Rick Hanson

It's both and.

We need to address and elevate individual consciousness.

We need to help people have more beneficial states of being and then help use tools from positive neuroplasticity to accelerate the internalization of those positive states so they become lasting, durable traits inside.

We need to do that with individuals.

But additionally, we need to change the systems and the upstream sources and factors that these kids and adults

so on are living with.

And the only way to change systems is as our ancestors did inside their bands through collective action, through coming together to change the culture of a school, to change policies in a school board, to reduce ridiculous, you know, teach to the test pressures in school district, to change those systems in various kinds of ways.

And

It's really interesting as the question then becomes, how do you mobilize collective action that's effective?

And around us, we see so many examples of wonderful people and wonderful

NGOs that are doing great work that never collaborate and combine their resources at a scale that's big enough to make a difference.

So the kind of founding notion behind the Global Compassion Coalition, which other people I think are increasingly seeing as well, so we don't own this idea, is to explore the power of compassion to bring people together to change the world.

So you can come together around a common enemy, and that's very motivating, but it's fraught with some peril.

On the other hand, you can help people come together around recognition of suffering and the motivation to do something about it in terms of its systemic causes, and then you can actually change the world.

And that's what I'd like to see more and more of these days.

I know Josh certainly would have something to say as well.

And I'll just say briefly, in our immediate networks, the people who receive our compassion are

are touched by it.

It matters to them.

Think about what it does for you when someone takes the time, if only a few seconds, to let you land in their heart so they have a sense of what it's like to be you, including what's hard for you, perhaps horribly hard for you.