“The biggest gift you can give is to be absolutely present and when you're worrying about whether you're hopeful or hopeless or pessimistic or optimistic, who cares? The main thing is that you're showing up, that you're here and that you're finding ever more capacity to love this world because it will not be healed without that.”
― Joanna Macy, Active Hope
Strategies to Cultivate Resilience
STRATEGY #1: Practice Self-Care
"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare." ― Audre Lord, Civil Rights Activist
Strategy #2: Hold Space for Your Climate Emotions
“The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe.” ― Joanna Macy, Active Hope
STRATEGY #3: Look for Evidenced-Based Hope
"By focusing our attention so heavily on what's broken, we are reinforcing a starting-line fallacy that makes it feel as if nothing useful has ever been accomplished and that all the hard work lies ahead. We need to pry ourselves free from this disempowering rhetoric and situate ourselves within the positive environment trends that are already well established and yielding the successful results we need to grow." ― Elin Kelsey, Hope Matters
Check out the list of Solutions Journalism resources below.
STRATEGY #4: Build Your Self-Efficacy through Meaningful Action
“Small is good, small is all…Small actions and connections create complex systems.” ― adrienne marie brown, Emergent Strategy
Not sure what action to take?
Fill out this climate action venn diagram.
Or try this guided systemic constellation.
STRATEGY #5: Practice Solidarity
“Many of us have been socialized to understand that constant growth, violent competition, and critical mass are the ways to create change. But emergence shows us that adaptation and evolution depend more upon critical, deep and authentic connections…Emergence emphasizes critical connections over critical mass.” ― adrienne marie brown, Emergent Strategy
Resources for Eco-Grief and Climate Anxiety
Books
A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet by Sarah Jaquette Ray,
Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think Is Critical to Solving the Environmental Crisis by Elin Kelsey
Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change by Leslie Davenport
Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in with Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power by Joana Macy & Chris Johnstone
The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall
Emergent Strategy by adrienne marie brown
Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul: How to Change the World in Quiet Ways by Dorcas Cheng-Tozun
Body and Earth: An Experiential Guide by Andrea Olsen
The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief by Francis Weller
Podcasts
EcoPsychology
Stories & Poetry
Music
In the River by Raye Zaragoza
I Rise Up by Beautiful Chorus
Resilient by Rising Appalachia
The Keep Going Song by The Bengsons
Light of a Clear Blue Morning by the Wailin’ Jennys