It can be hard to sleep at night. We feel the fear for the future in the pits of our stomach, every time we are hit by the uncertainty of what lies ahead. We feel disbelief raging in our heads every time we walk into a supermarket and can’t find a fruit that isn’t wrapped in plastic. We feel hot anger in our bones when the media fails to tells us the truth that we’ve had to learn for ourselves. We feel frustration in our throats when we try to talk to friends and family about our concerns for the planet, but they respond blankly or awkwardly, as if it's taboo, or a conspiracy, or simply not an emergency. And above all we feel it aching in our hearts when we see that today’s young people will have to fight for survival on this irreversibly damaged planet we have passed on.

We believe that facing and feeling our grief is essential. It enables us to move into both gratitude and action. There is a Global movement of environmental consciousness happening and there are wise teachers and great thinkers to guide and inspire us. Joanna Macy is an activist, academic, author and buddhist scholar who initiated a body of work called ‘The Work That Reconnects’. It facilitates moving through our grief, in community with others, in order to recognise that our grief springs from our deep love for life and our gratitude for all that is beautiful in the world. In bringing us back into relationship with each other and with the self-healing powers in the web of life, this journey motivates and empowers us to reclaim our lives, our communities, and our planet from corporate and colonial rule. It helps us to transform despair and overwhelm into inspired, collaborative action. 

Even in lockdown, it is possible to take part in a ‘Work That Reconnects’ workshop.