“We need to act from our hearts and bring our whole selves to the work,” says Sheila Metcalf, “including our fears, sadness and grief.” She’s talking about an upcoming workshop being presented on Nov. 11 and 12 on Lopez by students of Joanna Macy, nationally-known activist, writer, eco-philosopher and Buddhist. Sheila participated in a similar session last spring. “This workshop felt like what is needed,” she says. “And it’s not another tired meeting where we try to figure out what to do and leave discouraged.”
Titled Active Hope: The work that Reconnects, the workshop will be co-led by Mary Ann Percy, a 30-year student of Macy’s who “has been carrying a concern for Earth” since she was a child. “I knew from the age of 19 I was to be an advocate on her behalf—to educate and exhort people toward changing their minds, hearts, and behaviors to be in more harmonious relationship with her, and to reduce the destruction engendered by our actions and attitudes.”
Co-presenter Gretchen Sleicher From Port Townsend is a singer- songwriter and facilitator of The Work That Reconnects. She has worked with Macy for the past 12 years and delights in weaving group singing and harmony-making into her workshop facilitation. Both women find Macy’s teachings and processes to be “powerful and effective tools toward positive shifts of consciousness and behavior.”
“We live in challenging times, Percy adds. “How can we respond and continue our work in the world without burning out, becoming numb or losing heart? We’re hopeful that workshop participants will, through their willingness to experience and honor our pain for the world, emerge with greater hope and confidence in our ability, singly and in community, to make a positive contribution toward creating life-sustaining ways of living on Earth.”
Ron Metcalf, one of the event organizers, hopes participants will come away with increased energy, commitment and resilience and perhaps find ways to continue these connections and processes into the future. “Whenever I mention Joanna Macy’s name, people are very responsive. More than 25 people have already signed up,” he says.
Andre Entermann is one of them. “I don’t know much about Macy’s work yet, but the idea of feeling our pain as it relates to the state of the earth and learning how to move to action from that place was enough for me to sign up,” says Andre. “I have some shame connected to feeling more pain for the earth than for its people so I’m curious about the work that reconnects.”
“It is possible to face the mess we’re in without going crazy,” Percy asserts. “As we come together and move through our gratitude and our despair, we come to see we each have a part to play in the healing of our world. We rise to the occasion, activate our sense of purpose, and discover strengths we didn’t even know we had, finding the courage and solidarity to act – co-creating a way of life that enriches rather than depletes our world, one small step at a time.”
The workshop will employ experiential practices, music, movement, inspirational readings, teachings and simple rituals. The work is engaging, invigorating, and provides tools for dealing with the challenges of living in these difficult times.
Copies of “Active Hope: The Work that Reconnects,” are available at Lopez Bookshop. The workshop are Friday, Nov. 11 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 12 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. To sign up, email Ron Metcalf at metcalf42@gmail.com. Child care available.
The workshop is sponsored by Lopez Island Friends Meeting and Transition Lopez.
