Equanimity, Emotional Intelligence, and Sustainable Social Change

Jared Karol explores the intersection of social change and personal healing, illuminating the power of equanimity, self-awareness, and connection to foster sustainable activism and transformative inclusion.

In this episode of The Inclusion Bites Podcast, Joanne Lockwood welcomes Jared Karol for a deep dive into the complexities of healing, social change, and the art of navigating difficult conversations. The discussion opens with the concept of equanimity, exploring how composure and self-awareness can transform the ways we engage in challenging and emotionally charged scenarios. Joanne and Jared dissect the dynamics between shutting down and fighting back when faced with marginalisation or oppression, highlighting the nuanced ground needed for genuine dialogue. They examine the progression from fervent activism to sustainable advocacy, referencing historic figures and drawing parallels to personal growth within social justice work.

Jared is a personal development coach at the intersection of healing and social change, helping individuals show up consciously, courageously, and sustainably. He describes his superpower as bringing equanimity to tough conversations, thus fostering honest engagement without resorting to combative or withdrawn responses. Sharing his lived experience as the son of a gay father who died during the AIDS crisis, Jared openly discusses his own journey through privilege and marginalisation. He emphasises the importance of inner work alongside outward activism, advocating for mindfulness and healing as critical components of lasting impact. His approach is practical and compassionate, applying Buddhist philosophy and emotional intelligence to bridge divides within the sphere of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Throughout the episode, Joanne and Jared consider the balance between passion and purpose, the pitfalls of performative outrage, and the role of emotional regulation in creating societal change. They discuss the need to move beyond binary confrontations towards connection, empathy, and sustainable advocacy. A key takeaway is the transformative potential of healing-centred activism, where inner reflection and equanimity enable inclusive, impactful conversations that avoid perpetuating conflict. Listeners are encouraged to critically reflect upon their own “how” in creating change and subscribe for more honest, nuanced discussions that inspire positive action.

Viral Topic: Woke Journey Reflections: “I’d say for the first, you know, eight to 10 years, I was that, you know, newly woke white guy who was telling everyone how unwoke they were until I decided that that wasn’t really effective or sustainable, which I’m sure we’ll jump into many, many stories of how and why and how I, how I shifted.”

Viral Topic: The Urgency for Social Justice in Education: “But to your point, yeah, we see that the world is unjust, is inequitable, is unfair historically and contemporarily on a micro and macro, on a local and global level. And we want change yesterday.”

Viral Topic: The Value of Diverse Roles in Social Movements: “Not all of us are and can be frontline protesters, rebel rabble rousers. There needs. There need to be caretakers, educators, coaches, storyteller.”

Personal Growth Without Major Events: “We have our own things. We have our own local things, our own personal things, our own, you know, but they’re just as important. They’re just as.”

Viral Topic: From Trauma-Informed to Healing-Centred Work: “The gist of the book is switching from trauma informed work to healing centred or healing centred, healing engaged. And so his first of the four pivots is from lens to mirror. Right. So the lens is the world is inequitable, unjust, unfair, we need to change it. Here’s what we’re going to do. So it’s not like that goes away or that’s wrong, but the mirror is okay, how do I need to change? What am I doing or not doing that’s contributing to the chaos, to the, you know, to the status quo?”

Finding Healing After Loss: “And when he died I decided, and it wasn’t with the clarity that I had, but I decided that I would do the work that I described before to understand the injustices, but I would also do my personal work and develop equanimity, develop, cultivate the healing for myself so that I could do the work more effectively.”

Viral Topic: The ‘Cultish’ Mindset in Modern Groups

Holding Complexity Without Self-Destruction: “how do we, how do we hold all of this complexity and nuance without self destructing, without giving up or compromising our values, but also without self and self destructing and causing more chaos, more destruction to others.”

Viral Topic: Social Media Algorithms

Viral Topic: Healing Through Connection and Letting Go

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