• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. reform in 2023>

Reform in 2023: Why we think you should make dialogue your New Year's resolution

Christy Vines
Debilyn Molineaux
December 29, 2022
New Year's resolutions
Nora Carol Photography/Getty Images

As 2022 draws to a close, The Fulcrum has invited leaders of democracy reform organizations to share their hopes and plans for the coming year. This is the eighth in the series.

Vines is the executive producer of the 2021 documentary “Dialogue Lab: America” and president/CEO of Ideos Institute. Molineaux is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and president/CEO of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

This time of darkness in the Northern Hemisphere is a time when many of us go inward. We reflect on the past and plan the future. We gather with friends and family or feel isolated and lonely. Or both. This time of year is a time of struggle for many among us. It’s also an opportunity for renewal.

The world is changing. Our nation is evolving. The changing nature of life itself doesn’t require permission, understanding or approval. It simply is. What we have control to change is our perception and our response. One way to feel empowered is to observe, decide, and then act.


Observe: What do you think about? Have you ever examined the thoughts you think and wondered where they came from? Are they really yours? Much of what goes on in our thinking are ideas and beliefs that are external to us. They are the ideas or biases of our family, our faith, the media, advertisers and our friends. Without examination, we may mistakenly believe these thoughts are our own. Many of them are not.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Without the ability to think critically about why we believe what we believe, and examine where holes in our beliefs might lie, we live captive to the ideas and biases of others. When an entire population or group fails to engage this sort of reflective examination, groupthink is often the end result. In the worst of cases, groupthink can lead to dangerous social behaviors like anti-democracy activities or even violence against other groups.

Decide: Do you believe every thought you think? One benefit of examining what’s in our stream of consciousness is the ability to discard what’s not working. We outgrow beliefs like children outgrow the tooth fairy and Santa Claus. This aspect of self-reflection allows us to change our mind and adopt new beliefs that better serve our needs. A common example is when people believe they don’t deserve love. This unhealthy belief causes suffering and leads to a spiral of despair. Once discarded, a new belief can grow to improve our life. It is simple to do. It also requires practice.

As these practices take root, the process of constantly and intentionally discarding unhelpful ideas and biases become second nature. This, then, allows us as individuals, and eventually as social groups, to become more effective and critical thinkers who can offer love and compassion to others without feeling threatened in the process.

Self-reflection helps us have compassion for ourselves. While judging harshly may be our first impulse, discarding the judgment as an unhelpful belief is essential. When we know better, we must do better, as Maya Angelou noted. Can you imagine what our society would be like if everyone practiced self-compassion in service of offering that same compassion to others?

Act: While these skills are vital to a functioning and healthy self and society, they also require practice. One easy way to practice is by spending time in dialogue with others on a similar journey. The great news is that you can begin this practice anytime.

In fact, we think that engaging in dialogue should be one of your New Year’s resolutions. And to start, why not join the National Day of Dialogue happening on Jan. 5. There you will gain from like-minded organizations ready to help you take your dialogue practice to the next level, including offering tools and guides so you can gain the confidence necessary to begin. You may want to invite a friend or colleague to join you. You might even find new friends to partner with. The important thing is to start.

As more Americans practice self-reflection in community with others, we begin to co-create a future we’d like to live into. By empowering ourselves, we in turn empower others to be better citizens, friends and family members.

Every journey starts with a single step. And yes, practice makes progress. Together we are stronger and should we find our way back to showing love and compassion to those with whom we disagree, our nation will be stronger, too.

reform in 2023

Join an Upcoming Event

Parenting: Protecting/Empowering Children Conversation

Living Room Conversations
Feb 04, 2023 at 8:00 am MST
Read More

Equity: What Does It Mean To You?

Crossing Party Lines
Feb 05, 2023 at 7:00 pm CST
Read More

Oregon STAR Voting Monthly Meeting

Equal Vote
Feb 07, 2023 at 6:00 pm PDT
Read More

The State of Faith: Faith’s Role in the Future of Ameri

Mormon Women for Ethical Government
Feb 08, 2023 at 10:00 am CST
Read More

STAR Voting Oregon Chapter Meeting

Equal Vote
Feb 08, 2023 at 6:00 pm CDT
Read More

The Village Square presents Daryl Davis

The Village Square
Feb 09, 2023 at 7:00 pm EST
Read More
View All Events

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Your Take: Religious beliefs

Our Staff
13h

Remembering the four chaplains eighty years later

Rabbi Charles Savenor
13h

Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Our Staff
13h

Ron DeSantis and the rise of political racism

Lawrence Goldstone
02 February

Curriculum regulations and book bans: Modern day anti-literacy laws?

Katherine Kapustka
02 February

Podcast: 2024 Senate: Democrats have a lot of defending to do

Our Staff
02 February
Videos

Video: The dignity index

Our Staff

Video: The Supreme Court and originalism

Our Staff

Video: How the baby boom changed American politics

Our Staff

Video: What the speakership election tells us about the 118th Congress webinar

Our Staff

Video: We need more bipartisan commitment to democracy: Pennsylvania governor

Our Staff

Video: Meet the citizen activists championing primary reform

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Our Staff
13h

Podcast: 2024 Senate: Democrats have a lot of defending to do

Our Staff
02 February

Podcast: Collage: The promise of Black History Month

Our Staff
01 February

Podcast: Separating news from noise

Our Staff
30 January
Recommended
Your Take: Religious beliefs

Your Take: Religious beliefs

Your Take
Remembering the four chaplains eighty years later

Remembering the four chaplains eighty years later

Civic Ed
Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Podcasts
Video: The dignity index

Video: The dignity index

Ron DeSantis and the rise of political racism

Ron DeSantis and the rise of political racism

Big Picture
Curriculum regulations and book bans: Modern day anti-literacy laws?

Curriculum regulations and book bans: Modern day anti-literacy laws?

Big Picture