Deep emotions may both derail climate-nature solutions – and be changed to motivate solutions. The brain has startpoint interests, that may function as motivation for solutions. Often people have cognitive bias, cognitive distortions: sometimes even cognitive dissonance. That may hinder, and sometimes help. Start there. How to develop from there and reach sustainable development goals? 5 emotions and ideas limiting climate action:
1)What’s in it for me?
People are seeking ego interests. We seek more, to own and control for now or in the future. We are seeking as much as possible material and immaterial potential goods for now and the future.
Seeking pleasure – may mean seeking both – needs to survive, safety and trust - seeking both emotions of lust, care and play. Seeking may go too far and into greed. Greed is a lack of balance between egocentric desire and what is possible and fair (care) for nature and other people.
Alternative may be to get access to the wholeness balance brain network (salience network). Seek balance between your own and other’s interests. Seek balance between climate and naure biological diversity solutions. Seek balance between all 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations. When there is ego interest: Observe, accept, appreciate some thing or aspect. Do the best out of it.
2)Will I be included and liked?
People are seeking social status, affiliation and interlink to mother, be included in their group. People, everybody, I, want to be included, respected, that people smile, be kind. People want to get positive feedback, be admired, loved, experience lust, care and play.
Solution: Let all be seen, heard, have pleasure and fun together, joy, laugh together, and experience they are included.
3)I will follow my role models
We often tend to social mirroring of our ideals, role models, heroes, influencers and inspiration persons. We are linked to our cultural identity. We follow those that succeed, learn from those that succeed. It feels safe and good to be at the winning team with your ideals. It is easy to follow belief, risk reduction, let other decide. However this may go very far and result in: Lick up and kick down and horisontal.
Conclusion: It is a good idea to get influencers to go first to show the sustainable solution road. Then we may align us with our role models: Seek lust, care, play. They may be Greta Thunberg, David Attenborough, Leonardo di Caprio, Jane Fonda and others.
4)I believe only what I see now
People often have a short sight perspective. First I see now. I can only see the present. I avoid believing it, until I see it. Only what I see is real! It is often difficult to see the bending of the curve. We live in a bend of a curve and change. Development is seldom a strict right line. The primary senses of see, hear, touch the present now – are much stronger evidence proof for us – than logical thinking. The primary senses triggers our primary emotions, our imagination brain network (Default mode network). Our thinking logical brain network (Central executive network) is ofte very secondary and after the imagination network.
Alternative: Ask your thinking brain network: Is the feeling now true and fact for the present situation? If it is a false fantasy – drop it! Ask your visualisation brain network – what happens? You often are in the bend of a movement that is changing. Ask your creative problem solving brain network – how you may solve it? Both are in the imagination, fantasy brain network (Default mode network). Also, get access to the wholeness balance brain network (Salience network). Ask how you may balance both imagination/fantasy and thinking? Balance the whole system. Accept and do the best out of it. This is the process of first observe without judging or defending yourself, then accept what you observe, and then find some thing or aspect to appreciate. If the solution is too complex to understand for people: Adapt yourself to accept that: Reframe, split, chunk message into short sight aspects of it.
5)Avoid, reduce and spread risk
People want clearness of risk, delay until garanty risk free, proof against and away from fear and danger. People want to avoid pain, rage, fear, danger, risk.
Solution: Accept that: Reduce risk and share risk in order to make it easier for people to do change.
Do you want to experience a session how you may solve these 5 contradictions for climate-nature solutions: contact helge.christie@gmail.com
Resources:
Christie Helge: Kreativ i ekstremvær.
Stoknes Per Espen: What we think about when we try not to think about global warming.