In a world filled with seemingly insurmountable challenges, from climate change to institutional racism, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless. However, Sharon Salzberg's book "Real Change" offers a beacon of hope and a practical guide for those who want to make a difference. This insightful work explores how mindfulness and meditation can provide the foundation for sustained social action, helping individuals stay calm, centered, and clear-headed in the face of adversity.
Introduction
"Real Change" is not just another book about meditation or social activism. Instead, it bridges the gap between these two worlds, showing how inner work can fuel outer change. Salzberg, a renowned meditation teacher, draws on her extensive experience to provide readers with tools to build resilience, maintain focus, and cultivate compassion – all essential qualities for anyone engaged in the challenging work of social transformation.
The book's central premise is that by developing a strong internal foundation through mindfulness practices, we can become more effective agents of change in the external world. This approach is particularly relevant in today's turbulent times, where burnout and despair are common among activists and change-makers.
The Power of Mindfulness in Activism
Staying Engaged in the Face of Adversity
Salzberg opens with a powerful example of mindfulness in action: the story of Sari Kaufman, a student who survived the Parkland school shooting. In the aftermath of this traumatic event, Sari chose to fight rather than flee or freeze. She joined her classmates in organizing a nationwide campaign against gun violence, demonstrating how one can stay engaged and work towards positive change even in the most challenging circumstances.
This story sets the tone for the book's exploration of how mindfulness can support social activism. Salzberg argues that practices like meditation aren't about retreating from the world or pushing reality away. Instead, they build a solid foundation from which to tackle long-term struggles.
Building Resilience Through Meditation
One of the key benefits of meditation for activists is its ability to build mental resilience. Regular meditation practice can help individuals:
- Clearly visualize their goals
- Recover more quickly from setbacks
- Refocus energy on positive actions
- Build and strengthen community connections
- See beyond immediate roadblocks
Salzberg provides a simple meditation exercise to illustrate this point. By focusing on the breath and observing bodily sensations without judgment, practitioners can learn to acknowledge stress and tension without being overwhelmed by them.
Embracing Personal Agency
The Statue of Liberty's Hidden Message
In a compelling metaphor, Salzberg draws attention to an often-overlooked detail of the Statue of Liberty: her back foot is slightly raised, as if she's about to take a step forward. This subtle feature carries a powerful message – Lady Liberty isn't just about ideals and words; she's about action.
This image serves as a reminder that we should strive to match our principles and ideals with concrete actions in our own lives. It's not enough to simply recognize problems; we must take steps, however small, to address them.
Overcoming Obstacles to Agency
Salzberg acknowledges that various factors can hinder our sense of agency:
- Low self-esteem
- Fear of failure
- Social prejudices (e.g., racial bias, patriarchy)
However, she emphasizes that everyone has something to offer. She shares the inspiring example of the Recovery Café, a network of community spaces run by and for people struggling with homelessness. Through collaboration and mutual support, members of these cafés discover skills and capabilities they didn't know they possessed, demonstrating the power of embracing one's agency.
Facing Negative Emotions
The Value of Pain and Loss
Contrary to the common Western approach of avoiding discomfort at all costs, Salzberg argues that pain and suffering can be valuable if approached correctly. By accepting, observing, and trying to understand our pain, we can:
- Learn to deal with it in healthier ways
- Develop more compassion for others experiencing hardship
- Build resilience
She compares emotional pain to a physical injury, suggesting that just as we would work with a physical therapist to heal a damaged ankle, we should actively engage with our emotional pain to promote healing and growth.
Lovingkindness Meditation
Salzberg introduces lovingkindness meditation as a tool for recognizing inner strengths and moving beyond pain. This practice involves:
- Closing your eyes and breathing deeply
- Thinking of words that offer compassion (e.g., "I may be safe," "I may live with ease")
- Visualizing yourself moving beyond your pain
This meditation can help build confidence and a more positive outlook on the future, even in challenging times.
Self-Care and Joy in Activism
The Importance of Balance
Salzberg emphasizes that even the most dedicated activists can't give 100 percent of themselves all the time. Attempting to do so often leads to burnout and breakdown. Instead, she advocates for building in time for rest, recovery, and self-care.
She shares examples of how different activists incorporate self-care into their routines:
- Myles Horton, founder of the Highlander Folk School, found solace in nature
- Shantel Walker, an organizer in the Fight for 15 movement, enjoys long bike rides
These practices help activists recharge and return to their work more effectively.
Finding Joy in the Work
Salzberg challenges the notion that serious work must always be accompanied by a serious demeanor. She points out that even during the challenging civil rights marches of the 1960s, participants often sang joyful songs. This practice, which Buddhists call "gladdening the mind," can make even the most difficult struggles more manageable.
The Interconnectedness of All Things
Understanding Interbeing
Drawing on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, Salzberg introduces the concept of "interbeing" – the idea that everything in the universe is deeply interconnected. This understanding can foster greater respect, care, and compassion for all beings.
She illustrates how our modern world often obscures this reality, using the example of how we might ignore homeless individuals on the street, failing to recognize our shared humanity and interconnectedness.
Expanding Our Sense of Community
Salzberg shares the powerful story of Rob Tibbetts, whose daughter was killed by a Mexican immigrant. Instead of giving in to anger and hatred, Tibbetts chose to emphasize the shared humanity between all communities, recognizing that everyone was affected by his daughter's death.
To help readers cultivate this sense of interconnectedness, Salzberg suggests a variation on lovingkindness meditation. By focusing on someone encountered during the day and considering how their well-being impacts our own (and vice versa), we can begin to recognize and strengthen these connections.
Overcoming Cognitive Bias
Recognizing Our Mental Shortcuts
Salzberg explores how our minds often take mental shortcuts that can lead to biased perceptions of reality. She uses the example of a riddle about a surgeon to illustrate how deeply ingrained some of these biases can be.
One common cognitive bias she discusses is the fundamental attribution error – the tendency to interpret the behavior of others differently based on group affiliation. This bias can lead to discriminatory beliefs and behaviors if left unchecked.
Awareness Meditation for Uncovering Bias
To help readers grapple with their own unconscious biases, Salzberg introduces awareness meditation. This practice involves:
- Entering a calm, meditative state
- Investigating one's own identity and background
- Reflecting on how these factors might influence one's worldview
By regularly engaging in this practice, individuals can begin to uncover and address hidden biases in their thinking.
Cultivating Equanimity
Finding Internal Balance
Salzberg introduces the concept of equanimity, or upekkha in Buddhist tradition, as a more nuanced approach to balance. Rather than trying to maintain equal measures of all emotions or experiences, equanimity involves:
- Acknowledging and experiencing emotions without being overwhelmed by them
- Returning to a place of calm after being affected by outside forces
- Holding multiple perspectives simultaneously
This approach is particularly valuable for activists, who often face situations that could easily lead to despair or burnout.
The Long View
To help maintain equanimity, Salzberg encourages taking the long view. She uses the metaphor of a teacher and student to illustrate how change often happens gradually over time. This perspective can help activists stay motivated even when immediate results aren't visible.
Practical Applications of Mindfulness in Activism
Throughout the book, Salzberg provides numerous examples of how mindfulness practices can be applied to real-world activism:
- Using breath awareness to stay calm during heated debates or confrontations
- Practicing lovingkindness meditation to maintain compassion for those with opposing views
- Employing awareness meditation to uncover and address personal biases that might affect one's activism
- Using equanimity practices to balance the urgency of social issues with the need for sustainable, long-term engagement
- Incorporating joy and self-care into activist work to prevent burnout
These practical applications demonstrate how mindfulness can be a powerful tool for anyone engaged in social change work, from grassroots organizers to policy makers.
The Ripple Effect of Mindful Activism
Salzberg emphasizes that the benefits of combining mindfulness with activism extend beyond the individual practitioner. When activists approach their work with greater calm, clarity, and compassion, it can have a ripple effect:
- More effective communication of ideas and goals
- Increased ability to build coalitions and find common ground
- Greater resilience in the face of setbacks and opposition
- Inspiration for others to join the cause
- Creation of a more sustainable and compassionate approach to social change
By cultivating these qualities within themselves, mindful activists can create a more positive and effective movement for change.
Conclusion: The Path Forward
In concluding "Real Change," Salzberg reiterates the power of combining inner work with outer action. She acknowledges that the world can often feel harsh and that things may seem to be getting worse. However, she reminds readers that many people still find the strength to fight for a better future.
The key takeaways from the book include:
- Mindfulness and meditation provide valuable tools for maintaining activist spirit in the face of adversity
- Acknowledging negative emotions, rather than suppressing them, can lead to greater resilience
- Creating space for self-care and joy is crucial for sustainable activism
- Approaching difficult feelings with equanimity and a long-term perspective can help maintain balance
- Recognizing the interconnectedness of all things can foster greater compassion and more effective activism
Salzberg's final message is one of hope and empowerment. By developing a strong internal foundation through mindfulness practices, we can become more effective agents of change in the world. She encourages readers to remember that even the most difficult emotions are temporary, and that beneath these fleeting experiences lies a calmer, more stable foundation from which to work for positive change.
"Real Change" offers a unique and valuable perspective on activism, one that recognizes the importance of inner work in creating outer change. By integrating mindfulness practices into their lives and work, activists and change-makers can cultivate the resilience, clarity, and compassion needed to create lasting, positive transformations in society. In a world that often seems overwhelmed by challenges, Salzberg's approach provides a path forward – one step, one breath, one mindful action at a time.