ENDLESSLY BRILLIANT WILD RESILIENCY

We’ve held a few gatherings now called Ecogrief Healing Circles: Honoring Our Pain and Resiliency (now monthly in Humboldt, and soon an Online Circle), and it is clear: there is a dire need for these gatherings. But another thing is equally clear: this isn’t just about ecogrief, the pain and fear we feel, this is about love and connection. It’s about reclaiming our birthright as humans, which is community, which is joy/awe/pleasure in nature’s beauty and abundance and all that life has to offer, which is our natural Wild Resiliency.

“Pleasure and Joy is our birthright!” one of the participants exclaimed. Damn it’s good to hear that. Yes, we feel the grief. Do we have to/should we live in it/from it/wallow in it all the time?We feel it to move it through and become more whole. The sunset and sunrises still offer their stunning tributes and pull us from our slumbers. The wind still has secrets. Connection to others stimulates us. The wild river meanders through our souls.

We gather in Circle to hold the Uncertainty. And in this approach of humility is an acknlowledgment that we don’t know. We don’t actually fully know EITHER that EVERYTHING’S FUCKED, or EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT. We are fallible, with limited knowledge. The blessing of that is that we can come back to the simple things that our heart wants and needs to do anyway for the cultivation of belonging and healing and the co-creation of the world we want.

“I’m always moved by the authenticity with which people choose to show up in circle. Each time I have left with gratitude for the deep exchange, which unfailingly includes so much compassion and love for our planet and each other, renewing hope and instilling a sense of community around the challenge ahead of us.” Kelly Noble, Wild Nature Heart Circle Co-Facilitator

We gather to hold the breaking down of the old and the birth of the new simultaneously. Witness the new huckleberry bushes, ferns, and mushrooms out of the rotting redwood. Life/nature wants to thrive. It knows how to find balance. Wild Nature (and in our own bodies) teaches rebirth moment to moment, daily, seasonal, epochally. RESILIENCY – both our own and Earth’s. Endless.Brilliant.Wild.Resiliency.

“I loved the experience! A combination of spiritual and therapeutic and the natural beauty couldn’t have been better. I felt like I shared so much that was important that I could join a circle with more people now and do more listening and thinking about what others are going through. Thanks again!” –Nan S., participant.

The thing that continually floors us and makes us keep coming back: How we are medicine for each other. How much wisdom, heart, perspective, creativity, each of us brings.

We gather to hear each others’ stories and experiences. This is fundamental human need: to witness and be witnessed in our authentic truths. At the end of each sharing, we say, “We hear you.” Because we do.