Place Corps Friday Digest: Grow
Flowers and Snow and Blue Skies
It's Friday!
It's mid-April and we've had both snow and sun showers; soon May blooms will be here. We are falling through new and old patterns together which reminds us of a quote by Rebecca Solnit, "When all the ordinary divides and patterns are shattered, people step up to become their brothers’ keepers...And that purposefulness and connectedness bring joy even amidst death, chaos, fear, and loss.” Listen to her interview with Krista Tippett on the On Being podcast here; we've been playing her words on repeat this week.
This past week, we moved our bodies with the digital guidance of Sandrine. The cohort worked together on campus to beautifully place the garden posts. Next week, we will be coming together on the 30th for an online Just Transition Primer with Good Work Institute to be followed by a PC Debrief. Then soon it will be final presentations!
Our word for the week is GROW. A word we are relating to our baby seedlings sprouting their first leaves. A word we are relating to our growing sense of personal purpose and direction. Something inside us stretching towards a light beckoning us forward in new directions. We are considering how it seems that a new plant can appear in what feels like minutes and yet we can’t watch it’s nascent movement with our bare eyes. This has us considering what are those conditions that encourage that sprouting--that sudden burst from darkness to light? Is this not similar to the sudden tug of our heart forward where we moments before felt lost or uncertain? It seems that faith accompanies growth or maybe it is grace? Perhaps we are each like husks of a precious seed blowing around, rolling around, until we land in our place--where the relations are such that all of a sudden we sprout.
🌻 Note From An Educator 🌻
Excerpt from Reflections by Maya Greene
" Since being informed that I will no longer be coming to work—and indeed, should stay at home, I have been feeling waves of anxiety and emotional distress that far surpass anything that I have felt before. And yet, strangely, I have also found myself able to meet each of these waves, prepared to be pulled under, then amazed to find myself still standing once it has crashed ashore. Now, over three weeks since I began to work at home, play at home, and essentially always be at home, I find myself questioning how I manage to stay standing amidst the pounding waves.
The truths that I’ve found within this line of inquiry are these: It is not the organization and list-making. It is not the stocked pantry and propensity for meal planning. It is not the regularly scheduled calls with my family and friends, or even the quiet moments of being held by my partner. Rather, it is something emergent, internal, and deeply heartfelt. It is self-compassion.
In Kristen Neff’s research on the subject, there are three core components of self-compassion: mindfulness, common humanity, and kindness..."
“When all the ordinary divides and patterns are shattered, people step up to become their brothers’ keepers...And that purposefulness and connectedness bring joy even amidst death, chaos, fear, and loss."
― Rebecca Solnit