How are you doing?
Lots of the things I’m reading, watching, hearing seem to be nudging me in a similar direction right now. You too? Here’s a patchwork of my inputs, and an attempt to bring the threads together…
Thought food – aka. links
- Osher Günsberg talked with author/journalist Sarah Wilson, on his podcast, about many things, including climate anxiety, personal growth and carrying a shallow bowl. [I finally finished – and loved – her first non-recipe book, on anxiety, First We Make the Beast Beautiful. Currently mid-way though her second, more outward focussed, book This One Wild and Precious Life.] Here’s her article with suggestions for when you get climate overwhelm.
- Soak up Stan Grant talking to Osher – an elegantly articulated, eye-opening perspective on racism and the state of the world.
- On Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps. << Start there where he talks to Osher, then check out Szeps’ own podcast by the same name. We dearly need to learn to have constructive conversations with people who don’t have the same experience and opinion as us.
- Bridging the Divide is a wonderful series of conversations from David Byrne’s website Reasons to be Cheerful. I’ve found it uplifting hearing people acknowledging each others’ differences and common humanity … people with different views can be friends! (There’s a series of five Bridging the Divide videos, you should be able to find them from that link.)
- Wil Anderson interviewed Julia Gillard, Australia’s first woman Prime Minister. She’s co-written a book on Women Leaders too.
- This episode of TED RADIO HOUR on Climate Mindset, suggests amongst other things that the ‘current white house situation’ is an event. Like a wave. But we do well to know that this is not the current. The currents are good and deep and this will not change them. I got a few pangs while listening, but if you can make it, listen through to the end when the climate commentator artist performs their piece.
I do love ‘meeting’ people – and ideas! – by hearing them on podcasts … by the time I’ve listened in on a good chat, I get a fair sense whether I want to hear more about what they’re doing!
What if we review our approach to the situation?
I’ve mentioned Stasia’s Style School before [it’s not just about the clothes] and Stasia’s fantastic rants on instagram.
In the post Style School community I’ve joined, we’re learning about and practising clothing sustainability in October. Stasia is enmeshing earth and environment with getting dressed congruently. Along with the sizeably grim facts about the damage done by fast fashion and such, she made an important point I’d not properly pondered before:
It’s important to do sustainability sustainably.
To keep doing this revolution/task/shared marathon – and hopefully undo the damage we’ve already done – here on earth we must find the JOY in sustainability … Then, our environmental actions become … [drumroll] … sustainable!
What if that were true of all the sustainability and big issues?
- Eating local and fresh? Amazing quality! Joyful! Low transport costs! Increase soil fertility!
- Washing our clothes and drying them in the fresh air? Joyful! … Mmm, that sun-fresh vitamin D smell …
- Being friends or at least respectful with everyone even if and when they look or think or behave not-like-us … Joyful! Enriching! Bridging!
- Valuing, respecting and adorning ourselves with minimal earth impact – playing with op-shopped finds & handed on treasures – along with self respect and even love? Powerful! Low impact! Joyful!
- many other things … I won’t try to list the world here…
Walking the path with a ton of weight on our shoulders is slow, and like stop-start driving, is not good for our engines. When I get overwhelmed I need to shut it all down, step back, and re-boot, and it takes time. See also: Sarah’s shallow bowl, and going back to the start to top it up again.
How to do this without losing our minds and our hearts
- Author Barbara Kingsolver says: “If you love your biodiversity you can save it”. [I created a colouring page for adults of this quote. Check it out here, it’s the second on the list.]
- Sonya Renee Taylor, whose book and site are both entitled The Body is not an Apology, says (and I greatly paraphrase here) we need to love and honour ourselves and our bodies, know we’re human. She calls it Radical Self Love. Because when we love ourselves and our bodies, we’ll respect others’ too. The book is dense and amazing. You might have a wait getting it from the library. Here’s a podcast with Queen Brené to catch yourself up relatively quickly. It’s full of good stuff.
- I like the way Austin Kleon brings the threads together here, too.
Maybe I’m oversimplifying, but here goes …
We need to fall back in love with our selves, our goodness, and our good world.
And be kind to each other.
Then work together to unf*ck the mess we’re making.
I didn’t expect to like this so much …
The current season of The Bachelorette Australia! There are a bunch of otherworldly dresses, suits, helicopter rides and other activities – and a mansion! – and there’s also kindness, respect, fun and emotional intelligence here that I’m digging. The Bachelorette sisters were on Osher Günsberg’s podcast… I’ll let you google that yourself :)
Where are you finding wisdom, groundedness, kindness and joy? What’s making sense to you amidst the ‘business as usual’ info-fog of doom?
Love and peace,
Meg x o
PS I’ve printed a small extra quantity of 2021 Garden Cat Calendars, so if you see them while out and about grab one, or, order yours here and I’ll post it to you.
PS2 Sign up for my emails! They’re fun, human, arty, good vibey … and I’m about to announce a pre-Xmas print sale just for subscribers.
PS3 I’ve been feeling better since changing to a non-fluoride toothpaste. It’s better to skip the fluoride for auto-immune / thyroid / anxiety peeps. More info from journalist Sarah Wilson on fluoride here.