Are we as a species doomed to repeat our patterns? Power-over, displacement, exploitation, harm? Or can we practice our way into the possibility that we are the world—which means we can change?

This is Hanna’s invitation from the TEDx stage. Not external change (new continent, new career, new relationship, PC to Mac). Real transformation. The kind that requires meeting what she calls “monsters”—limiting beliefs, fear, past pain and trauma. The crossroads where we choose: resist or avoid and stay trapped, or move through discomfort toward something new.

The talk moves through stories that land with humor and punch. Animal welfare workers discovering they’d “had it wrong.” Managers naming their fears instead of buckling up. Students making art from the painful patterns inherited through generations. Each one an example of what becomes possible when we stop deferring hope to outside forces and engage the difficult work of becoming.

This talk happened before Hanna’s ALS. Before terminal illness made transformation urgent. But the invitation already contained everything: “I want to invite you not to run. And not to numb. When you feel the pain coming up, don’t go to overwork or peanut butter or whiskey. Feel the pain.”

Hanna painted the slides for this talk herself—images full of deep playfulness partnering with serious ideas. (These paintings are the basis for a future illustrated book.) The whole thing demonstrates what she teaches: we can choose to practice, a little at a time, the skills that help us stitch together a better world.