Integrity Archives - Bhavana Learning Group

Why “Good Faith” Matters Now More Than Ever

In a previous essay on coaching, politics, and democracy, I explored what it means to treat democracy as a living conversation—and offered practices to sustain it. The foundational practice included a simple, but essential commitment: good faith.

Since then, sociopolitical tensions—both globally and at home—have only intensified. What once felt foundational now feels indispensable. In every effort, conversation, and even disagreement, good faith establishes the conditions under which we remain whole and understanding remains possible—even in the presence of opposition.

Ezra Klein captures this principle in a recent New York Times column:

Conversation is not a reward DOWNLOAD PDF

By Tony Zampella|2026-06-03T14:31:00-04:00April 20th, 2026|Blog, Communication, Leadership, Practice|0 Comments

Keeping Care Alive, part 2: Practices for Working with Being

In everyday language, care is often treated as an emotion. We speak of caring as a feeling we have toward people, causes, or outcomes. Sometimes it is framed morally—as kindness or concern—and other times therapeutically, as empathy or emotional availability.

In Part 1 of this series, I argued that something essential is lost when care is reduced to sentiment. I also distinguished between two different ways of understanding care: psychology and ontology. Psychology interprets experience—explaining feelings, motivations, and patterns of behavior. Ontology, by contrast, discloses the structures that shape how experience is possible in the first place.

From DOWNLOAD PDF

By Tony Zampella|2026-06-03T14:31:16-04:00February 17th, 2026|Blog, Mental Models|0 Comments

Care Beyond Emotion, part 1: Toward the Structure of Being

A client once told me they were exhausted because they “cared too much.”

They had tried caring less. They set boundaries, reduced commitments, and even stepped back from a role they loved. Nothing changed. The exhaustion returned, now accompanied by confusion and quiet self-doubt.

What shifted the conversation was not a discussion about balance or priorities but a different kind of listening. I stopped asking what they wanted and began noticing what they were protecting. Again and again, they stepped in when others hesitated. Again and again, they made themselves indispensable at the expense of their own coherence.

It wasn’t a failure of DOWNLOAD PDF

By Tony Zampella|2026-06-03T14:31:24-04:00February 2nd, 2026|Blog, Mental Models|0 Comments