News Avoidance

We have a habit in our household,  the tv goes on at 7 and we watch the news.  But every so often,  the news is so bleak,  or enraging,  or overwhelming,  that I just can't bear it,  and I mute it.  Of course,  in sunny, safe Sydney,  this is an option I can take.  But I've been thinking about news avoidance,  because so many people, both here and New York, are saying/doing the same thing.  And I guess I want the news channels to start thinking about how they engage with us,  and what the news is doing to us and to them.  We need better options about knowing what is going on and then dealing with it.

It reminds me of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel.  I read it way back when and found it so overwhelming in it's portents that I had to put it down and pause for a bit between reads.  It's so well written and I completely believed it,  but I felt powerless before it.  Almost thirty years later,  we've caught up a bit to his rage and knowledge and most accept his viewpoint as true,  but we still have to deal with the next step - what to do about it!

Joanna Macy,  Buddhist and deep ecologist,  has an approach called 'Active Hope.'  She doesn't want us to be reassured and comfortable,  but neither does she wants us to be despairing and distraught.  Instead,  she wants us to see what is true and real,  and then work within our world to make it better.  She writes in her website - in the face of overwhelming social and ecological crises, this work helps people transform despair and apathy into constructive, collaborative action.

I very much want to have a better world and do believe that collaborative, constructive action is the way to go. So I'm off to find a corner of the world where I can help and make things better...

Wishing you the same calming, foundational energy!

Happy Holidays

Each year around this time I write a little holiday message message. This year feels more poignant to me.  The sheer horror of what the community in Sandy Hook has had to endure and will continue to endure in years to come… how their loss is our loss.  It just makes me so sad and heavy inside.

I don’t want to go on a gun rant here.  I know why people want guns. They want to feel safe; to feel that they can protect themselves should need arise.  But it seems very clear to me that the more guns a society has, the less safe the society is as a whole. 

 

This Christmas I want us to know that there is much we can’t control in this universe, and while guns give the illusion of control, they don’t actually provide it.  I want us to cuddle our loved ones a little closer, laugh and play and read and engage with the people and beloved animals around us, and have a joyous, spiritual holiday…

I will be away for the next 2 weeks.  If you would like a reading with me I am booking for the second week in January.  I look forward to reading for you then…