This Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Terry Patten.

Terry Patten has long been a leading voice for facing, examining, and healing our global crisis through the marriage of higher consciousness and activism. He co-wrote Integral Life Practice: A 21st-Century Blueprint, which offers a framework for "waking up" and growing in awareness through time-tested ancient and modern scientifically validated practices. As a community builder, he founded Bay Area Integral, where people engage in conscious inquiry and find community in the San Francisco area. Terry's new book, A New Republic of the Heart: An Ethos for Revolutionaries, offers more integral approaches to activism, and has been hailed as "a stunning marriage of wild heart and cool mind," and for "combining brilliant social commentary along with a step-by-step blueprint for catalyzing whole-system change from the inside out."

We'll post the transcript of the call soon, but till then, some of the nuggets that stood out from the call ...

• In defining practice, he remembered a quote by Canadian neuropsychologist Donald Hebb: "Neurons that fire together, wire together." For Terry, what that means is that whatever attitude, feelings, orientation, where we focus our attention, we are more likely to do that in the next moment. So if we are anxious in this moment we are more likely to be anxious in a future moment. We are inculcating that pattern where the neurological water will flow. We need to take responsibility to re-orient for that and bringing ourselves.

• Terry reminded us that we should all be grounded in awareness that we simply don’t, and can’t, know enough to be pessimistic. And to the extent that expectations can become a self-fulfilling prophesy, it’s a moral imperative that we stay positively oriented, and open to the subtle miracles that are also part of the situation.

• In sharing how we bridge the great political divide in our increasingly polarized nation, he suggested we start by initially avoiding talking about "dividing politics" and to instead have a human conversation, talk about the commonalities, to connect and understand. Ask about their values. Ask about what they care about. ASk about the principles that are important to them. Drop pre-conceptions and meet them at their humanity.

To learn more about Terry and to support his work, he suggested visiting his website, signing up for a newsletter, and he is even offering a free webinar this week - all of which you can learn and explore on his site: https://www.terrypatten.com/

Lots of gratitude to all the behind-the-scenes volunteers that made this call happen!