Yeah me too! Though hearing the state of the world or particular things sometimes fires me up to investigate, and into action, people’s response to the current ecological news  isn’t always welcoming (haven’t they heard not to shoot the messenger)…..to avoid pain one time i put my head in the sand like an ostrich but the sun burnt my bottom ( i decided not to show you a selfie of that) …another time I hit my head against a tree (see image above) but I’m not a wood pecker so it really hurt my beak….

One thing I have learned when I am feeling a bit overwhelmed or depressed about things it can be good to share with someone who will just listen, not to try too to make it better for me or fix it, some things aren’t so easily fixed, however being truly just listened to can be very helpful. I feel we all could do with a listening buddy or ally…..being heard can help one feel more spacious about things and potentially bring fresh understanding….and if you don’t have a person who is good at this, you could, as one wise Elder suggested to me, and i personally have found very helpful, share your troubles with a bush or a tree, or a stream. One could also share with an animal companion (pet), even with a loved cuddly toy or imaginary friend…because they often really know how to listen, without interrupting also!!!

One of my unsung heroines (i think I’ll have a section for these) Joanna Macy looked into the root of the word apathy (“yeah whatever” attitude and inaction) and found at root the word had to do with “fear of suffering”….sometimes I and others, perhaps you also, don’t want to look at things?

It might hurt, we might have to make a change, an adjustment that could lessen our comfort, challenge our story of who we are and how have thought we might live…so i think I’ll stay on the sofa*…and sometimes if actively reflecting this can be the best action…(deep reflection before action can lead to wiser action), though if on the sofa i’m just web surfing, I’m beginning to suspect a walk may be better for me…

As Environmental Investigators, sometimes we come across hard news, behavior which are impacting not just hoped for future generations, but directly people and other forms of life which we hold dear. Others may also react strongly to our simply wanting to look into things, not realizing that finding less harmful ways of living and doing things is ultimately in all our interests….

Even as we wake up to our total dependence on and inter-relatedness with wider life, the fantasies of an unlimited industrial growth society have been running for a long time, and even as its unsustainability reveals itself and unravels, it is going to take all of us bringing our heads, hearts, good will, imaginations and deep listening together to further “the Great Turning,” as Joanna Macy calls it towards working with and within the bounds of life, for all our relations…..

Together we can do this, and as Arne Naess, who coined the term “deep ecology” said, “the frontier is long,” indicating that there are many different ways to be proactive for our ecological home. For some direct protest will be the way, for others actions in the form of repairing rather than buying something, or how we travel, or what we write or draw, what we give our time to, and one key I will elaborate on more soon is simply listening….

Till then here is a link to Joanna Macy sharing a twelfth century Tibetan prophecy about the Warriors of Shambala, introduced by Dr Chris Johnstone, author of a wonderful book with her “Active Hope” which could be a very good gift for any ecologically anxious adult in your life!! Perhaps the Shambala Warriors time has come and they are already among us….

• *also see https://dexdipper.uk/2019/10/16/inactivists/