Although the connections are not always obvious, personal change is inseparable from social and political change.
Interpretation
Personal transformation is linked to social and political transformation.
Harriet Lerner emphasizes the interconnection between personal change and broader social and political changes. She suggests that while the links between these types of change may not always be immediately apparent, individual growth and development are inherently tied to the collective progress of society. This means that personal choices and transformations can influence and drive social and political movements, and vice versa.
In practice
During a seminar on community empowerment, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of personal responsibility in fostering societal progress.
It is not fear that stops you from doing the brave and true thing in your daily life. Rather, the problem is avoidance. You want to feel comfortable so you avoid doing or saying the thing that will evoke fear and other difficult emotions. Avoidance will make you feel less vulnerable in the short run but, it will never make you less afraid.
Telling a true story about personal experience is not just a matter of being oneself, or even or finding oneself. It is also a matter of choosing oneself.
Those of us who are locked into ineffective expressions of anger suffer as deeply as those of us who dare not get angry at all.
If we only listened with the same passion that we feel about being heard.
An intimate relationship is one in which neither party silences, sacrifices, or betrays the self and each party expresses strength and vulnerability, weakness and competence in a balanced way.
Those who refused to respond to the new stimulus would perish. Adapt or perish.
In spite of all the talk and study about our next years, all the silent ponderings about what lies within them...it seems plain to us that many things are wrong in the present ones that can be, must be, changed. Our texture of belief has great holes in it. Our pattern lacks pieces.
I think I've really exhausted the magical. It was a lot of fun, but I've put it behind me for the time being.
Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.
After the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the shutdown of much of New York City by Sandy in 2012, and now the devastation wrought on Texas by Harvey, the U.S. can and should do better.
Revolution can never be forecast; it cannot be foretold; it comes of itself. Revolution is brewing and is bound to flare up.
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