Thank you, Adam! Almost 60 years now, I am finally surrendering to the truth that I might have "prevented untold suffering if [I'd have] returned sooner to [my] post." It's my pup, Ramona, who has finally helped break the spell that accomplishing western society's goals does not make a life. So, like you have so wisely offered, I am collapsing in [to close friends] and gathering in our collective complicity and incapacity. The grief of time lost, relations untended, vulnerability averted for pride's sake has left a pit of loneliness and an ocean of tears.
I do believe that our individual and collective grief need a place of ritual expression and holding. My teacher, Francis Weller, has been loyally holding these ritual spaces for decades. Now, he is training other grief tenders to do the same - a "Grief Ritual Training" through the Centre for Climate Psychology.
Thank goodness for Gwynn and her tenacity! Thank goodness for her human helper! Surely, this is it, Adam, right? There's nothing else we need but this willingness, on all levels?
I've been pondering the very same question... in a sense. I'm grappling with how I continue to do the humble work of being a good human in a political landscape so torn and foreboding. In other words, how can little, old me make a difference when the challenges seem insurmountable? I keep returning to trying not to let fear drive me away from doing the little things that matter. Perhaps it's the little things that will end up making all the difference.
I think you're totally on to something here! The "little ole me's" that pray for community, tribe and belonging to show up in the little moments to be present with others, to hold space for our people, to hug and hold our people and to share meals with our people. No longer allowing the fear to dictate our next move... Which is much easier said than done if we choose to scroll a social media or news feed. Some days the challenges really do seem insurmountable, but when we lean into one another, continue showing up for our neighbors and community, for me, it makes it all a little easier to carry. Thank you for the reminder that perhaps it really is just the little things that end up making the difference.
Adam, I’m so happy Gwynn made it through that ordeal. And you, too. I like the idea of “collapsing into each other” where I hear the word collapse not as in breaking apart but more like relaxing into because it’s become too difficult to stand alone together. We must come closer to each other.
Thank you, Adam! Almost 60 years now, I am finally surrendering to the truth that I might have "prevented untold suffering if [I'd have] returned sooner to [my] post." It's my pup, Ramona, who has finally helped break the spell that accomplishing western society's goals does not make a life. So, like you have so wisely offered, I am collapsing in [to close friends] and gathering in our collective complicity and incapacity. The grief of time lost, relations untended, vulnerability averted for pride's sake has left a pit of loneliness and an ocean of tears.
I do believe that our individual and collective grief need a place of ritual expression and holding. My teacher, Francis Weller, has been loyally holding these ritual spaces for decades. Now, he is training other grief tenders to do the same - a "Grief Ritual Training" through the Centre for Climate Psychology.
It is courageous to admit such awareness, David. That we could have done more and we didn't. Thank you for your note.
Thank goodness for Gwynn and her tenacity! Thank goodness for her human helper! Surely, this is it, Adam, right? There's nothing else we need but this willingness, on all levels?
It's the good Samaritan story, I guess. But we don't readily encounter our neighbor lying in the ditch through the newsfeed.
'the need for nimble navigation' - lovely.
Thank you, Vanessa.
I've been pondering the very same question... in a sense. I'm grappling with how I continue to do the humble work of being a good human in a political landscape so torn and foreboding. In other words, how can little, old me make a difference when the challenges seem insurmountable? I keep returning to trying not to let fear drive me away from doing the little things that matter. Perhaps it's the little things that will end up making all the difference.
I think you're totally on to something here! The "little ole me's" that pray for community, tribe and belonging to show up in the little moments to be present with others, to hold space for our people, to hug and hold our people and to share meals with our people. No longer allowing the fear to dictate our next move... Which is much easier said than done if we choose to scroll a social media or news feed. Some days the challenges really do seem insurmountable, but when we lean into one another, continue showing up for our neighbors and community, for me, it makes it all a little easier to carry. Thank you for the reminder that perhaps it really is just the little things that end up making the difference.
Thank you, that really means a lot. ♥️
Adam, I’m so happy Gwynn made it through that ordeal. And you, too. I like the idea of “collapsing into each other” where I hear the word collapse not as in breaking apart but more like relaxing into because it’s become too difficult to stand alone together. We must come closer to each other.