Real Change
Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World
Book Edition Details
Summary
In a world that feels perpetually on the brink, where daily headlines ignite a storm of emotions, Sharon Salzberg offers a beacon of hope and action through mindfulness. "Real Change" isn't just a guide—it's a transformative manifesto for navigating the chaos within and around us. Salzberg, a luminary in Lovingkindness meditation, distills the wisdom of seasoned activists and change-makers, presenting a tapestry of insights that empower us to break free from inertia. She eloquently demonstrates how mindfulness can forge resilience and rekindle our spirits, urging us to contribute to a greater cause with renewed vigor. Whether you're mending fences with a difficult neighbor or tackling the colossal challenges of our time, Salzberg's teachings promise clarity and courage, lighting the path to personal and societal metamorphosis.
Introduction
A young woman sits in meditation for the first time, tears streaming down her face. She's just returned from a volunteer stint at a refugee camp, carrying the weight of stories that have shattered her assumptions about how the world works. In the silence, she confronts a painful truth: despite her genuine desire to help, she feels depleted, angry, and disconnected from the very people she sought to serve. This moment of raw honesty becomes her doorway to transformation. Such moments of awakening punctuate the lives of countless individuals who dare to engage with the world's suffering. Whether we're teachers watching students struggle, healthcare workers witnessing daily traumas, or simply citizens grappling with social injustice, we face a fundamental challenge: how do we remain open-hearted and effective without becoming overwhelmed or cynical? This exploration reveals that the path from personal healing to meaningful social action isn't linear or simple. It requires us to develop inner resources that can withstand the intensity of engagement while maintaining our capacity for joy, connection, and sustained effort. The journey involves transforming our relationship with difficult emotions, cultivating resilience in the face of setbacks, and discovering that true change begins with how we relate to ourselves and others. Through intimate stories and practical wisdom, we discover that the same qualities that heal our own hearts—mindfulness, compassion, and courageous presence—become the foundation for creating lasting change in the world around us.
Finding Agency: From Paralysis to Purpose
The Statue of Liberty stands with her right foot raised, forever captured in mid-stride. This detail, often overlooked, reveals something profound about the nature of forward movement. Liberty isn't static in her welcome; she's actively stepping toward those who seek refuge and belonging. That raised heel represents the crucial moment between intention and action, between feeling powerless and discovering agency. Sharon Salzberg shares the story of Ady Barkan, an attorney who had spent years improving lives through policy work when he received a devastating diagnosis of ALS at age thirty-two. Faced with a progressive illness that would eventually claim his mobility and speech, Barkan confronted a choice that defines the essence of agency: retreat into despair or continue fighting for what matters. He chose to channel his remaining time into advocating for healthcare reform, understanding that his personal struggle could illuminate the broader failures of American healthcare policy. Similarly, Samantha Novick found herself thrust into activism after the shooting at her former high school in Parkland, Florida. Though she had graduated years earlier, the trauma reached her through her mother, a teacher who survived the attack. Rather than being paralyzed by horror, Samantha helped organize one of the largest anti-gun violence marches in American history. She describes her motivation with striking imagery: "It's like we were suddenly hit by a huge meteor that left a giant crater in the middle of our lives. Some grabbed shovels and did whatever we could to try to fill up the hole, knowing it would never be filled." The thread connecting these stories reveals that agency isn't about having power over outcomes; it's about recognizing our power to choose our response. When we feel helpless in the face of injustice or personal crisis, the path forward begins with acknowledging what we can and cannot control, then acting wholeheartedly within that sphere of influence. True agency emerges when we stop waiting for permission from external circumstances and start acting from our deepest values, understanding that our worthiness to make a difference isn't conditional on having all the answers or achieving perfect results.
Transforming Pain: Anger, Grief, and Inner Work
Mallika Dutt's life changed forever in a hospital burn unit in India, where she encountered women who had been doused in kerosene and set aflame by family members—victims of "bride burning," a practice rooted in dowry disputes and gender discrimination. The sight ignited a rage that would fuel decades of activism against violence toward women. Yet years later, speaking at a conference, Dutt confessed her struggle: "I don't know how to turn the anger off. I need to learn to dial it down." Her admission illuminates a paradox many changemakers face: the very emotions that propel us into action can eventually consume us. Anger, while serving as a signal of injustice and a source of initial energy, becomes destructive when it burns without boundaries. As one Buddhist teaching suggests, anger is like swallowing poison hoping it kills the other person. The challenge lies not in eliminating righteous anger but in transforming its raw energy into sustainable courage. The AIDS crisis of the 1980s offers a powerful example of this transformation. Ruth Coker Burks, a young Arkansas woman, began caring for dying gay men after a chance encounter in a hospital where nurses drew straws to avoid entering the room of an AIDS patient. Her decision to act came not from anger but from a deeper recognition: "How could I not?" she said. "I learned to just treat people like I wished someone had treated me." Meanwhile, activist groups like ACT UP channeled collective rage into strategic protest, demanding research funding and policy changes through direct action. Marc Solomon describes his own journey from rage to purpose after coming out as gay in the late 1990s. A meditation retreat helped him recognize that beneath his anger lay a profound desire to spare future generations the suffering he had experienced. This shift from reactive rage to compassionate purpose enabled him to dedicate fifteen years to marriage equality work, understanding that lasting change requires the endurance that only love can provide. The alchemy of transforming pain into purpose isn't about bypassing difficult emotions but about developing the capacity to feel them fully without being overwhelmed. When we learn to hold anger and grief with mindful awareness, we can extract their wisdom and energy while releasing their toxicity. This process requires what might be called "metabolizing" our pain—allowing it to inform us without defining us, to move through us without getting stuck. The result is a quality of action that springs from clarity and compassion rather than reactive urgency, creating the foundation for sustainable engagement with the world's suffering.
Building Bridges: Interconnection and Clear Seeing
At a meditation retreat, a teacher introduced her co-abbot by mentioning that his father had been homeless. The entire room seemed to pivot toward this revelation, suddenly grasping what had been abstract: homeless people aren't "other"—they are someone's father, mother, child. This moment of recognition illustrates how quickly our perception can shift when we truly see the web of connections that bind us all together. The concept of intersectionality, as described by human rights activist Mallika Dutt, provides a framework for understanding these connections. Rather than viewing people as single-dimensional—defined solely by race, gender, class, or other categories—intersectionality reveals the multiple, overlapping identities we all carry. A white woman might experience privilege based on race while facing discrimination based on gender. An immigrant might face barriers in one context while holding advantages in another. This complexity mirrors what Buddhist teachers call "interdependence"—the recognition that nothing exists in isolation. Atman Smith of Baltimore's Holistic Life Foundation observes this principle in action when working with young people in under-resourced schools. He's learned that asking someone who doesn't love themselves to care about others is futile. But when students develop self-compassion through mindfulness practices, something remarkable happens: "Once they connect to themselves, a light bulb goes off. They start to see themselves in other people, and they start to care more, and it starts to ripple out." This ripple effect demonstrates what neuroscientist Jud Brewer discovered in his research on brain activity during meditation. When people experience anxiety, guilt, or fear, a region called the posterior cingulate cortex becomes highly active—literally causing the brain to contract. But when practitioners let go of rigid self-concepts and open to connection with others, this brain region quiets, creating what Brewer calls "expansion." The experience of interconnection isn't just philosophical; it's neurologically measurable. The practical implications of understanding interconnection extend far beyond personal well-being. When we truly grasp that "what happens 'over there' never nicely just stays 'over there,'" our actions naturally become more thoughtful and inclusive. We begin to see how economic policies affect distant communities, how environmental decisions impact future generations, and how our daily choices ripple through complex systems. This expanded awareness doesn't paralyze us with overwhelming responsibility; instead, it clarifies our role as conscious participants in the web of life, able to contribute our unique gifts while remaining humble about our ultimate control over outcomes.
Sustaining Action: Balance, Joy, and Lasting Impact
Ady Barkan, facing the progressive paralysis of ALS, posted a series of tweets about a hug from his young son that captures the essence of sustainable activism. He wrote about searing the moment into his memory, knowing he would need to return to it "when the daily grind of living a nearly paralyzed life becomes too much." Then he added, "That's also the only way, I think, for all of us to persevere through the atrocities and the hate and the lies... We have to hold on to the precious beauty, to the moments of triumph." This wisdom challenges the prevalent mythology that effective changemakers must remain perpetually grim and driven. The civil rights movement offers a different model entirely. As Bernice Johnson Reagon, co-founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, recalled from her days with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee: "People didn't march sobbing. They marched singing." Music became both sanctuary and weapon, providing the emotional sustenance needed for long-term resistance. The Buddhist practice of "gladdening the mind"—consciously cultivating joy and appreciation—isn't about denial or superficial positivity. Instead, it builds inner resources that can withstand extended exposure to suffering. Environmental activist Mark Coleman describes this as learning "to hold paradox in your mind and to dwell in ambiguity." He can walk through scorched forests, feel genuine grief for the blackened trunks, and simultaneously focus on the emerald shoots rising from the ashes. Both realities demand attention; both inform effective action. Research by psychologist Barbara Fredrickson reveals that positive emotions broaden our cognitive capacity and build psychological resources, while negative emotions narrow our focus. This suggests that joy isn't selfish indulgence but strategic necessity. As playwright Sarah Jones explains, her work grew from "the deepest, most resilient part of me, which was innately playful and happy," developing fully only when she did "the internal work of connecting with more balance and joy." The key to sustainable engagement lies in what Buddhist psychology calls "equanimity"—the ability to remain present and effective amid changing circumstances. Like a gyroscope that maintains balance through movement rather than rigidity, equanimity allows us to feel deeply without being overwhelmed, to care intensely without burning out. This doesn't mean emotional flatness but rather the spaciousness to hold both sorrow and joy, both urgency and patience. When we cultivate this quality, our actions spring from a stable center that can weather setbacks and celebrate victories without losing sight of the larger purpose that guides us forward.
Summary
The journey from personal awakening to meaningful social action reveals itself as an intricate dance between inner transformation and outer engagement. Through stories of individuals who faced crisis and found purpose—from the AIDS activist who discovered that love, not hatred, sustains resistance, to the environmental lawyer who learned that presence matters more than perfection—we see that lasting change begins with how we relate to ourselves and our emotional responses to injustice. The path forward requires what might be called "conscious participation"—recognizing our interconnection while maintaining healthy boundaries, transforming anger into courageous action, and cultivating joy as a renewable resource rather than a luxury. This isn't about becoming a better person before engaging with the world's problems; it's about understanding that our engagement with suffering becomes the very means of our awakening. When we learn to stay present with both beauty and brokenness, we develop the resilience needed for the long arc of social change. Perhaps most importantly, this exploration reveals that we don't have to choose between healing ourselves and healing the world. The same mindful awareness that helps us navigate personal pain becomes the foundation for compassionate action. The same courage required to face our own limitations enables us to persist when external circumstances seem intractable. In discovering our capacity to transform our relationship with difficulty, we find not only personal freedom but also the sustainable strength needed to serve as agents of positive change, one authentic response at a time.
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By Sharon Salzberg
