Systems Scientist and Buddhist Scholar Joanna Macy asks the question, “How can we live in a way that allows our system to work as well as it can?” Here, “system” can mean family, neighborhood, cooperative, watershed, state, nation, or planet earth. In answer, Macy offers the following Guidelines of Intention. We Insight Environmentalists can use these Guidelines to train ourselves to think and act as an ecosystem.

1) Attune to a common intention within your system.
2) Understand and welcome diversity.
3) Know only the whole can repair itself (individuals cannot fix the world but you can contribute through your relationships).
4) Trust–your actions have an impact; trust the process.
5) Be open to feedback.
6) Speak your truth, provide feedback, say what you see and know.
7) Believe no one who claims to have the final answer.
8) Work increasingly in teams, build community.
9) Be generous with your strengths and skills; they are not private property.
10) Draw forth the strengths of others.
11) Know that you do not need to see the results of your work; skillful action alone is important.
12) Let there also be serenity and joy in what you are doing.