Frederic Gros is a french philosopher who edited Michel Focault’s paper’s (another french philosopher, political activist, and historian); wrote the Philosophy of Walking in 2014 which is a great book on mindfulness, being present, and (of course) walking. A Philosophy of Shame was published in May of this year. He poses a different narrative to shame than the one I feel we currently cling to in psychology.

Looking back over my life, the list of what I have waited for is somewhat daunting. In my adult life alone, I have waited for: high school to finish, college to start, college to finish, grad school to start, grad school to finish, dating to begin, engagement to take place, marriage, children and home buying (more than once). I have also waited on my business to start and my business to grow. In relationships, I have waited for friendships to be conceived, for relationships to grow and for reconciliation when things went sideways. In my family, I have waited for loved ones to get better and for my sorrow to heal when they did not. I can personally say that I have spent much of my life waiting. And even today, there are big and small things in my life I am waiting for and I am guessing the same is probably true for you.

Gen X and Millennials are projected to become the richest generation in history. There are a lot of ways to seize power for the people through financial means also known as financial activism. Not everyone can hold a sign and join a protest on the street, whether it be for physical or logistical challenges. Financial activism uses economic tactics, big and small, to help make change. It's about everyday people and everyday actions adding up to create a world that we want to live in. Money holds power. Everyone holds power. Understanding how you hold influence and power is necessary for continued development. Financial activism is also not an invitation to be a perfectionist. Each of the different tools listed can increase your positive impact or decrease your negative impact and some tools will be more accessible than others and that's okay. We all start somewhere, and we all do what we can.

Waiting seasons are like challenging seasons. You are either in a waiting season, coming out of a waiting season or in the middle of one. The same can be said of challenging seasons—you are either in one, coming out of one or in between them. For today, we are going to focus on waiting seasons.

In the practical part of the blog on this topic, we talked about different types of “community.”   We can be “in community” with one person or we can be in a more social type of “community” with multiple people.