Hardy, honest hope
Helping Friendly Newsletter, 12.03.21
GM! ☕️
Here are this week’s 5 things to consider:
1. Hardy, honest hope
Last week, Jeff Chu wrote a beautiful Thanksgiving letter on the difference between hope and optimism. It pairs nicely with Elizabeth Gilbert’s skepticism towards wishful thinking. In difficult times, I have been grateful to encounter this hardy, honest kind of hope. It isn’t always comfortable, but it is comforting.
2. Paradigm shift
Robin Wall Kimmerer extends an interesting invitation: try using the word “ki” instead of the word “it” to describe elements of nature.
[In] Bode’wadmi, my own language, there is a beautiful word that we have that means just “an earth being”… bmaadiziiaki. You know, it’s a beautiful word and will never find its way into English, but aki, and then that little sound at the end, ki, comes from the word for earth—for the animate, living earth.
And so I proposed that we use ki as…a new word, instead of it, so that we don’t have “it” swallows and owls and foxes and dandelions—so that we can say, Ki is growing in the yard, ki is running along the hedgerow. Not “it,” but “ki.” Try it!
—Robin Wall Kimmerer, “Kinship Is a Verb”
This is meant to deepen our awareness of the earth as alive and with us in relationship, vs. the earth as an object to consume. I welcome this paradigm shift and am trying the practice out.
3. Confronting climate change without losing hope
Speaking of hope and the earth, I like this advice from Rebecca Solnit:
4. Sabbatical, please 🙋🏼♀️
Taking a sabbatical in 2022, or even dreaming about it? Take a look at this urgent case for sabbaticals for all1, read this thoughtful guide and FAQ, or explore The Sabbatical Project. While you’re at it, follow DJ DiDonna, who is the common thread between them.
I’ve interviewed more than 250 people from all walks of life, and I’ve never spoken to anyone who regretted taking time off.
—DJ DiDonna
5. Moment of calm
This moment of calm is also a lovely example of “ki,” the animate, living earth. (Look! Ki is moving pastures.)
Thank you for reading
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Treasure chest
I bet you find a gem ➔ what the Chanukah lights tell us | the illustrated universal declaration of human rights | a gut-wrenching but graceful photo project on Trump’s America | the lofty goals and short life of the antiracist book club | before you know what kindness really is, you must lose things | the psychology behind meeting overload | NPR’s best books of 2021 | 12 predictions for the future of music | the history of the Chinese takeout box2 | pardon my French, but you are stunning👇🏼
Have a great weekend! I’ll see you again soon.
Jenny
Via Jonathan Malesic.
Via Rob Walker.