Is our behavior actually going to change?

A few weeks back, an interesting article by Julio Vincent Gambuto crossed my timeline - it was thought provoking, challenging, crass, and dare I say prophetic and I was exited to share it. I'd highly recommend checking it out but the short of it comes in it's opening lines when the author states in the near future 'very powerful forces will try to convince us all to get back to normal' and that these forces know what buttons to push because they '...know how to rewire your heart. And, make no mistake, the heart is what has been most traumatized this last month.'

Then last weekend while on a run with thoughts around the article swirling around in my head, I heard on the podcast I was listening to this:

There’s a thing that happens on film sets when a problem is identified. Where somebody says in 3 days time we’re gonna have a problem because this is gonna happen. Everyone stands around and they discuss the problem and then they move on. And in 3 days time the problem arrives because everyone feels that by having discussed it, the problem was somehow solved.

It wasn’t. What you did was talk about it. It happens again and again and again. (...)

Alex Garland, writer and director of Ex Machina, Annihilation, and Devs

Needless to say, conviction set in for me. But I digress...

Often, when we hear the word prophetic, we quickly associate it with fortune-telling and words for the future. But a better way to understand this word is to think of it is as a truth-telling. Truth-telling in a manner that's rooted in the present but also holds true in the future. It is a word or thought that propels the hearer to respond, to act in the here and now.

In so much of my studies, I've been pushed to think about the way I think. I was mostly challenged to wrestle through my orthodoxy (or right thinking) but most often came at the cost of and disconnected with the orthopraxy (or right living). I don't say this as some damnation of those I've learned under or the institutions I attended, but rather I see it as the larger product of an undercurrent in our society that goes largely engaged. A prime example of this are the individuals that come to mind that we an in-congruence with what they say verse what they do - proclaiming love and virtue but their acts towards and for others showing the opposite.

Later in the interview, Alex Garland taps into this as he says...

We talk about the problems... but we don’t do anything about it. (...)

It’s the connection about what we know and what we do.

If you're like me, on many of the phone calls and Zoom chats we've been having of late, a lot of that time has been filled with speculating with co-workers, friends, and loved-ones as to what is going on, what the way forward is, and what exactly this 'new normal' will look like. This Great Disruption has given us the space AND time to work through how our lives and society have been aligned. Though we long for the comfort we knew, many recognize a change is needed for the benefit and life of us all.

But is our behavior actually going to change?

Gambutoon's article pushes us to reflect (the 'what we know') on what's ahead and to live differently (the 'what we do') going forward. There is a temptation right now to think of the shelter-in-place time as separate from when things open back up; but the time between these two we must not disregarded.

This is where change can occur if we choose to engage it.

Maybe in the past weeks you're realized the value of connecting with people. Maybe you've seen the benefits of cooking from home, or the conversation that takes place while eating together with loved ones. Maybe you've experienced how a walk, the sunshine, and fresh air change the trajectory of your day. Maybe you've discovered how time to yourself benefits you. Maybe you've been able to see how prolonged screen time or deep dives into your newsfeed effects you. Or maybe you've discovered on much you really need to drive your vehicle.

There are countless other things each of us could say we're learning and experiencing.

We can each take small actions today that set us up to live out our days, weeks, months, and years in the future in a better manner for ourselves and for all humanity.

We can reorient our lives now to connect with others each day. We can reorient our lives now in how and what we consume. We can reorient our lives now to take care of ourselves and the earth. We can reorient our lives to practice self-care and discover our boundaries. We can reorient our lives and walk or ride our bikes more.

Our thoughts are always going to move ahead of our actions, but we can always seek to lessen the gap between them.

So what are you learning? And how will/is your behavior changing in response to what you have learned?