Laura Johnson

Communal grieving allows us to metabolize our grief in a way that we can’t access when we grieve alone, in a way that our ancestors knew, that our bones recall.

 What if pausing – slowing down – feeling – could re-embed this truth in our bodies and in the world? What if we could soften into this spaciousness?

Here at the change of seasons, as we begin turning inward following the Autumn Equinox, let us then remember to honor the contraction as we practice making space in our hearts and all around us.

My relief is palpable, and I ponder how to protect my own child from all that would harm her; like this tiny, fierce mother hen, I want to shout a warning into the sky.

taught by patriarchy to take up less space
at the expense of my breath,
taught by capitalism to be productive
at the expense of my breath,
taught by modernity to disconnect from my body
at the expense of my breath,
this violent mind-body separation
joining all those other power-laden fragmentations
of modern supremacist culture

A growing movement of gardeners — from ethno-botanists to green-thumb hobbyists — is committed to spreading awareness of methods for enhancing the intricate ecological relationships in local spaces. Even more significant is how the interconnectedness of this knowledge can make a ‘global’ difference to landscapes everywhere.