On pain, suffering and resilience

Lessons from a painful month

A month ago, on December 2, I was in an accident that left me in great pain, unable to walk without a walker, dependent on the kindness of my family to take care of my basic needs.

I managed nevertheless to show up a week later for the Writing to Right the World summit, and those conversations with brilliant worldwrights Maria Sirois, Nina Simons, Manda Scott, Cynthia Jurs and Osprey Orielle Lake sustained me, taking me out of my shell of pain to focus on the pain of the world, and my commitment to being an active agent of anima mundi healing.

Now, a month on, I am back on my feet, able to walk and drive again, still feeling a bit fragile and cautious as my body continues to remember the pain that certain movements caused just a few weeks ago.

This kind of bodily harm is a humbling experience. I’ve been reminded yet again that I can’t take my precious body for granted; that I need this miracle of flesh and blood to move me through the world and make it possible for me to enjoy the work and play that gives my life meaning and purpose.

It also puts me closer in touch with all the tremendous suffering of our world—the words “suffering” or “pain” no longer abstract but viscerally, powerfully felt in my body, mind and spirit.

I am grateful to the amazing resilience of my body, with its remarkable ability to knit itself back together and put itself back in the game.

I’m grateful to my family for such loving care, and my friends for cheering me on in recovery.

A knock like this opens the doors of my heart wider to empathy with others who are struggling, and gives urgency to the practice of tonglen that underlies my “writing to right the world”—breathing in suffering, breathing out lovingkindness, over and over again.

Each of us is like a cell in the body of our great Mother Gaia, who is suffering in so many ways in our time. If we tune our hearts and minds towards healing, we can become part of her immune system, gallantly strengthening her resilience, bathing our little corner of the world in beneficent love and light.

Self and world. Drawing by J. Browdy, 2024.

All human innovation happens first in the mind’s eye, which ignites the heart’s passion to bring that dream into reality. We are worldchangers—just look around you and you see evidence of that everywhere.

How will you change the world today? How will you become an agent of healing?

The essential first step is setting your positive intentions, turning your dreams into small but achievable goals.

Here are some of mine:

> I will focus on the beauty outside my window this morning, rather than blasting myself with the pain of the world before I’ve even fully woken up.

> I will use my gifts and talents to add some measure of brightness to the world today, even if it’s only by cooking my loved ones a good meal.

> I will be grateful to my body as the essential vessel for my spirit in this lifetime, carrying me through thick and thin and demonstrating its power to heal and spring back from injury.

> I will send my heartfelt good wishes out into the ethers, praying that every living being who suffers on this planet—human and more-than-human alike—will regain their good health and well-being.

Yours in the crucible of life,

Jennifer

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Cultivate your creativity with one of my writing workshops!

My writing workshops in purposeful memoir are intended as creative recharges, a chance to learn and grow with kindred spirits in nurturing places.

I have several opportunities coming up, locally in the Berkshires, online or internationally!

Explore the garden of your life in a special writing workshop series at the Berkshire Botanical Garden this winter!

Come meet other writer-gardeners and brighten up the winter season with the creative bloom of memoir writing in good company!

We’ll meet on four Wednesday mornings, January 29 - February 19, on the lovely campus of the Berkshire Botanical Garden, for a series of memoir writing workshops taking off on the theme of gardening.

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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.

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Come Riding & Writing in Iceland with me next 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.

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Giving a workshop at Edith Wharton’s home, The Mount, on “Telling the Truth Through Fiction.” This workshop is available as a self-paced class at Birth Your Truest Story, here. Photo by B. Docktor.

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.