This Japanese concept, which translates as “a reason for being,” can help us uncover our own sense of purpose and direction. If you’re willing, try sitting in silence in a place that deeply inspires you to calm and clear your mind. Then, draw the four intersecting circles depicted above on a piece of paper and ask yourself: “What do I love?” “What am I good at?” “What does the world need?” and “What can I be paid for?” Allow yourself plenty of time to consider each question in turn and write down your responses before reflecting on how they might all be connected.

When interacting with other organizations, terms like “partnership” and “collaboration” aren’t specific enough. The Collaboration Spectrum, developed by the Tamarack Institute, offers us a more precise language for thinking and communicating about how we might choose to work with others. Except for Competition, they’re all arranged from the lowest level of involvement (on the left) to the highest (on the right). While we may understandably long for authentic Collaboration, Communication, Cooperation, and Coordination are often more practical.

To advance equity and justice through the Great Transition, those who have benefited the most from Industrial Ascent need to dramatically reduce consumption while helping others raise their standard of living. Even an era of dwindling resources, it remains a moral imperative to ensure that everyone has at least their basic needs met. Renegade economist Kate Raworth points to the possibility of bringing everyone into a “safe and just space for humanity” between our “Ecological Ceiling” and a non-negotiable “Social Foundation.”

The basic idea is to spend as much time as possible in our Challenge Zone without tipping ourselves over into danger. As we repeatedly stretch ourselves in this way, our Comfort Zone expands while our Danger Zone naturally contracts. Sometimes these zones are color coded (green for Comfort, yellow for Challenge, and red for Danger) to make them even easier to remember. When doing stressful work, we should check in with ourselves periodically and ask whether we’re currently in the green, yellow, or red.

While every decision-making strategy has its advantages and disadvantages, blended decision-making can help us evaluate which strategies are more appropriate for which kinds of decisions. Decision-making strategies that take the most time tend to produce the highest-quality results and should be used to guide our most complex, weighty, and far-reaching decisions. However, some decisions are fairly straightforward and less consequential. They might be delegated or voted on instead.

While it’s almost inconceivable right now that regeneration could become the dominant paradigm guiding the future of humanity, if we can fulfill these Two Imperatives (“Make the regenerative vision universally known” and “Develop successful practical alternatives to the status quo”) far enough in advance of global systems collapse, we can shift the Overton Window. Unfamiliar and unproven ideas often appear radical at first, but can gradually become perceived as more and more acceptable, sensible, and popular over time.