Gather At The Well: Cultivating Critical Hope - Lindsey Fuller

When the weight of the world feels nonstop, slipping into survival mode can feel like the only option. But what if there’s a different way—one that’s rooted in honesty, resilience, and real, grounded hope?

Welcome back to Gather at the Well, hosted by Lindsey Fuller, Executive Director of The Teaching Well. In this episode, Lindsey dives into the practice of cultivating critical hope—a powerful mindset that helps human-centered leaders stay resilient and rooted amidst change.

Join us for Episode 2, as Lindsey breaks down ways we can hold space for challenges while still believing in possibility. Think: duality declarations, everyday rituals to re-center your mindset, and showing up with truth and compassion. You’ll walk away with tangible strategies to cultivate hope as a daily leadership practice. Live now 🎧

Episode Highlights

• Somatic Practices for Change Leaders (05:44)
• Inspiration vs. Leadership (13:11)
• Cultivating Critical Hope (23:04)
• Practical Exercises for Leaders (39:20)

(Critical Hope Statements) Affirmations:

• Critical hope asks us to sit with the wholeness of life and the full range of human experience.
• It’s complex. It’s uncertain. It’s the willingness to hold duality—to recognize that two things can be true at once.
• Critical hope means honoring our histories and traditions, while also embracing freedom and imagining new futures.
• It’s about grounding ourselves in reality, while still believing in possibility.
• It’s the audacity to keep going.
• So be audacious. Keep showing up—not just for the mission, but for your team’s morale, their well-being, their hope.
• There is a path forward. And you don’t have to walk it alone.

Episode Shownotes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/cultivatingcriticalhope

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Critical Hope
• 4:05 Capacity Clasps: A Somatic Practice
• 5:57 Inspiration vs. Leadership
• 10:58 The Somatic Practice of Duality
• 18:54 Four Ingredients of Critical Hope
• 27:24 Ancestral Guidance and Spiritual Connection
• 28:44 Black Panther Wisdom and Young Voices

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

I'm Lindsay and it's time to gather at the well. We're on a mission to microdose wellness, create human-centered systems and retain our greatest asset our people. We believe it's time for podcasts that teach, moving beyond thought leadership and towards change leadership. Join us and our friends at we Are For good as we model the way with concrete examples from the field and gain tangible tools, because it's possible to build adult work cultures. We don't need to heal from. Let's get into it. Welcome back, so glad to have you here at Gather at the Well, really excited about today's topic.

Speaker 1: 0:42

We need more of this, and no, I'm not talking about millions of dollars, though all of us would appreciate it. I'm talking about something that is free to us, that actually cultivates abundance. I'm talking about critical hope. I've been told over and over in my life that I have an endless reserve of critical hope. I'm not just some naive idealist, though. My critical hope is anchored in what I believe is an attainable truth, realities that aren't so far off. But what is critical hope exactly, and how does it fit into our work as human-centered change leaders? If you've been tuning in recently, you know that we always end our podcast episodes with a critical hope, but today. That's all we're doing. It's the content, it's the focus. Let's figure this out because, like I said, we all need more of it.

Speaker 1: 1:38

When I think of education, for example, there are so many obstacles towards realizing a schooling system in this country that truly liberates young people, that equips them as critical thinkers and empowers them to stay in their communities to solve their own most pressing challenges. It can feel really daunting when you think of all we need to overcome, and I think that's not just the education system that's probably touching you somewhere in your heart space, no matter what your role is. We're hurting across sectors, across professional and personal domains. There's a lot of wounds happening, but also I can see so clearly that there are strategies that work, that there are models that are bringing about accelerated growth for young people. Capitalism fuels the me.

Speaker 1: 2:35

The thought leader rushed to come up with the new shiny magic bullet. Instead of focusing on fueling the we within our team, our school, our nonprofit, our company. We need more. We let's double down on what's working and that's where Critical Hope comes in. It's a mindset and a communication lever, but it's also a commitment to self and to others, and from an indigenous perspective, when we think about our responsibility to seven generations back and the seven generations ahead of us. That's what really connects me to the possibility, the paradigm shift of what's possible.

Speaker 1: 3:18

Critical hope is the nourishment of a change leader. It's like a banana bag in an intense moment of dehydration or depletion or weakness. It refuels us, pumping us with vitamins and minerals so that our soma can recharge and reenter the marathon towards our mission. When we think of somatic practices, we think of any healing modality that enhances the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual state. Critical hope activates across all four of those domains.

Speaker 1: 3:53

So if you can't tell, I'm hell of excited to explore this with you all. But first, maybe we drop into a somatic. I'd like to introduce a new one. I'm trying on something different. I'm calling this capacity clasps. My team is eye rolling because they know I love alliteration. It is like an addiction for me. But here we are and I did it yet again.

Speaker 1: 4:18

The idea with this is actually that as you take in a deep breath, you are opening your arms to increase your capacity for what's here, but also what's possible, and as you exhale, you're coming around and clasping yourself almost like a self hug. Let's try it on. You might adjust yourself in your seat, anchor your feet in the ground and, as we inhale, through the nose, opening our arms, feeling the stretch in our chest, cinching the scapula together, then an exhale through the mouth, releasing the air from our lungs and caving the body forward to land in a self-hug. Let's do two more like that Again intake with the chest opening, exhale and coming back towards yourself, reinforcing yourself, inhaling, reminding yourself that you have space, you can grow your capacity, you can heal and manage and grow and exhale. You're safe, you're contained, you're making moves. Let's get back to this idea of critical hope.

Speaker 1: 5:57

When I was growing up and this is a recent realization I used to think that inspiration was not a necessary component of leadership. Frankly, I wasn't inspired as a child by most of the quote unquote leaders that I saw, and while I loved and had meaningful connections with teachers and coaches and they helped build a solid foundation of self-esteem, they nurtured my skill sets, they encouraged me, I wasn't necessarily inspired. The folks that inspired me felt unattainable, out of reach. Right, the Malcolm Xs of the world where I was like, wow, right, the Malcolm Xs of the world where I was like, wow, he's just a hero, a superhuman hero, and he's inspiring so many people. But now, as I've been in this adulting game and adulting is really ratchet I'm just going to say that we need to bring adulting classes into all high schools and maybe colleges and low-key early entry positions.

Speaker 1: 7:06

But I digress when I think about Malcolm X now and many of the other leaders who I really regarded with a ton of respect. I realized they were imperfect, whole humans inherently, inherently flawed, because we all are, and that inspiration to others was actually an outcome. But it wasn't the effort, it wasn't the objective, it maybe wasn't even a intentional action that he was taking. It was kind of the byproduct of who he was and what he did. And that's when I started to realize that critical hope that powerful leaders that inspire change has nothing to do with charisma or dynamism. It's not about toxic positivity. It's actually about encouraging others through your consistent actions, through your validation celebrations, through your strategic leadership and your focus and your diligence and commitment to your people. That's how you actually motivate them to persist through the challenges that undoubtedly you'll face in the workforce. A good, steady leader reminds you of the reasons you're choosing the job during the hardest parts. That's a potent realization because it's helping folks hold tight to the possibility and the impact of their sustained efforts.

Speaker 1: 8:42

I was talking to my co-leader, marisol, and she said the distinctive factor between inspiration and good leadership is the degree to which it can be a skill developed over time. And critical hope is a skill set you can learn. Change leaders focus on this skill and they cultivate it and they grow it over time. It helps them to create the conditions for their team to weather parts of the role that are less satisfying. And let's be real, one of the lies they tell and you know I love to expose these lies is that you can find the perfect job for you, and I think that in recent years and in recent generations, it's been fueling some of the quickness to leave an organization, as if you would love every part of your job description. I think maybe that's in part, what's fueling so many folks leaving to be consultants and working for themselves.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Yes, there's the flexibility and schedule. Yes, there's not having to deal with toxic workplace abusers, but also you're able to do more of what you love. There's nothing wrong with that, but I do think for the average human who's working inside of an organization, it's unrealistic and we need to correct the misunderstanding or the inflated expectation that every part of your job will be fulfilling and fun because some of it's going to be soaked in discomfort. And the presence of undesirable duties doesn't mean there's a poor leader or a toxic workplace, or even that you need to leave necessarily. That's the part where we talk about choosing each other, choosing the company, choosing the mission.

Speaker 1: 10:27

You need to cultivate critical hope with your colleagues to persevere and yes, you, as the leader, you're critical, but also horizontally, with your peers. The health and cohesion of your team is a shared responsibility. Your peers, the health and cohesion of your team is a shared responsibility. Team morale and performance, both good and bad, are deeply influenced by bosses and managers, but also the shared efficacy and well-being of the staff influences retention For the teaching. Well, paradigm shifting is one of our core values and we won't be releasing it anytime soon. It's needed for systems change. If you can't freedom, dream into a new possibility and uplift a different narrative, then you can't be a change leader that buoys its team through challenges with critical hope. How we talk about challenges matters and how we invite our team to be a part of the steady solution is key.

Speaker 1: 11:35

I've actually realized that critical hope is a somatic practice. It's creating space internally, within relationships, and it's actually influencing our outward messaging. If you haven't checked back on our microdosing wellness series and listened to the episode on navigating uncertainty, what I'm referencing is the me-we world progression. Critical hope is a somatic across those lines, and one of the key elements of critical hope in my mind is your ability to recognize and effectively narrate duality the idea that two things can be true. Eight duality the idea that two things can be true. So let's explore this concept on the somatic level with a brief practice.

Speaker 1: 12:32

Despair and hopelessness are in the air that we're breathing. So, being with that for just a moment, you might scan your body, asking yourself where does hopelessness live or reside or visit inside of my soma? Deep breath in Is it in your head, your mind, your thoughts? Is it in your mouth, your throat, your words? An additional breath in is it in your shoulders or your back or your chest? Is your posture indicating the hopelessness and defeat? Is it in your shoulders or your back or your chest? Is your posture indicating the hopelessness and defeat? Is it in your gut? A bracing, a tightening in your core? Being compassionate and gentle as you explore this scan. Deep inhale Is it in your legs or your feet with cramping or aches, a sensation of wanting to just run.

Speaker 1: 13:58

Book it Non-judgment here. Our body is always communicating to us and as we source from that, I want to offer a somatic reflection or exercise for how we might be able to convert some of the energy sensation or feelings associated with hopelessness to shift those towards critical hope. So I'd like to invite another freestyle practice that I'm calling duality declarations. My thinking behind this is that if we can source into despair and really be with what's here, then we can actually acknowledge the duality that's anchored more in hope. So in a moment I'm going to invite some breathwork and encourage you to journal a couple of despair statements that we can then convert into duality declarations. Check me out duality declarations. Check me out. This might sound like I feel overwhelmed by my many responsibilities. And then I might add a second part to that that says yet I know how to prioritize. Notice I'm not saying but Yet is the hope? It's the opening, it's what's possible. Is the hope? It's the opening, it's what's possible.

Speaker 1: 15:22

Divided politics are exhausting, yet many community leaders are advocating effectively. Okay, one personally from my private life Cleaning up mounds of toys daily is taxing. Yet this sacred stage of parenting is short and treasured. So let's see if you can source into some of that yourself, again, taking a couple of deep breaths, audible exhales, scanning and sourcing into the body, the mind, the spirit. What are you feeling hopeless about? You might grab a pencil or a pen and just externalize a couple of those thoughts. Our data shows we have so far to go with literacy. Yet see if you can put an additional clause on the back of that sentence that helps you see the possibility and the hope. Yet my black students actually made significant accelerated growth last quarter, or yet I'm getting really high quality coaching and PD. On this topic, my practice is growing. For those of you in nonprofits or in the philanthropic space, I feel nervous with financial uncertainty in the field. Yet we are building a community of loyal funders and donors who care deeply about our mission.

Speaker 1: 17:13

Doing this little exercise, this journaling somatic and, if you're driving, just a mental exercise of starting with despair but then tagging on that duality declaration, this is a daily practice that we could engage with to really cultivate critical hope inside of us, inside of our teams and with those we love. You might shake out your hands, wiggle your shoulders and come back to this exercise if it felt meaningful to you, whenever you need it, because critical hope is free. Students eager to learn and excited to grow your practice as a change leader. You may be wondering what are some of the ingredients to cultivating critical hope. I've got four I'm going to share with you that I believe apply to the average change leader, and then on the back end, I'll tag just a little bit of a personal note, something that may or may not resonate with y'all, but is true for my leadership and I'm happy to lift the veil on that.

Speaker 1: 18:30

Those four areas are mindset, communication, consistency of practice and then solidarity, or we might call it horizontal hope. So let's break it down Our mindset as human-centered leaders, as change leaders, as folks who want to again inspire folks to trust into their own gifts, into the team and into the co-created systems and initiatives in our schools and our nonprofits and our nonprofits. Mindset is key and I want to name again that we're not seeking to inspire. That might happen, it may not, but it's less about charisma and more about conviction. And in order to speak with authenticity and conviction to your team, it means you need to believe that there is something possible, that's greater than all of you, that's coming in the future. It's your North Star, the mission and the vision that you're working towards.

Speaker 1: 19:34

So part of what's critical here for leaders is that when your team is feeling down, it's likely a mirror of your own hopelessness meter. And so I wonder and I invite you towards doing some journaling or reflection to think about in this moment, what do I believe is possible? Okay, because our mindset seeps through in the way that we talk to others, in our behaviors, in our written notes to teams and memos, in what we invest in, in our priorities, our budgets, right. And so mindset is critical. You have to believe that y'all are on your way towards a new solution, that you're making a change so that you can communicate it with authenticity. Now, as I mentioned communication, let's go a little bit deeper there, because it's critical. This is a huge lever in how we create and sustain critical hope in our organizations and our teams. It's really critical and this is a concrete skill. But I often talk to my team and in our professional development rubric for evaluation there's mention of strong whys. So as you open a training or as you start a coaching meeting with your team, or if you're introducing a new concept in professional development in-house.

Speaker 1: 21:06

The framing is really significant. It links back to perhaps the mission or vision or values in North Star, but it's also this key endeavor to balance realistic hardships to what's working. Another way for me to say that is what's the ratio of this is hard versus. We're on our way and this is how we know. It's not about convincing them, it's about actually showing them that their hard work, that their effort, is paying off. It's sort of a constant uplifting of what is going well. It's validating, it's compassion towards what is here and accepting that, but it's also celebrating with sincerity the gains that you're seeing. I often say to my teams and I know that Julie, who's on our board, also says this, but good leaders are repeaters Selena on our team often says I borrow from your confidence and critical hope, lindsay, and I do that a lot. I almost have your voice in my head encouraging me when I maybe don't believe I can do it. So your communication, not just your framing, but your ongoing narrative, is really essential to build morale and keep motivating folks forward. What do I mean by that?

Speaker 1: 22:35

Third one Consistency of practice. Y'all know how I feel about this. But change leaders shoulder up and take action. No, you're not in every single initiative. Change leaders shoulder up and take action. No, you're not in every single initiative. But if you are having exposure to the front line, it allows you to not only stay grounded enough to have credibility and the trust of your team to follow you towards the mission, but it also lets you progress monitor and not fall into the trap of toxic positivity.

Speaker 1: 23:02

Because if you're out there and you're trying on the very work you're encouraging your team to do and it's repeatedly not landing, that's a great indicator that something needs to change. You don't want to be sitting up there on your throne, disconnected from the work, and saying to folks keep going. This is the solution. You need that street data, if you will. So your consistency of practice, your fidelity to the work, having enough of a hand inside of various program lines, ensures that you can, with specificity and, again, authenticity, encourage your team to keep going. Encourage your team to keep going.

Speaker 1: 23:48

And last, I think of solidarity and horizontal hope, because change leaders know they can't do it alone. It's very important to attune to the isolation or silos that your staff might be in and encouraging them to build relationships and feedback lines and encouragement across colleagues so that when you're not in the room and when they're collaborating they're building each other up. They're the culture keepers that you need in your organization to sustain effort. So those are some of the ways that I think about how to cultivate critical hope, and I'll just add on this last layer that again, may not resonate with all of you, but to me critical hope can't be removed from my spiritual practice. As a woman of faith who both believes in a higher power than me but also understands the extraordinary power of my ancestors, past and future, I draw from that as inspiration. And when I have an anchored understanding that my ancestors persevered through some of the most challenging realities, then I know I can get through anything. And so if you are a person of faith or if you have cultural connections to your ancestral guides, those are assets, and I know that for so long we've been told we need to keep that separate from our professional sphere, but I just can't, I won't, I don't want to. It doesn't work. What works for me is saying I'm not alone in this. There is a path forward, and for me second Corinthians is something that's even tatted on me. But for we walk by faith, not by sight. I don't always see the way forward, but I know that if I keep on the straight path, if I stay in integrity and focus, if I work hard and uplift those around me, that we have all we need. That's my belief.

Speaker 1: 25:54

So here are two homework assignments if you're down to play. The first, as I mentioned earlier, is doing some journaling on your leader mindset. And if you're not in a formal leadership title, that means nothing. Leadership isn't about title, it's about behaviors, it's about mindsets and it's about effort. So all of you are leaders. If you're listening, I want you to do some journaling on your mindset. Where do I feel hopeless and what is the associated critical hope? You might even journal some more of those duality declarations. Think of your mindset as something that can be toned just like vagal toning. Work out your mind Actively, cultivate resilience. That's your work, because when your mind's right, everything else will follow. The second thing and this one may feel vulnerable, but if you are in a leadership, facilitative, coaching, supervisory role, etc. I want you to actually ask a co-leader or a colleague to do an observation and feedback of you framing a hard topic. Teachers are observed all the time in giving feedback and it grows our practice as educators. When's the last time you asked a peer to listen closely, take notes, perhaps even record you speaking to a hardship inside of your organization or your team and noticing the ratio of hopelessness to critical hope? Try those on.

Speaker 1: 27:40

Usually I do affirmations y'all, but I'm feeling especially inspired after taking a day off yesterday bless my PTO and going on a field trip with my fourth grade daughter and her class to the Women's Museum for the Black Panther Party Sidebar. Did you know that 66% of the Black Panther Party were women? Bet you didn't. Because media and who gets the shine and the light is not always who's on the ground doing the work. So shout out to all of the women in the world right now that are deciding that's enough, we're going to change things.

Speaker 1: 28:15

So, instead of affirmations, I wanted to share a couple of the critical hope statements I saw in this museum. I'll share two or three, and then I actually want to tell you a couple of quotes from fourth graders that wrote poems yesterday in the park Osa. Russell White, a Black Panther, said we need to love each other and embrace each other. There is no me without we. Madeline Carol Rucker, a Panther, said Not everyone is meant to be on the front lines. It doesn't mean you can't be revolutionary. And Pamela Ward, pius, another Panther said you can and will make a difference. If you set out to do that, then you will make a difference. Check out these fourth grade brilliant leaders, three little black girls from Oakland, california.

Speaker 1: 29:13

Arietta's poem was about climate change and she wrote Earth's soul is in chains, but we are the people pulling it back. Ama said love is an expression of power and Layla, my daughter, wrote we can do anything because anything is possible. Expand your love to the world, expand your hope to the people. Light is you. You are light.

Speaker 1: 29:54

So, as we come to a close, I just want to share that critical hope is one antidote to despair. It doesn't override the unpleasant sensations or feelings. In fact, it embraces them. Critical hope demands us to be with the wholeness and the fullness of life and human expression. It's complex, uncertain. It's duality. Two things can be true Critical hope is honoring traditions and history, while also freedom, dreaming forward with innovation.

Speaker 1: 30:24

It's marrying reality with possibility. It's the audacity to keep trying. So be audacious, keep fighting, not just for your mission but for your team's morale. There's a path forward. Breathe, rest, then get after it again. I know things feel hard right now, but thank you for tuning in. Continue to come back to Gather at the Well, because we have more just like this. We're all in this to learn and grow and we can do it together. Hope to talk to you soon. Have a beautiful, beautiful day, all right, y'all. Thanks for coming to play at Gather at the Well, the podcast that teaches. If you like this conversation, come visit us online at theteachingwellorg and hit us up on our socials. Remember to visit the podcast page to download a couple of useful tools to get your life and heal up your work.