Vive la revolution?
The riots in France make me sad, not only as a French citizen with a deep love for the country, but also as a human being.
It is interesting to be a citizen of both France and the Philippines, two countries with seemingly opposite approaches to protest and political accountability.
In France, people take to the streets and let all hell loose (at least, no more beheadings!). In the Philippines, we make memes, laugh at the absurdity of it all, and somehow keep electing many of the same politicians while corruption persists and the gap between the richest and the poorest continues to grow.
I know I am generalizing, but that is how I see it, in a nutshell.
In my DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) class, we talk about the dialectic of acceptance and change: learning to accept reality as it is while actively working to change what needs to change.
This is where meaningful transformation can happen.
But transformation is rarely easy or quick. Even in individual therapy, DBT often involves a commitment of a year or longer. What more when we are talking about entire countries, cultures, and populations? We are talking about generations of patterns, beliefs, and behaviors that need to be examined and transformed.
This is why individual work matters.
Change begins when we learn to bring our hearts and minds together, to hold compassion and accountability, acceptance and the willingness to change. This is very much at the heart of DBT.
Inner work is not easy. It asks us to look at ourselves honestly, take responsibility for our part, and choose differently, even when it is uncomfortable. But it is fundamental.
Because the transformation we wish to see in the world cannot happen without transformation within ourselves.
And perhaps, if we don't do this work in this lifetime, we will find ourselves facing the same lessons again in the next.
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