Humans are strongly motivated by two forces: love and money*.
When pursuing change and seeking to better things we often look at ways to gain more money as the solution, but what about love? What if we fell in love with our challenge?
(*Money can be a proxy for security, safety, and opportunity.)
Love as a Change Strategy
Author, broadcaster, finance and plant-medicine coach Geoff Wilson encourages people to try love as a means to growth and change. He recently spoke to this on Earth Day and encouraged his listeners and followers on social media to try falling in love with the earth. Instead of arguing about the reasons why we should care for the earth, falling in love is something that transcends reason. It breaks us out of the usual patterns of motivation and persuasion.
What if we took the same approach to falling in love with the earth that we do with humans?
Practically, this might mean buying and caring for a plant or more fully using our bodies and senses to embrace our connection to the earth. You might try walking barefoot on the grass to feel the earth, not just see it.
Increasing the sensory and emotional aspects of change reframes things for us. What if we fell in love with our organization or business? What if we cared for our neighbourhood or customers the same way?
If I want to change something why don’t I fall in love or why don’t I leverage love and power together?
This simple strategy has enormous power attached to it. This approach is much like Adam Kahane’s work on connecting Power and Love for social change. Geoff’s approach is also similar to Arthur Zajonc’s work on mindfulness as contemplative inquiry.
Be more mindful and open your heart, eyes, and senses and you might find change looks and feels differently.