Digby posted this on his blog Green Futures a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it bore re-posting before we all go home for the holidays. The end of one year and the beginning of a new one is always a time to reflect, take stock, and re-energise. Of course, you have to survive the frenzy leading up to whatever main event you celebrate (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus…), but there is that lovely pause between that and NYE where you might get some quality time staring out the window and thinking about the next 12 months. When you get that moment, read this (including – and especially – the artwork it links to).
Wishing you a wonderful holiday with your loved ones, and a just, restorative and rich 2014.
-M.
by Digby Hall
A beautiful piece around the psychology of hope…
It’s easy at present to succumb to the temptation of criticising the intentions of Australia’s government – they want to repeal our carbon pricing scheme, lower our emissions reduction targets and generally commit to being a bench-warmer in global affairs.
But if you’ve read this blog you’ll likely know that Newton is a mate of mine, and I often refer to his Third Law – the one about ‘equal and opposite reactions’. So for all the head-in-the-sand hyperbole that we’re seeing at the moment, there must be (by definition) an equal measure of positivity and vision and hope out there somewhere.
And I know where it is.
It’s you.
Hope is that feathered thing perched on your soul (Emily Dickinson)
When doing some reading about place-making I came across this short but intense piece about the psychology of hope, about ordinary dreamers dreaming big and acting on that lump in the throat or tear in the eye… about acting now.
This is a moving piece about the decisions we make in life, about living with compromises and their long term effects, and about course corrections. I have a lot of friends who are around the 20-year mark in their careers, and I know at least some who might be feeling exactly this way right now.
If you do want a prosperous future, if you do want a clean future for us and our kids, if you do want to be an Aussie and keep punching above your weight in the global ring, then let that feathered thing take flight. Dare to ‘imagine immensities’ and set about making them come true… you are surrounded by like minds, those who are creating the equal but opposite force.
Have a read of this short piece about hopethen get to work. Now.
