1. Cultivating Presence
Capacity One: Cultivating Presence
Key Question: “What is happening?”
Mindfulness Work: We work to notice what is unfolding in the present moment by moving into stillness and asking “what is happening?” We learn to notice oneself, including our mind, body and heart, as well as our external environment.
Social Change Work: We diagnose an issue comprehensively by ensuring all stakeholders are included in answering the question “what is happening?”, examining the roots and complexity of a systemic issue.
Mindfulness Work
We must first cultivate our own ability to be present and mindful. Mindfulness can be defined as paying attention on purpose in the present moment, with a quality of curiosity or non-judgment. Essentially, this involves taking the time to notice whatever is happening inside ourselves, which can include our physical sensations, emotional states or thoughts, and/or the external environment around us. Being more mindful does take practice, just as getting in shape or learning a new language takes practice too. But with time, we can see measurable results.
Mindfulness practice first and foremost builds self-awareness. Practices such as sitting still and paying conscious, focused attention to something like the way we breathe help foster mindfulness, which can also be seen as a form of brain training. While many engage in mindfulness practices to support resilience and better manage stress, the benefits extend into the interpersonal domain too. They are relevant to the ways that change agents approach their work, especially in solving problems in their organizations, industries, and broader society. Learn more Why Inner Work Matters for Social Change.
Practices and Modules Supporting this Capacity in the Individual
The following practices support our capacity to notice and see more clearly what is happening in ourselves and around us in any moment:
Noticing our breathing
Noticing our bodies or physical sensations, often through conducting a body scan
Noticing our emotions
Noticing our mental activity
Noticing each other while noticing ourselves in equal measure
Mindful walking
Mindful eating
Ringing a bell to be present or choosing other cues to bring us back to presence
Click here for guided meditations that support cultivating presence for the individual or download this Cultivating Presence practice that you can try on your own.
Social Change Work
From a social change perspective, we can also engage in an inclusive process of asking what is happening to diagnose the social issue we are exploring comprehensively with mindfulness. We begin by using a range of frameworks in a layering and iterative diagnosis process, including studying the roots of an issue to understand the complexity of why it exists, and studying how the issue manifests and unfolds for core stakeholders through their lived experience. We look at stakeholders across three domains: impact (those who experience harm or benefit from the issue), interest (those motivated to address or sustain the problem), and influence (including dimensions of relevance and power). We examine where stakeholders intersect with the roots of the issue and what drives their relationship to the issue and with others within the system.
Each framework is designed to be used in a participatory and inclusive way with as many members as possible of a community, including those most marginalized, as well as those who may even oppose the efforts or perpetrate the issue. This allows for deep learning across differences and the gradual building of trust and investment in a collective solution. CSC uses methods of inquiry and deep listening, called “Inquiry without Imposition”, which helps facilitate a community in coming to their own conclusions in examining the issue. This applies the fundamental capacities of mindfulness, by inviting curiosity and non-judgment in exploring the question; “What is happening” together.
CSC invokes a patient approach that builds rapport and trusts proximal wisdom and lived experience. It embraces inclusivity, agency, and dignity as critical qualities of the process, and it involves constant shared experience, where learning happens in all directions. This maximizes a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the complexity of the system, as well as the motivations underlying the system’s dynamics. We believe this results in longer-term sustainability, because the collective drives the understanding of the issues, the process, and the solution, which enables buy-in across a wide range of differing perspectives.
Practices and Frameworks Supporting this Capacity in Social Change: The following frameworks begin the process of understanding what is happening within the complex dynamics of a chosen social issue:
Mindful Issue Diagnosis exploring the roots and complex system of an issue
Stakeholder analysis of impact, interest, and influence and relationships
Using deep listening and inquiry methods without imposing or directing community members, so as to allow for the unique wisdom of each stakeholder to inform the work
Meet Médiatrice Mushimiyimana
Getting to the Root of the Issue: In 2007, Médiatrice Mushimiyimana, a primary school English teacher in the rural village of Byimana, Rwanda, observed that once girls reached puberty, their attendance plummeted along with their ability to keep up in class. She states, “I realized that maybe the problem is that [they] don’t feel safe at school…” Médiatrice banded together with 34 colleagues and applied to Global Grassroots’ Academy for Conscious Change to learn how to start a small non-profit to launch their idea.
Médiatrice and her colleagues created an organization they named Think About the Young Girls, and conducted a survey among boys and girls to understand more deeply what was happening. They found that 72% of the boys had seen girls without their clothes on, of whom 50% had watched girls in the latrines, and 19% had admitted to taking clothes off girls by force. They discovered that for a schoolgirl, simply attending to her daily needs in the open and remote latrines placed a girl at risk of spying, harassment, sexual coercion, and even sexual assault. Further, the latrines lacked soap and water. Girls that were too poor to afford sanitary pads stained their uniforms during menstruation had no place to address their personal needs. If called to the chalkboard, a girl became an instant target of widespread bullying. Most youth had absolutely no understanding of sex, reproduction or how their own bodies functioned. Girls either suffered in school distracted and worried, or simply stayed home one week each month. Many fell behind and eventually dropped out, increasing their risk of teen pregnancy and perpetuating the cycle of poverty. In 2007, less than 15% of Byimana Primary School girls passed the national exams necessary to matriculate to secondary school.
With Global Grassroots training, coaching and an initial $3000 grant, Médiatrice and her team began by teaching 900 youth, parents, teachers, and community members about menstruation, sexual development, hygiene, and gender violence. Then they formed two anti-violence youth clubs among their students. They built new, safe latrines and a washroom stocked with sanitary supplies and soap to serve 635 girls. Today at Byimana primary school, girls report that teasing, harassment and sexual attacks are a thing of the past, and they can finally focus on their studies. In the first year the new latrines were built, the national exam passing rate jumped from 14.7% among girls to 76%. A year later, a staggering 87.5% passed the national exam.
