Searching for the spiritual sources of shared stewardship: where can we find the courage to stay human in dehumanizing times?

What inspires people to become better stewards of the systems that shape our lives together? This chapter explores the power of shared stewardship, with an emphasis on routine practices and personal courage needed to accept loss when navigating toward an equitable, thriving future. ReThink Health’s fieldwork reveals three clusters of essential stewardship practices: Connecting Across Differences, Creating Transformative Opportunities, and Learning and Adapting. All have inner, spiritual dimensions that enable people to move beyond fragmented, narrow self-interest toward wider interdependence. Reflective engagement and close accompaniment are pivotal, based on insights from stewards themselves. The authors offer a memorable formula that highlights the exponential power of relationships and the imperative to fit across contexts. The chapter concludes with introspective questions that guide stewards to find within themselves the courage to let go of outdated mindsets and habits as they become better ancestors in an intergenerational movement to thrive together.