Keeping both eyes wide open
What we must do to maintain our own ability to be a force for good in the world.
It’s necessary, these days, to do this very tricky dance of keeping one eye warily watching the news…while the other eye focuses on whatever beauty and peace can be found in one’s immediate surroundings.
Given the harsh assault of the daily news (coming to me mostly via sources outside the US legacy media, which has become disgustingly supine lately), I have to work harder to look through that other eye—to recognize and appreciate simple pleasures that I no longer take for granted, like the oranges, kiwis and papaya I am able to savor in midwinter thanks to modern global trade; like the well-crafted colored pencils I procured from France and Germany to make my drawings; like the glittering fairy lights I got from China, to brighten up the winter darkness in my home.
We Americans, in my lifetime, have benefited from an explosion of global trade. I remember in my childhood all oranges and grapefruits came from Florida, and we never had exotic fruits like kiwis or papayas.
Now we have blueberries and grapes all winter from Chile; lettuce and string beans from California; delicious coffees from the Caribbean and Africa; teas from China and Southeast Asia…the list goes on.
Global trade has been a miraculous thing.
But it has also amped up climate disruption. All that shipping, all those flights, all those factories, forests being cut for agriculture…you know the story. It’s also led to destruction of local agriculture and industry, and the exploitation of workers.
Again, which eye do we see through?
I love having fresh fruit in the winter; I know it’s not a good thing for the planet that I do.
I’ve been watching the “America First” machinations of the Project 2025 people with both eyes open.
I know full well that it would be better for the planet if trade were relocalized.
Making China into the world’s factory, from which so many goods are shipped so far, is not a good for anything but the Chinese government’s bottom line.
The US would benefit from reinvigorating its own industry and agriculture, particularly if it put more people to work in jobs that felt meaningful, productive and paid a decent living, and if it mandated and supported organic, biodynamic, green-energy-fueled industry in all sectors.
However, that is not at all what the current would-be dictators have in mind. They could care less about climate disruption or making people and the planet healthy and happy.
Our government has been taken over by narcissistic thieves who care only about their own power; by megalomaniacs who think of each day as an opportunity to bully: "Before taking office, Mr. Trump told top aides to think of each presidential day as an episode in a television show in which he vanquishes rivals" (Brian Stelter, quoted by Heather Cox Richardson).
Musk is the same, but worse because he is younger and wilier than the aging, often confused president. The fact that he let hackers loose to penetrate and corrupt US government computer systems is just unbelievable!
But who could have believed that entire US government agencies could be “deleted” overnight; that thousands of US government employees could be fired at will; that the US, which has a bloated military budget greater than the next nine countries’ military budgets combined, might actually consider 19th-century style invasions and land grabs now, in the 21st century.
Indeed, the list of incredible things that have now come to pass could go on and on. Just follow the day’s news—though you have to look outside the legacy mainstream media, which has apparently rolled over.
Most incredible is how the Republican Party is on board with this wholesale massacre of the US Constitution and the rights it enshrines.
George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and FDR are rolling in their graves right now. We need some of their fighting spirit today!
We do have some spitfire Democrats, and a few anti-Trump Republicans, who are fighting back.
We have some brave federal judges who are holding the line in the courts.
We have some courageous independent journalists, including some who are quitting legacy media and going out on their own, who are speaking truth to the disgusting power grab happening before our eyes.
I am watching them out of one eye, and cheering them on, while at the same time looking out of the other eye to maintain my own sanity so I can show up for my work each day—teaching my classes, coaching writers, doing my own writing and editing, bringing “books that make the world better” into the world through Green Fire Press—with a modicum of grace.
I think of this as “informed self-care.”
I definitely need to stay informed about what is going on. I can’t and won’t bury my head in the sand or go back under the covers.
But if I spent all day, every day, in a state of outrage and anxiety, I wouldn’t last long—my nervous system would just blow its circuits and go kaput.
This is a challenge for those who would write to right the world.
We who care about stewarding humanity through this crisis must recognize how important it is that we not become transmitters for all the fear and anger exploding throughout the world.
Take it in, but don’t send it back out.
Instead, practice classic tonglen, breathing in suffering, breathing out compassion, holding the well-being of all life on Earth in your embrace, seeing with both eyes wide open—and writing what you see, feel and know to be true.
Yours in the turbulence of this present moment,
Jennifer
Starting this month!
Come write and speak your truth with me in this powerful four-session Bioneers Learning online class!
In this hands-on class hosted by Bioneers Learning, we’ll look deeply at some of the major social and environmental issues of our time and consider how outstanding leaders have used creative expression to make a difference.
Inspired by these models, you’ll work on expressing your own ideas with confidence, clarity, and eloquence, in both writing and public speaking, coming away with a portfolio of writing, a recorded talk, and a circle of kindred spirits cheering you on.
Four Fridays, Feb. 28 - March 21, 2025, live online from 12 - 1:30 pm with recordings available.
To write and speak our truths, we have to recharge our creative fuel cells, right?
I’m leading three in-person retreats this spring, designed to help you ground, center and reconnect to your own creative spirit.
Read on for details, and come join me!
Meet me in Petaluma, California on March 30 for a daylong writing retreat!
Come on retreat with me and Birth Your Truest Story co-host Audrey Kalman along the Petaluma River in northern California. We'll write, share, grab lunch at a neighborhood cafe, and amble to the river for inspiration. Join us to:
Trace your inspiration back to its source
Follow the twists and turns of your creative flow state
Learn to ride the rapids of your creative life and float gently through the quiet stretches
Write together and share your work
Savor the group energy of our Birth Your Truest Story creative community
March 30, 2025. Early registration ($139) runs through February 28.
Meet me in Rowe, Massachusetts for a weekend retreat in the beautiful month of May!
Come on retreat with me in the budding springtime setting of Rowe, Massachusetts, where we’ll write to explore our deep connections with our Mother Earth, Gaia, as well as how the potent theme of mothering and nurturing has shown up in our lives.
Rowe is a magical retreat center nestled in the northern Berkshire mountains, with trails through mature forests bordering a tranquil lake. It’s rustic in a way that encourages communion with the land and camaraderie with the kindred spirits in our circle.
May 9 - 11, 2025. Sliding scale tuition and a variety of accommodations on site. I can’t wait to share this special experience with you!
Come Riding & Writing in Iceland with me in June!
Riding & Writing in Iceland!
June 2 - 8, 2025
The creative tonic of Iceland has to be experienced to be understood.
Come experience the body, mind and spirit glow that comes from Riding & Writing in good company in a beautiful place, warmly hosted by our friends Gudmar and Christina at Hestaland.
Click here to find out more and see beautiful photos from my past Riding & Writing trips to Iceland.
Friends, it’s my pleasure and my passion to support you as we stretch towards living our lives creatively and to the fullest.
The motto of my author consulting business is “Writing to Right the World,” and the motto of my book publishing business, Green Fire Press, is “Books that Make the World Better.”
If these intentions resonate with you and you are working on a book, or have one in mind, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Supporting creative people bring their work more strongly out into the world is one way I try to make the world better.
Thank you Jennifer. This is a beautiful call to the way of mystic activism. I swirled around in ‘it’ last night then fell asleep listening to one of my favorite podcasters who helped me return within. I feel like now is a time for lining up the lifelines that anchor us to sanity and light while we also venture out into the swirling dark murky waters that threaten to take us down. We need to be strong enough to be able to swim and stay afloat in the turbulence that is while also having at the ready those things that will keep us breathing fresh air while looking at the blue skies above. Your words are medicine for these times. Thank you😘