“I don’t want to.”

It sounds like a child’s protest. And yet this mindset can be found in mature patients, clients, and organizations just as often as it can be found in the nursery.

“I want things to change, but I don’t want to participate.”

It’s illogical.

We know that when things go sideways, it’s because the system is no longer responding to doing what we’ve always done. Or perhaps it’s the result of what we’ve always done, and we haven’t been doing the right things.

We like to think we’re observers of change, but more often, we’re participants — either through our action or through our stillness.

Of course, if we want a reliable strategy for making change happen, we don’t look to others; we begin with ourselves.