The Hopeful Mindset
Finding Hope in the Natural World
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The Hopeful Mindset’s Values Hexagon
The Hopeful Mindset Values Need Hopeful Values Basic Physiological Needs (food, water, warmth) Vitality Safety Need Resiliency Security Need Sustainability Membership Need Inclusive Connection/Compassion Agency (Power to Act) Need Personal...

Mindsets and Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.
I recently watched a Netflix documentary called "The Social Dilemma" <https://www.netflix.com/browse?jbv=81254224> in which a dozen or so highly qualified and experienced people working in the field of social media were interviewed. I thought I was reasonably...

The Hopeful Mindset and The Religious Naturalist Orientation
The foundation of The Hopeful Mindset is a recognition of the interdependent nature of life. This recognition is in contrast with a common misconception that organisms exist independently from one another. Although many people are aware of the existence of ecosystems,...

Is Anyone Listening?
I recently participated in a webinar entitled “What is the Earth Asking of Us?” arranged by earthliteracies.org. Although the participants came from varied backgrounds and experiences there was a general consensus that Earth needs us to learn to live in harmony with...

Cynical or Fearful – Rethinking The Independent Mindset
Shakespeare wrote, “What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” and he was right. The names we give to things are often quite arbitrary. For example a pencil could be called a “grapher” as long as everyone understood that “grapher” is a word we...

Black Lives Matter – The Roots of Racism in The Cynical Mindset
As discussed in the A Brief History of the Western Mindset section of The Hopeful Mindset, the dominant mindset of western civilization has been and still is The Cynical Mindset. As this mindset has evolved over the past 2500 years, human beings have come to see...

2 Paths Forward from COVID-19
Dr Trevor Hancock of the University of Victoria proposes that, rather than bouncing back from COVID-19 we should bounce forward. What he means is that bouncing back would mean returning the practices that have got us into the global problems we now face such as...

The Coronavirus Pandemic: A Push in the Right Direction?
“It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with...

Is There A Silver Lining to the Coronavirus?
If ever there was an unmistakable demonstration of the interdependent nature of our world it is the coronavirus pandemic. Barring the rapid development of a vaccine the virus will run its global course. With worldwide cooperation we may be able to “flatten the curve”....

Trump’s Gut
Donald Trump has proudly proclaimed that he usually goes with his gut when making decisions because he is confident that things will work out well for him when he does so. On the surface going with your gut seems natural enough. Nature has equipped us with feelings so...