Very few of us have our hands on the real levers of power. We lack the money and influence to write policy, create tax codes, move resources around or start and stop wars. Most of us spend almost all of our time going along with the macro trends of the world. We might hate the implications of a fossil fuel economy, but everything we do is firmly embedded within it. We might despise colonization, but we know that we are alos guilty of it in many small ways, The reason challenges like that are difficult to resolve is that we …
A beautiful afternoon here on Bowen Island where the annual polar bear swim took place. More than 100 people gathered around a beach fire at Bowen Bay and on the count of 10 plunged into the chilly waters. Finn and I did it as is our ritual, cleansing ourselves for the new year. Happy New Year to you all.
Have you been following the #IdleNoMore movement? Well I use the word”movement” but what I really mean is “occupation” because that is what it is…indigenous people deeply occupying traditional lands and traditional languages, and being joined by settlers. It is another example of the active decolonization that has been going on largely unseen in indigenous communities for many years now. These efforts take all kinds of shapes and forms but they are almost always initiated by youth and Elders together. They are rarely led by traditional indigenous organizations or leaders. The purpose of things like this is awakening. It is …
Several little realignings in my life have meant that this blog has gone through one of it’s periodic wanings. Also, I have been enjoying some time off and some time developing projects which aren’t ready to be written about yet. But I’m still here, watching calendars tick over, watching the rhythms of light and darkness oscillate in everything, and committed more than ever to a kind of gratitude of the present moment that seems helpful in a world where we are increasingly disenfranchised from everything that lies outside the skin (and some that lies within as well.) Meg Wheatley has …