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I have had a passion for creating 鈥減ositive change鈥� for over 40 years. It began with my love of nature, and a desire to contribute to taking care of it in some way. That led me into environmental work and the field of waste reduction/recycling, as a larger way of 鈥渕aking a difference.鈥�

After working there for over five years, a series of intuitive experiences prompted me to leave the field and explore new areas. But as I left, two questions were uppermost in my mind:聽Why are there so many problems in the world? And how do we get to the roots of them?聽I also had a sobering realization. Having experienced extensive conflict in those years with other environmentalists, government and business, I had the thought: If we are the ones who are supposed to heal the planet, it ain鈥檛 going to happen.

About 12 years later, I was working with the executive director of one of this country鈥檚 Round Tables on Environment and Economy. At the end of a long day, we were talking about the challenges facing the world, and I asked him if he thought what we were doing would be enough. He paused thoughtfully and said, 鈥淧robably not.鈥�

鈥淭hen what do you think it will take?鈥� I asked.

鈥淧robably a change in consciousness,鈥� he replied. His answer surprised me. I had come to the same conclusion myself, but didn鈥檛 expect him to say it. So now I had a third question: What will create that shift?

For the past several decades, I have been exploring answers to these three questions. My journey has led me to work in fields as diverse as stress management, conscious business, hazardous materials management, healthy, sustainable communities, leadership, addictions and ghostwriting. I鈥檝e also delved deeply into spirituality, healing of self and relationships, consciousness change and energy healing. I鈥檝e volunteered in politics and hospice care, created international peace events and helped people with dementia. Yet through it all, my underlying intention has been the same. And finally, in the last few years, insights as to how we might practically answer these questions have started to take shape.

Three Key Ideas

For me, three ideas stand out as being at the core of understanding change differently. They are:

1) What is driving our behaviours is the consciousness behind them: our thoughts, feelings, fears, beliefs and mindset.

2) At the root of human nature, there is a split or conflict inside of us.

3) Most of the change we try to create in our lives is shaped by this conflict within.

Huh? Say what?聽These ideas might sound surprising, perhaps even meaningless. They鈥檙e definitely not the traditional 鈥榩roblem solving鈥� answers we usually talk about. Yet considering the number, size and intractable nature of the many problems we experience in our world, I believe we need to 鈥榯hink differently鈥� in order to solve them.

Remember the 1997 聽about innovators? 鈥淗ere鈥檚 to the crazy ones... the ones who see things differently.鈥� That鈥檚 the direction we will need to head. So let鈥檚 consider how we might use these ideas to bring about change more effectively.

Changing Behaviour

When I started in the environmental field, my focus was on fixing problems 鈥� like pollution 鈥� on a technical level. Coming from a maths and science background, that鈥檚 what made sense to me. Over time, my interest shifted to the root causes of problems. I began to focus on how we can change our behaviour and choices, as a way of preventing problems before they occur.

Societally, we have gone through a similar shift. Forty years ago, our main focus for environmental improvement was on 鈥渆nd of pipe鈥� solutions to capture and treat wastes. Now, 鈥渂ehaviour change鈥� has become one of our primary approaches, not just with the environment, but across many fields. Examples of this include: giving companies incentives to stop polluting; encouraging consumers to buy differently; motivating people to reduce their carbon footprint; encouraging people to become healthier by eating less, smoking less, exercising more, and so on.

What we often forget, however, is that 鈥渂ehaviour鈥� doesn鈥檛 come out of thin air. It is itself a symptom or expression of something deeper: our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and values. These are what lead us to do what we do, and to change or not to change. Therefore, if we really want to learn how to shift behaviour, we need to better understand what makes us tick.

Here鈥檚 just one example. Most of us think of ourselves as 鈥榬ational鈥� beings, making decisions based on good information and evidence. We believe that other people, when given the right facts or information, will make logical, rational decisions as well. Yet decades ago, Madison Avenue ad agencies recognized that emotions are also core motivators of behaviour. That鈥檚 why advertising became the driving force behind our mass consumption age, and why more recently social marketing has become an important tool for societal change. In other words, understanding human motivation became an important part of how we make change.

Now let鈥檚 go a step even deeper than that, and look at what guides our fundamental thinking.听

A Split Within Us

Everyone has seen and experienced the 鈥済ood & bad鈥� sides of being human. We鈥檝e all had good ideas and intentions about how we鈥檇 like to improve our lives, then failed to act on them. (Beware the upcoming New Years鈥� resolutions!) Most of us have loved someone deeply, then lashed out and hurt them when we鈥檝e felt hurt ourselves. And we all have deeply-held values that, for some reason, we don鈥檛 live on a daily basis.

We鈥檝e also seen the same in others. Well-intentioned people who say one thing and do another. Or those who makes 鈥榟igh promises,鈥� but fail to act on them. We know people who value kindness, caring and compassion, yet act with hostility or hatred towards those who disagree with them. And 鈥済ood people鈥� who resort to bullying, verbal attacks or lying to get their own way.

So what is this split all about? In popular culture, the Star Wars series referred to it as our light and dark sides. In modern psychology, it鈥檚 been called the conflict between our 鈥渇alse self鈥� and 鈥渢rue self鈥� (D.W. Winnicott). Others today use terms like our enlightened self and our ego or shadow side. Yet these concepts are far from new. In the 1860s, Abraham Lincoln spoke about the 鈥渂etter angels of our nature.鈥� In the 1500s, Christopher Marlow wrote about it as our 鈥済ood and bad angels鈥� (Doctor Faustus). Centuries before that, Judeo-Christian thinkers wrote about the conflict between good and evil, or Spirit/the Christ and Satan/the devil. And ancient Buddhist teachings refer to the 鈥渄efiled mind鈥� and the 鈥渓uminous mind.鈥�

Normally, we just accept this 鈥榮plit inside of us鈥� as part of who we are. We call it 鈥渉uman nature鈥� and then don鈥檛 give it a second thought. But if we really want to get at the roots of what creates 鈥渘egative鈥� behaviour and 鈥減ositive鈥� change, perhaps we need to look more deeply at these two sides of being human, and see how they operate in specific ways each and every day 鈥� in others, and in ourselves.

Coming Saturday:聽Understanding Human Nature and the Split Within Us 鈥� Part 2

Eric Hellman聽is a communications and change coach in Vancouver. His current work is called 鈥渃onscious change.鈥� For more about it, go to or email him at聽[email protected].听

You can read more articles on our interfaith blog, The Spiritual View,