“The climate crisis can be understood as a relationship crisis; a crisis of disconnection, where we are disconnected from each other, from other groups around the world, from nature and from the impact of our actions on the other side of the planet.” Jamie Bristow


E169 – Jamie Bristow on Climate Crisis, Mindfulness and System Change

Five Minutes After Midnight


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About this interview:

How do we grow our mindsets to meet the dissonance of our time with real action?


“The climate crisis can be understood as a relationship crisis; a crisis of disconnection, where we are disconnected from each other, from other groups around the world, from nature and from the impact of our actions on the other side of the planet.” Jamie Bristow
 
In this episode, Amisha talks to Jamie Bristow, recognised for his pioneering work on mindfulness in politics and public policy, and for his writing on inner development as a way of addressing a range of societal issues. Jamie was Director of the ‘Mindfulness Initiative’ policy institute and clerk to the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness, where he led numerous initiatives to promote mindfulness in government and policy circles worldwide. He most recently authored ‘Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out’. Jamie was formerly Business Development Director for Headspace and has a background in psychology, climate change campaigning and advertising. His mentors have included Rob Burbea, Stephen Batchelor and Christina Feldman. Jamie is an Honorary Associate of Bangor University, where he is currently supervising a research project on ‘awareness-based social change’.
 
Amisha and Jamie speak about the impact mindfulness practices can have on flourishing societies that are equipped to hold the complexities and dissonance of our time. Jamie shares how the results of resourcing politicians with skills rooted in empathy and connection is filtering into public and political spheres showing promising green shoots of policy and system changes.
 
Together they explore how mindfulness can create vital mindset shifts needed to tackle the climate crisis. Jamie reveals what inner qualities we can cultivate, how we can bring them into mainstream culture to make them accessible as micro and macro acts of activism and to build movements of change that ripple across our global communities.
 
We learn that we can understand the climate crisis as a relationship crisis. Having courageous conversations about the challenges we are facing is a powerful way to grow our common ground and connection; a way to truth tell our way out of this status quo that’s lingering at five minutes past midnight.
 
“Having courageous conversations about climate ripples through society; like an action in a quantum field, it’s all rippling on forever. Don’t underestimate that.” ~Jamie Bristow
 

 

JAMIE BRISTOW is a leading expert on contemplative practice in public life. He is widely recognised for his pioneering work on mindfulness in politics and public policy, and for his writing on the role of inner development in addressing a range of societal issues. For eight years, Jamie was Director of the Mindfulness Initiative policy institute and clerk to the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness, where he led numerous initiatives to promote mindfulness in government and policy circles worldwide and authored several influential publications, most recently Reconnection: Meeting the Climate Crisis Inside Out. Having stepped back as director, he continues to run the Mindfulness Initiative’s ‘Sustainable Mind’ workstream, whilst leading on policy and advocacy for the Inner Development Goals, promoting individual and collective inner work as an enabling factor for outer sustainable transformation.

Jamie is an Honorary Associate of Bangor University, where he is currently supervising a research project on ‘awareness-based social change’. He is also policy advisor to the Global Compassion Coalition, Inner Work Advisor to the UK’s new Climate Majority Project and is on the steering group of the Conscious Food Systems Alliance convened by UNDP.

Jamie was formerly Business Development Director for Headspace and has a background in psychology, climate change campaigning and advertising. Trained to teach Insight Meditation, a Buddhist tradition that’s associated with Gaia House, IMS and Spirit Rock retreat centres, his mentors have included Rob Burbea, Stephen Batchelor and Christina Feldman.

 

To connect or work with Jamie, visit jamiebristow.com

To connect or work with Amisha, visit amisha.co.uk


artwork video: Eliseo H.Zubiri

 

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