Suzanne, this is so amazing. I'm so delighted that you're sharing your class. I think what I've been searching for for the past few years is spiritual resilient but I just haven't had a word for it. I'm so enjoying this first lesson and looking forward to all the rest. Thank you!
Hi Suzanne - We met at Holden Village. I wanted to follow up and let you know what I took away from that amazing week. My best friend and I are going through the Field Guide to Climate Anxiety together and talking about it chapter by chapter. It's been a wonderful experience for us. She has convinced me to write an article I've been thinking of for a couple of years about why and how I choose not to use Amazon.
Beautiful quote! Thank you so much for sharing this. Language is a perfect metaphor, and really helps to get at that idea that somethings simply don't translate--and thus how vitally important it is to preserve those languages and perspectives. They are so incredibly precious! This comes up in my Native American studies courses in terms of preserving Indigenous languages. And I love this notion that one has a mother tongue, but one can also learn the languages of others. Fabulous.
This is wonderful. I found your site I think through Gen Dread. I started out in the environmental field back in the late 90s and switched to minority education but it's always been super important to me (I'm that crazy lady carrying compost and textile recycling for 30 blocks or on the subway). The urgency around the warming and knowing that we're now not going to meet the Paris agreement (meaning - we've been told - world-on-fire catastrophe) is pretty hard to swallow! I'm almost a bit jealous of people who ignore it and just get on with their small day-to-day concerns. This weekend the continued drought and now wildfires in NY got me to a point of absolute panic and dread. Even sort of admitting how bleak it felt was terrifying. This really resonated for me: "eco-grief that manifests like a bad sunburn: We’re all feeling prickly. Hurting. Hyper-sensitive. Afraid to bump up against anything, dreading the pain that will result. "
Thank you so much for joining this conversation. Oh, I feel you! It is so hard sometimes, and nothing triggers me quite like wildfire smoke. It's huge. And then the sources of hope are often so small and so simple--that flower growing up through the pavement. But it is wonderful to meet you! It is so meaningful and encouraging to find kindred spirits, even living far away!
Suzanne, this is so amazing. I'm so delighted that you're sharing your class. I think what I've been searching for for the past few years is spiritual resilient but I just haven't had a word for it. I'm so enjoying this first lesson and looking forward to all the rest. Thank you!
So glad you found it helpful! It's a joy to know you're out there, and part of this community of folks trying to figure things out.
Suzanne, it’s great to follow along! I’m grateful for the resources/interviews you’re pointing us toward.
Hi Suzanne - We met at Holden Village. I wanted to follow up and let you know what I took away from that amazing week. My best friend and I are going through the Field Guide to Climate Anxiety together and talking about it chapter by chapter. It's been a wonderful experience for us. She has convinced me to write an article I've been thinking of for a couple of years about why and how I choose not to use Amazon.
Thank you for your leadership. ~Marcia
Thank you so much for this, Marcia! If you feel so moved I’d love to read the piece when you’re ready to share it!
Great post! Thank you for writing and sharing it.
Thought you may appreciate this too... I love this quote Rabbi Rami Shapiro:
“To me, religions are like languages:
no language is true or false;
all languages are of human origin;
each language reflects and shapes the civilization that speaks it;
there are things you can say in one language that you cannot say or say as well in another;
and the more languages you learn, the more nuanced your understanding of life becomes.
Judaism is my mother tongue, yet in matters of the spirit I strive to be multi-lingual.
In the end, however, the deepest language of the soul is silence.”
In understanding that each religion is a language, I’ve also come to understand how each language uses stories to convey spiritual principles.
Beautiful quote! Thank you so much for sharing this. Language is a perfect metaphor, and really helps to get at that idea that somethings simply don't translate--and thus how vitally important it is to preserve those languages and perspectives. They are so incredibly precious! This comes up in my Native American studies courses in terms of preserving Indigenous languages. And I love this notion that one has a mother tongue, but one can also learn the languages of others. Fabulous.
This is wonderful. I found your site I think through Gen Dread. I started out in the environmental field back in the late 90s and switched to minority education but it's always been super important to me (I'm that crazy lady carrying compost and textile recycling for 30 blocks or on the subway). The urgency around the warming and knowing that we're now not going to meet the Paris agreement (meaning - we've been told - world-on-fire catastrophe) is pretty hard to swallow! I'm almost a bit jealous of people who ignore it and just get on with their small day-to-day concerns. This weekend the continued drought and now wildfires in NY got me to a point of absolute panic and dread. Even sort of admitting how bleak it felt was terrifying. This really resonated for me: "eco-grief that manifests like a bad sunburn: We’re all feeling prickly. Hurting. Hyper-sensitive. Afraid to bump up against anything, dreading the pain that will result. "
Thank you so much for joining this conversation. Oh, I feel you! It is so hard sometimes, and nothing triggers me quite like wildfire smoke. It's huge. And then the sources of hope are often so small and so simple--that flower growing up through the pavement. But it is wonderful to meet you! It is so meaningful and encouraging to find kindred spirits, even living far away!