Hi all,
Our reading continues with Pain for the World Is Normal, Healthy and Widespread.
In the first section of this chapter we looked at ways we resist the impulse to act fears for the world. A wise, old witch gave Parsifal a jolt, but we’ll need to work to melt ours. Joanna offers us her work in grounded in Buddhism, interconnectedness, and systems theory and the concept of negative feedback loops to help us see that our distress is a healthy reaction. Our unease is an alert to respond, to correct our path.
A central part of the author’ Work That Reconnects is that opening to our pain, and expressing and sharing it is freeing and enlivening. This is especially critical because negative or depressing topics has become culturally taboo, the more we avoid such feelings, the less we feel we can cope with them. And it blocks our ability to respond. Acknowledging that many of us feel overwhelmed with the volume of climate information available, the authors utilize the language and techniques of grief and loss counseling to help us “digest” it, ideally in community with others.
Joanna writes, “Honoring our pain for the world is a way of valuing our awareness, first, that we have noticed, and second, that we care… A starting point is just to hear ourselves speak what we already know.”
In that spirit, because this material was written for workshop use, I suggest that we complete the following sentences of concern by speaking them out loud, either to ourselves, or to another person. As an option, you might record your answers and share them here, if you are comfortable with that.
* When I see what’s happening to the natural world, what breaks my heart is…
* When I see what’s happening to human society, what breaks my heart is…
* What I do with these feelings is…
If you find this exercise brings up strong feelings, the author’s advise: “if feelings flow into us from the world, they can also flow back out again— they don’t have to get stuck in us,” and present the technique of Breathing Through, which is somewhat like Tonglen.
We don’t have the benefit of doing this in a workshop environment, But we are fortunate to read this book together. How was your experience of these exercises? Aside from the obvious physical differences, does speaking your answers differ from writing? Does Breathing Through help process grief?
Gassho,
Naiko
Our reading continues with Pain for the World Is Normal, Healthy and Widespread.
In the first section of this chapter we looked at ways we resist the impulse to act fears for the world. A wise, old witch gave Parsifal a jolt, but we’ll need to work to melt ours. Joanna offers us her work in grounded in Buddhism, interconnectedness, and systems theory and the concept of negative feedback loops to help us see that our distress is a healthy reaction. Our unease is an alert to respond, to correct our path.
A central part of the author’ Work That Reconnects is that opening to our pain, and expressing and sharing it is freeing and enlivening. This is especially critical because negative or depressing topics has become culturally taboo, the more we avoid such feelings, the less we feel we can cope with them. And it blocks our ability to respond. Acknowledging that many of us feel overwhelmed with the volume of climate information available, the authors utilize the language and techniques of grief and loss counseling to help us “digest” it, ideally in community with others.
Joanna writes, “Honoring our pain for the world is a way of valuing our awareness, first, that we have noticed, and second, that we care… A starting point is just to hear ourselves speak what we already know.”
In that spirit, because this material was written for workshop use, I suggest that we complete the following sentences of concern by speaking them out loud, either to ourselves, or to another person. As an option, you might record your answers and share them here, if you are comfortable with that.
* When I see what’s happening to the natural world, what breaks my heart is…
* When I see what’s happening to human society, what breaks my heart is…
* What I do with these feelings is…
If you find this exercise brings up strong feelings, the author’s advise: “if feelings flow into us from the world, they can also flow back out again— they don’t have to get stuck in us,” and present the technique of Breathing Through, which is somewhat like Tonglen.
We don’t have the benefit of doing this in a workshop environment, But we are fortunate to read this book together. How was your experience of these exercises? Aside from the obvious physical differences, does speaking your answers differ from writing? Does Breathing Through help process grief?
Gassho,
Naiko
aprapti
Comment