![]() ![]() People smiled and acknowledged one another. Even in that shift, you could feel the mood in the room immediately warm up. ![]() One exercise that was useful for such a large group followed soon after and that was to mill about the room first of all, as if in a hurry, caught up in our own self-importance, and then to slow down and become aware of others around us. Of course we’re aware of that in theory, but in practice, honestly, I think of the air I breathe as very much right in front of my nose, so this was a useful reminder! But here, we were reminded that the air we breathe is the same air that the trees breathe and all living things near and far breathe. One of the first meditations was simply to breathe deeply, something that I’ve been practicing to ground myself in the past two months or so. It’s hard to convey the power of the workshop and I just have a brief summary of a few of the activities that resonated with me. Finally, we go forth with passion, clarity and compassion, and the spiral begins again. Seeing with new eyes stems from understanding our relationship to the past and future and helps us shift our perspective from individual events and actions to understanding how systems work – we taste our power to change and to effect change. In honoring our pain, we explore our own compassion for ourselves and others as we acknowledge feelings that accumulate with the drumbeat of bad environmental news here we begin to see the immensity of our hearts and minds. The work begins with gratitude to calm us and stimulate our empathy we all have much to be thankful for and sharing that helps us connect to one another. In a series of meditations and activities, we explored the spiral of the work: gratitude, honoring our pain, seeing with new eyes and going forth, described in the book, “Coming Back to Life,” by Joanna Macy and Molly Brown. The workshop was led by Karina Lutz and Jim Tull, and was attended by about one hundred participants, which shows how hungry people are for this kind of work. ![]() It was described as “a perspective-changing, life-affirming workshop designed to help us face and feel our deepest, most healing responses to the world’s crises within a supportive group context.” Ultimately, the goal was to help us take part in what Joanna Macy calls, The Great Turning – away from an industrial growth society into a life-affirming society. On Saturday I went down to Rhode Island to participate in a 4-hour workshop on “ The Work that Reconnects,” inspired by the work of Joanna Macy. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |