YOU can create civity.
Here are some ideas and tips you can draw from to make it happen.
Practice civity yourself
The essence of practicing civity is bringing respect and empathy to our interactions with other people – especially people we don’t know very well.
➤ You can practice civity anywhere, anytime, with anybody.
➤ The more you practice civity, the easier and more natural it becomes.
➤ Practicing civity is fun!
Remember:
➤ Be intentional about seeing the other person as a person
➤ Be authentic and engage with your heart
➤ Put difference on the table to move past fear to openness
It’s possible to connect with people we might view as “other” simply as fellow members of our community.
Seed civity
You can also “seed civity” by giving other people the experience of connecting across difference.
When you or any of us practice civity, civity grows.
Noted sociologist Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot writes, “Respect generates respect; a modest loaf becomes many.” Similarly, civity generates civity. Connecting relationally with people across difference invites and elicits civity in others and creates a civity culture.
Start seeding civity with the 8-minute online interactive video Civity Storytelling: Expanding the Pool of People Who Matter. View it yourself; share it with others!
Learn more about civity
Deepen your practice by learning more about various aspects of civity.
Reflecting on your civity practice helps you “settle in” to it. And once you see the world through a civity lens, you may start noticing people creating civity in even unexpected corners of your life.
Here are some resources created by us:
Here are some resources created by our partners in this work:
Did you take a step on your civity journey? Tell us about it!
