Flex_ Do Something Different - Ben [59]
It is our belief that many problems we have in the world are owing to our individual egoistic ways of seeing things. We think that if people could see things as others do, there would be fewer social and global problems. The more we understand each others’ world the less tension and misunderstanding there would be. Having a more common understanding among us is key to relationships of all kinds – be they romantic, work, friends, social group, community or global. Our tendency to see the world in terms of our own experience and perspective makes us tend to reject views, perspectives and people who are not ‘like me’. Prejudice – or ‘prejudging’ – occurs because people have a narrow egocentric view of people and events.
When we use only 1/10th of our personality we limit ourselves enormously. If we can expand that self – and if others can do the same – there is far more chance that we will overlap with others and have better social relationships. We will have room in our worlds for the views and perspectives of others, we will have the ability to understand and enjoy them, and they us.
So, we think flex and Do Something Different could have powerful social benefits for us as human beings living on the same planet because:
Expanding our repertoire of behaviours means we are more likely to see things from the viewpoint of other people; we will experience perspectives more like theirs. flex enhances social intelligence and improves the ability we have to see and use social cues to meet the needs of others.
It is more powerful to have an experience than simply to think it through. Action is a much more potent agent for change than thought. There are many reasons for this, but one reason is that actually experiencing something means we internalise the action and we know the consequences in more detail than were we just to think about them.
We have seen flex coherence bring all the personal benefits we have outlined. We have also experienced it. But greater personal coherence also cuts down the conflicting messages we send out to others. A coherent person does not say one thing and then do another. They do not have subconscious motives and agendas that can be easily misinterpreted by others. Developing greater flex coherence also develops people as positive role models for others.
It is our contention that if people do come to share a more common perspective they are also more likely to pull together for the common good on issues such as global warming, global conflicts, and in responding to natural catastrophes.
The world is currently struggling with a broad range of global issues – which include an obesity crisis in the West, increasing social disparities between rich and poor, increasing demands for health and social services that outstrip capacity, greater distrust of government, a ‘blame’ culture, greater intolerance and extreme perspectives, a need to reduce our carbon footprint, and so on. There are many complex reasons for these issues, so how can flex play a positive role? By broadening perspectives and responses at the same time as developing greater self-reliance and self-responsibility. We also argue that governments will hit a brick wall when trying to solve these problems unless individuals are helped to flex themselves. Unfortunately, governments tend to take responsibility and growth options away from people, despite saying they are trying to do the opposite. Governments cannot solve the problems that have their fundamental cause at the level of the individual.
A whole community doing something different
In 2009 a visionary group of people from a borough council in the UK decided to adopt DSD as a way of improving the health and well-being of a whole community. Along with a project manager we trained over 100 people in the Do Something Different method, including health visitors, school nurses, counsellors, outreach workers and family support workers. These professionals were shown how to implement DSD in their work and they also ran DSD groups in the schools, clinics and community centres.