comments
  • The Gospel of Progress

    July 20, 20221 Comment
  • Lurching from food crisis to food crisis

    July 8, 2022No Comments
  • The food shortage solution in your backyard

    June 15, 20221 Comment
  • Supply chain failures: another reason for localized economies

    June 8, 20221 Comment

Blog posts by Category

  • Capitalism (10)
  • Cities (2)
  • Climate Change (55)
  • Community (32)
  • Consumerism (6)
  • Coronavirus (19)
  • Democracy (4)
  • Development (24)
  • Economic Growth and Degrowth (34)
  • Economics of Happiness Conferences (4)
  • Education (9)
  • Energy (3)
  • Environment (45)
  • Food and Farming (72)
  • Free Trade and Globalization (45)
  • Happiness (5)
  • Health (27)
  • Indigenous worldview (16)
  • Inequality (7)
  • Inner transformation (16)
  • Livelihoods and jobs (38)
  • Local energy (9)
  • Local finance (5)
  • Local food (15)
  • Localization (56)
  • Nature (6)
  • New economy (20)
  • Resistance and Renewal (18)
  • Technology (39)
  • The Economics of Happiness (17)
  • Transportation (2)
  • Uncategorized (4)
  • War (2)

Local Futures Logo
About us
Contact
Get involved
Privacy policy

Projects
The Economics of Happiness film
Events
Action resources
Books, reports and videos
Blog
Store

Sign up for our email update

Donate

Local Futures © Copyright 2022 | site by digiflip
 

Loading Comments...