Peter Block says now is a time in which we can reclaim our capacity to produce our own wellbeing in our communities, workplaces, in our faith, schools, journalism, art, and architecture.

Jenny Finn’s life has been an adventure. As a young woman she broke suddenly from addiction. She then found herself on a discovery journey into life-centred ways of interacting with the world.

Shaun Loney is a serial social entrepreneur and the author of two books: An Army of Problem Solvers and A Beautiful Bailout. He’s senior partner at Encompass Co-op through which he advocates for a revolution in the relationship between enterprising non-profits, foundations, and governments of all levels. Outcomes Purchasing is a transformative financial tool that values the outcomes non-profits deliver, saves governments money, and directly addresses social problems and possibilities.

In our longing for belonging have we made a deal that gives too much away? When we go along to get along, what is the cost? In this conversation with Jeff Evans, a managing partner of Designed Learning — A Peter Block Company, we explore what it would take to make a new deal and rewrite a social contract in favour of aliveness and belonging. Jeff makes the case for beginning where we are with practices like leading by convening, confronting our freedom, and welcoming dissent.

People do not need help. They need justice. That means access to the resources that affords them the same level of authority and power as those inside institutions. It’s time to bring an end to the time of ‘doing for’ and move into ‘doing with’. For Kiu Coates, that means throwing a better party.

What does it mean if our life is falling apart? What are our experiences telling us? We are at a time of great change and we have to pivot and yet there is a tendency to pivot to what is known. The cost of that tendency can be our own growth. We might die in the cocoon. Karim Alameddine has been interrogating questions he has about conventional approaches to mental health. He feels dangerous ideologies are creating a system of mental madness and keeping people stuck. Karim said he was ready to speak out. His message, while emanating from his experience in the mental health field, speaks to the changes we face and the patterns that prevent us from facing it well.

Carolyn Reilly serves as the generative communications design lead at Springhouse Community School in Pilot, Virginia, USA.

Springhouse is a school for regenerative culture builders. Learning is seen there as a lifelong journey that should be centred around vitality, meaning, and cultivating wholeness to better serve the world’s emerging needs.

People have been harmed by the society they grew up in.

Having been harmed by the society we grew up in, many of us take on roles that do not reflect who really are. We live ‘lives outside of ourselves.’

Organizations work a certain way. Organizations home in on their mission. They focus on what they know. That means a great deal is left outside.

So, there is huge opportunity in the space between them.

Ken Victor is an essayist and poet who hails from Chelsea, Quebec, Canada. He ‘opened a crack that let the darkness in’ when he convened a small circle of compatriots called the We’re F’d Club (WFC). His arguments are reminiscent of Meg Wheatley’s, “It’s not hope we need, but clarity,” and Cormac Russell’s, “things aren’t getting worse, they’re getting clearer.” Ken goes a little further and asks, “if we accept that humanity is terminal, what are we here to save?” Does hope, false hope, stop us in our tracks, when we could instead turn to palliative care practices as a guide to living well while there is still time?