TURNING THE PAGE: COMMUNITY RECOLLECTIONS FOR SEPTEMBER

posting by Jana

The following is a recap of content shared in the Conversation Community of the Cosmic Person Facebook group during September 2017. The group is open to everyone interested in sharing inspiration, connection, and resources for Ecozoic Living! As you'll see, it's been another rich month in Cosmic Community.

What has the Cosmic Conversation – and the journey of Ecozoic Living shared in this place of cyberspace – been about in September 2017?

Believing that a recap makes things ‘sticky’, as in brings them back to mind so they have another shot at sticking, and that reviewing content can spark fresh insights, here’s my go at summing up the conversation last month, lightly catalogued and categorized.

Cosmic Quotes featured lots of 1-minute entries with nature doing the talking because I was away in beautiful places doing lovely things…the places inspired the content; the lovely things distracted me from digging up quotes.

Nature Therapy got quite a guernsey this past month, in part because both Cosmic Person Lucy and I were at training to become guides for the practice (and Cosmic Person Pauline took part in our very first public guided walk – cheers, Pauline, for making the drive from Melbourne to Warburton). Cosmic Person and Certified Nature and Forest Therapy Guide Alex posted a link to an event she’s running in November: a Nature Remedy Retreat, which looks absolutely amazing.

Thanks to Cosmic Person Lucy for her blog entry about nature’s curative powers, which may be news to Westerners but is at the heart of the human-Earth relationship of indigenous peoples around the world.

An article was posted this month about rivers and forests as potent health tonics, by Rebecca Lawton at Aeon Magazine.

Fresh definition was given to a number of terms and ideas, including:

· the idea of sauntering (thanks to John Muir and Cosmic Person Bek)

· the idea of planting ourselves at the gates of hope: truthtelling, resistance, and joy in the struggle (thanks to Victoria Safford and Cosmic Person Jeremy)

· the new (now oldish) movement towards new consciousness in the West that sees the earth as a single organism and recognises that an organism at war with itself is doomed (thanks to Carl Sagan and Cosmic Person Pauline)

· the generative, purposeful idea of learning to see in the dark (thanks to Joanna Macy and Cosmic Person John)

· the powerful narrative of the seven sisters dreamtime story that rivals any and all the great narratives of creation (thanks to the National Museum and Cosmic Person Isabel)

· the beginner’s guide to biogeography (thanks to thoughtco.com and Cosmic Person Mandy)

· the three creative dynamics of cosmogenesis (thanks to Glenys Livingstone and Cosmic Person Pauline)

· the pathway to true belonging (thanks to Brene Brown and Cosmic Person me/Jana)

· the switch from problem solving to ‘mobilization of creative vision’ (thanks to Abundant Community and Cosmic Person me/Jana)

Opportunities to engage with experiences related to Ecozoic Living were offered, including:

· Nature Remedy Retreat offered by Cosmic Person Alex

· Pachamama Alliance ‘Get Grounded’ event suggested by Cosmic Person Riki

· Go Deep Green online course for sourcing renewable energy for loving the Earth created by CCP

Celebrations of Ecozoic Living and Cosmic Community were tagged, including:

· a feature on ABC’s Gardening Australia on The Mulch Pit, a fabulously mutually beneficial permaculture community garden in Darwin, highlighting the cultivating leadership of Cosmic Person Lucy

· a little clip of an installation for Splash Adelaide featuring a visual and audible experience of the cosmic ray bombardment that surrounds us at all times

· an invitation to share photo albums of close observation of place (you’re encouraged to scroll the page, find the entry, and add your own!)

Commentary on the Earth system this month included a blog post on the CCP website of my reflections on personal experiences of hurricanes and what it felt like to be half a world away as my home region was bombarded by three massive storms in a row.

New offerings from the Community of Cosmic Person this month featured the launch of the online course, Go Deep Green: Sourcing renewable energy for loving the Earth. The course is designed to inspire, connect, and equip people who love the Earth and don’t want to give up their advocacy and engagement with eco issues but feel overwhelmed and even despondent about the realities of species extinction, ecosystem collapse, and earth exploitation.

The course is off to a strong start, with 10 early adopters enrolled! It’s open all the time; it’s free; and it’s quick but (hopefully you’ll agree) rich with content. I encourage you to give it a go!

Comments, Likes, and Shares are encouraging and enriching for the whole Conversation Community, so please keep engaging as often as you can. Thank you to everyone who contributed this way over the past month, and to everyone who posted content for us to engage.

Please forgive and correct me if I have overlooked your contribution in September; it will be no reflection on how valuable your participation is but rather on how feeble my powers of observation and recollection are!

This space to share in Cosmic Community means a great deal to me as I continue to explore and embrace Ecozoic Living. I hope you feel the same way. If there is something that could be happening here that would enrich the experience for you, please let me know in comments or PM.

And now…what shall we talk about in October?