Pati Beaudoin

I realized about 20 years ago that I am firmly committed to helping whatever community I’m in shift from an orientation of exploitation to an orientation of stewardship. As I swept my mind from childhood to present in that moment, I remembered my first Monopoly game, and the disappointment of having to lose a player who’d lost all his money. I was winning, and I suggested we find a way to share the income from properties. From then forward I played Monopoly as a co-op game. That shift is representative of my orientation toward money and other forms of power — I am much more comfortable in my own skin if all forms of power are equitable.

Having been in both the minority and the majority in the standard democratic process, and having been blocked by the consensus process, I was delighted to learn about Sociocracy. I have been learning it in the context of cohousing. The more I improve my own use of Sociocracy, the better I appreciate its comprehensiveness and its flexibility. Also, the more I learn the more questions arise.