As our daily lives get disrupted and the larger systems that our society runs on begin to break under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is becoming increasingly important for all of us to practice resilience and sovereignty.
Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties and to adapt to new circumstances.
Sovereignty is the capacity to respond consciously to the world: to see reality clearly, to make sense of it, and take appropriate action.
My partner Mike and I have been talking about these topics a lot on our podcast, Future Thinkers.. Our interest in these subjects came not by accident, but by necessity after having experienced many serious challenges, crises, and failures throughout our lives.
Below I have compiled a list of free resources — our best podcast episodes that deal with the topics of sovereignty, sensemaking, and resilience in the face of the unprecedented changes the world is undergoing right now.
Some of these episodes talk about personal resilience and some focus more on societal change and existential risks. They are most useful if taken together, since the lessons in them provide different perspectives that interconnect. I hope you find them useful.
Podcast Episodes on Personal Resilience:
Developing and Practicing Your Self Sovereignty
We talk about their stories of learning to practice sovereignty and suggest some ideas, techniques and exercises from their personal experience that others can try.
John Vervaeke — Overcoming The Meaning Crisis
Canadian psychologist John Vervaeke explains what the meaning crisis is and what are some of the practices to deal with it. He talks about how the quest for wisdom and self-transcendence is the key to unlocking meaning in life.
Derek Sivers — Hell Yeah or No
In this 2-part interview, entrepreneur and writer Derek Sivers talks about stoicism, minimalism, and exploring freedom to its extremes. He also explores practices for increasing self-knowledge, and the many different ways in which people can thrive and find fulfillment.
Jordan Peterson — Failed Utopias, Mapping the Mind, and Finding Meaning
Renowned Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson talks about understanding the subconscious mind, finding meaning in a meaningless world, and why we shouldn’t aim to create a utopia.
The Depression Epidemic — What You Can Do
It wouldn’t be a conversation about resilience without bringing up the subject of depression. Having both experienced depression at different points in our lives, we talk about scientifically proven ways to overcome it or at least lessen its effects.
We talk about overcoming fear and helplessness, practicing minimalism, developing mental flexibility and self-sovereignty, and other tools that can help us become more adaptive in a chaotic world.
The Ancient Art of Adulting And Meta-Skills For The Future
We also talk about how what it means to be an adult has changed, and what meta-skills we need to develop in order to adapt to this fast-changing world.
Cris Beasley — How To Deal with Negative Emotions to Develop Mental Sovereignty
Startup founder turned trauma healer Cris Beasley talks about emotional healing practices that can help us improve our quality of life, fix our relationships, and help us gain more sovereignty.
Emmanuel Jal — The Incredible Resilience of The Human Mind
In this heart-wrenching interview with South Sudanese ex-child-soldier, you will hear his incredible story of overcoming immense trauma and coming out on the other side.
Podcast Episodes on Collective and Community Resilience:
Jamie Wheal — Sense-Making In Chaos
Group flow researcher Jamie Wheal talks about how to make sense in a world that is unraveling faster than we can keep up with, and the challenges to creating functional collective intelligence and resilient communities.
Joe Brewer — Rites of Passage For Cultural Evolution
A two-part interview with climate scientist Joe Brewer explores regenerative cultures and how to build resilience at the level of communities and bioregions.
Jim Rutt — Game B: The Fifth Attractor, A New Social OS
Complexity researcher Jim Rutt explains the concept of Game B — a different social “operating system” that could potentially replace today’s capitalism. He also talks about how to strengthen a municipality and make it more resilient to potential collapse scenarios.
Podcast Episodes on Resilient Global Systems:
Jordan (Green)Hall — Sovereignty in Chaos & Why We Need Collective Intelligence During Global Collapse
In this two-part interview, entrepreneur and existential philosopher Jordan (Green)Hall introduces the concept of cognitive sovereignty and why it’s especially important in chaotic times and talks about why collective intelligence is something we need if we are to mitigate systemic collapse.
Nora Bateson — The Complexities of Climate Change and Cultural Evolution
Filmmaker and educator Nora Bateson discusses the complexity of understanding global existential problems, what it means to do sensemaking, and what we really need for social and cultural change.
Alex Gladstein — Anti-Authoritarian Technologies and The Future of Governance
CSO of Human Rights Foundation Alex Gladstein talks about why civil liberties make a country better for its people, what the future of governance is, and why anti-authoritarian technologies like Bitcoin are important for that future.
Daniel Schmachtenberger — Global Phase Shift, Winning Humanity’s Existential Game, and Solving The Generator Functions of Existential Risks
These are some of the many interviews we have done with systems thinker Daniel Schmachteberger. In Global Phase Shift, he talks about the transformation humanity seems to be undergoing right now.
In Winning Humanity’s Existential Game, Daniel talks about designing resilient post-capitalist systems.
In the last 3-parter, he lays out the steps we have to take as a collective to solve the causes of potential existential risks to humanity.
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Going Deeper Into Practicing Resilience & Sovereignty
If you want to dive deeper into the practices and exercises for building resilience and sovereignty, we teach several courses on these subjects and host weekly group sensemaking calls. Register for the Future Thinkers Members community to join us.
