In a few months, France will hold it’s next Presidential Election. Some people look at this election as another opportunity for change, while others stay with apathy, as they believe that it will be like all the previous ones and bring no change whatsoever. This is shown by the very high abstention scores during second round of the regional elections last June (almost two-thirds of voters did not vote!).

I am not very interested in politics and am mostly unaware of what is happening politically at a national level and an international level. It does present some disadvantages, but cutting off from fear-based media (one of the 10 habits that changed my life) has helped me over the years to focus on what really matters to me without being too caught up in what I see as a major pony show.

Yet, I see some hope. Companies such as Missions Publiques are helping redesigning our democratic processes to be more inclusive and representative of citizen’s views, to tap into their collective intelligence and bring them into policy. This last bit is the most challenging right now, as world leaders are not yet accustomed to taking the citizen’s recommendations into account directly. But we are moving in that direction.

I have had the privilege to support Missions Publiques and their founder, Yves Mathieu, over the past 2+ years through coaching and advising, including while they created, coordinated and supervised the largest citizen’s dialogue ever held in history !

Yet, evolving Democracy to it’s next stage of maturity is not the only avenue forward.

On the reality of voting

Do you think you are only voting once every five years?

(Maybe a little more if you count local, regional or state elections)

What if I told you that you are voting multiple times a day?

When you workout, you vote.

When you speak, you vote.

When you think, you vote.

When you love, you vote.

When you forgive, you vote.

When you read, you vote.

When you binge on Netflix, you vote.

When you gossip, you vote. (see Commitment #5 of Conscious Leadership)

When you laugh, you vote.

Yes, everything you do, think, say, and are is a vote.

You are much more powerful than you think.

Everything you eat is a vote.

The way you treat yourself is a vote.

The way you treat others is a vote.

The way you treat animals is a vote. (see my article published by the Council on Business and Society on the Family of Beings)

The way that you treat Nature is a vote. (see my article published by the Council on Business and Society on the Planet and change)

The way you nourish and take care of your Psyche is a vote. (see my article published by the Council on Business and Society on the Need for well-being and the possibility for thriving)

The habits you develop are a vote. (see the 10 Habits that changed my life starting with part 1)

What are you voting for?

What do you stand for?

What are the values that are closest to you?

My top 3 values are the following:

1. Evolution:

Note that it is different from Progress, which is often associated with material progress, whereas I have a psychological/spiritual emphasis. Indeed, I believe that we have gone too far in our material progress, without having the psycho-spiritual maturity to use our tools properly, while keeping social and environmental harmony. We are more like apes with guns:

I cultivate this value by moving forward in my own evolution, constantly learning and unlearning, accepting when it is time to take a break (resting is part of the training), and accepting when evolution needs to slow down for a bit or even regress (two steps forward, one step back is still moving forward).

2. Zen:

I highly value peace of mind and heart. I place it at the core of my existence, hence my morning routine which allows me to center myself, wake up and be at peace with myself before I start the day with all it’s uncertainties and relative chaos some times. That is also what I like to emanate, and bring to my clients and the people around me: Peace. This value is most fulfilled when I am in silence, when I don’t talk more than I need to, when I can listen deeply, contemplate, and simply be.

3. Beauty:

I value Beauty and Aesthetics highly as well. I love beautiful things in the natural world: the beauty of a tree in the dark, of a painting in a museum, of a beautiful body, of harmony in the homeplace, in a movie, such as the recent Dune by Dennis Villeneuve for example. I cultivate beauty in my life by keeping things clean, by purchasing and investing in few objects which I find beautiful, and also creating beauty in the simple acts of my daily life: The other day, a friend complimented me on the way that I had set the dishes on her counter after having washed them using minimal water. She told me that the planet thanked me, and that she loved the way I had laid out the clean dishes.

What are your top 3 values?

How do you nourish each of them, cultivate them, and honor them on a daily basis?

How do you vote for them?

When you feel frustrated or disappointed during the day, look back and see how you cultivated your top 3 values. Oftentimes, at least one of them can be missing.

Cultivating these values can help you thrive.

What is your biggest insight from this article?

What is one tiny step that you will take?