TruthForce.Works’ mission is to co-cultivate the power of engaged love (nonviolent power) with practices of gratitude, compassion, patience, authenticity, and joy.
Returning love for love and hate for hate is at best ineffective for increasing the amount of love in the world. When we force change on others, we might get short-term change, but we create enemies who resent us. Only love transforms an enemy into a friend. More peace requires fewer enemies. So, the only path to more peace is more love. Martin Luther King, Jr., stated “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
Your Nonviolent Power Was Relatively Unknown 100 Years Ago
Since Mohandas Gandhi’s died in 1948, knowledge of the effectiveness of the power of nonviolence has been spreading around the world.
Humanity’s learning and practicing of nonviolence appears to be increasing exponentially. Discipline and progress may become easier and more fulfilling as we share a vision, beliefs, and purpose with a growing movement. As more people develop an understanding of the core principles of nonviolent power, we will have a common language to discuss what’s happening and how we might respond, we will better be able to seek and give support in our common journey, and I hope that nonviolence will be taught to children. Beneficial social and environment changes may start occurring at an exponential pace. However, for that to happen, we need to respond with love, patiently, creatively and strategically. We need to be focused and disciplined.
Nonviolent power is a learnable skill and consciousness. It employs the power of love and vulnerability. By “love,” I refer to active strategies, such as:
• Love others as you love yourself.
• Treat others the way you want to be treated.
• Deeply listen to yourself and others.
• Collaborate to the extent possible with others.
• Strategize only after clarity as to what all involved need.
• Avoid harming life.
• Stand with clarity in your truth, without submitting or rebelling.
• Do not submit or rebel.
• Be equanimous with uncertainty.
• Transform anger, shame, guilt and depression into love.
Fueled by the emotional pain of disconnection from loved ones, I, Joe Houska, the founder of TruthForce.Works, have been learning and exploring for over a decade how to connect better with others. I have focused largely on Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communications and since February, 2020, felt charged for the first time in my life with a mission when I suddenly understood the potential power of nonviolence, made famous by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. These learnings and practices that have radically changed who I am as a person and how I see the world. That said, I still deal with my own stuff, including procrastination and getting triggered emotionally. But I have been enjoying increased equanimity and significantly better relationships with myself and others. And, increasingly, I’m finding that others are expressing appreciation for sharing what has helped me.
Courage is required to answer: “Please tell me what your heart really wants?”
Nonviolence, the power of engaged love, starts with your relationship with yourself.
Acknowledging what our heart really wants is an act of courage, but it’s so vulnerable. Most of us can still remember failing to achieve something we deeply wanted and even still feel the pain, embarassment, despair, depression, helplessness, or shame that followed. Further, if we acknowledge what we most want, we likely know if we are doing anything about it.
I’ve chased big dreams and failed. My then-wife, our two kids and I were going to sail and live in a boat from Southern California to Tahiti for a year long trip. We bought a sailboat near San Francisco, sailed it to Ventura, spent 3 months preparing the boat, took our two kids out of school, sailed to Mexico and prepared the boat for another 3 months, untied our dock lines and set sail for what was expected to be our first leg — sailing nonstop 24/7 for about 20 days to the Marquesas Islands in the South Seas. We got one day out and realized 100 miles off the coast that we weren’t ready as a sailing team. We headed straight back to Mexico, ending up only 160 miles of the United States, and after two and half months went back home.
I felt defeated and dropped into depression. My wife, who I thought was my sole lifetime soulmate divorced me. My failure was so painful. I can still feel the pain and do have a fear of failure, and therefore asking myself what does my heart really want. But you can read about my dream here. Has anything similar happened to you? What have you chosen? If you include your desire to protect yourself, please tell me what does your heart really want? (you can comment down below)
Nonviolence respects all life, has clarity as to what’s most important, and speaks and lives in harmony with what’s most important.
Nonviolence does not force my opinion on you.
Nonviolence is the power that’s unleashed when we convert our fear or anger into a positive force for change. It’s powerful, transformative and stronger than the injustices or challenges we face. Instead of seeing people and nature as disconnected parts and resources to be used, we’re recognizing that we are connected to everything.
Nonviolence has been found to be twice as effective as violence.
The only answer is to respond with more love.
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If you find value in some aspect of what you find, especially if it cultivates your nonviolent power, please comment as to what you found and how it benefited you.
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