🌳 Field Notes - 24 December 2023
Today is Christmas Eve. As I write a sliver of pink morning light is creeping into the corner of my attic room. A candle flickers beside me. And here I am. Returning to this practice - of writing, sharing, a practice of resilience.
This world, this life, is messy. This world, this life, can feel difficult, even impossible, to be with. Painful, horrifying, overwhelming, magical, beautiful, confusing. At every turn we find crisis, conflict and uncertainty - interconnected complexity which can leave us feeling dizzy.
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” - John Muir
This year I settled into an acceptance of where we find ourselves. I hear myself saying to people ‘the train has left the station’ - a notable shift from my long held stance of ‘climate optimist’. In my heart, I know our collective future is bleak. We missed the moment when we were able to turn around. And, also, I believe that the human spirit, our love and our imagination, is the greatest tool we have to navigate what is to come. The work of our generation is to wake up, to cease our collective sleep walking, and remember our way back. To be together differently, to even thrive together, despite everything.
To change everything, we are going to need to everyone, and perhaps the one thing I know how to do best is witness. To read, listen, to engage my senses in an attempt to understand. To pay attention to.
And so Strong Back, Soft Front is my humble offer. A curated space for resources, practices and community to support our resilience, adaptability and leadership in this moment of transition. A place of guidance, support and inspiration for your journey. I’ll do the research & reading so you don’t have to. My only hope is that it can be a tiny light in a broken world.
Thank you for reading, and please do introduce yourself here - we need each other more than ever.
💡 Inspiration for the week ahead… supplies that you can read now or store away in your backpack for later when you most need them
🎧 Listening: this powerful & confronting conversation between
& one of my beloved teachers Meg Wheatley is essential listening. Its not a conversation for the faint hearted, Meg is very direct on her belief that we are in the midst of societal collapse. But this is not a tale of apocalypse or any encouragement to turn away, or inward, to stock your under stairs cupboard with cans of food. It is a passionate call to be truly in service of those closest to us, before it’s too late. Meg is a wonderful elder, and this is a deeply thought provoking conversation. Sarah’s podcast is a new favourite of mine. I’ve recently enjoyed her conversations with philosopher Bayo Akomalafe, climate activist Paul Hawken and philanthropist Berry Liberman.
Reading for ‘the hush’ (the apt name gives to the time between Christmas & new year) I am learning so much on Substack at the moment. There is a freedom, a fluidity and a quality to the writing here which makes for a restful online experience - who knew that was still possible! Recently I have loved
Ways to make life more gentle in
- Ruth’s new book Weathering is already top of my to-read list for 2024 😍- in
Monk mode isn’t a retreat, it’s a personal prison by
Wise Hope part of
’s writing on her journey to become an ordained Zen Buddhist. ‘wise hope is rooted in a more profound, granular engagement with life's difficulties. Wise hope acknowledges the uncertainties of life, reminding us to prioritise our steadfastness in the face of adversity.’The Magic of Internal Family Systems by
Design Principles to Guide the New Constellations Mycelium Fund, by
on the - New Constellations create thes beautiful ‘audio encounters’ - like mini podcasts, often recorded whilst walking outside, with many wise people - Satish Kumar on the power of our connection to nature, Casper ter Kuile on the vitality of modern spirituality & on bridging divides in challenging times and others.Learning from & supporting the Youth with my friends at
and essentially everything that
writes in - touching on themes including the climate crisis, society’s meta-crisis, personal development, spirituality, mental health, connection to the natural world, physical embodiment, recovering from overachievement, and more.
Watching:
describes the ‘meta crisis’ as ‘your daily experience of the world falling apart and your incredulity to how weird everything is becoming’. The deep love & commitment that went into this beautifully made documentary shines through, and I can think of much worse things to do with 30 minutes of your time this week than be in the wise company of Jonathan.
and finally, I urge you to take three minutes to listen to a prayer for this moment - 3 mins of vital importance from V (formerly Eve Ensler) and Bayo Akomolafe - read by
🙏🏻
‘..may we use the word becoming, becoming, becoming as our central mantra and accept everything that it brings in its path’
Shared with love & gratitude for my new class mates at Karuna Institute - 17 courageous souls who recently stepped over the threshold of a 5+ year journey to become Mindfulness Based Psychotherapists. I am looking forward to all that we will learn and unlearn together.
Wishing you unexpected moments, soothing moments of stillness and all the possibilities of a new year, big and small.
- Stella 🙏🏻
Ps. Welcome to everyone who has joined us in the last few days - you can introduce yourself here. And if you find are enjoying this newsletter, then I would be thrilled if you could tell a few friends about us.
Pps. For the best experience, I would encourage you to download the Substack App onto your phone or tablet. There are a so many amazing writers and thinkers publishing here -
beautiful Stella, loads in here and thank you for the shout outs
Thank you for the introduction to Jonathan Rowson. As you suggested, 30 minutes very well spent. 😊