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| ISSUE NO. 718 |
| DECEMBER IS A MONTH . . . when the calendar days flake away like leaves combed by the wind. As a candle burning down in its last inch, or the sun retiring beyond the horizon line, time confronts us in such a way that we tend to interpret as urgency, or loss. Yet it could as easily be appreciated for the beauty of its presence, and the spirituality of its inevitable return. In these last weeks of the year, when we have just two newsletters left to write (you will hear us again, after next week, on January 6) we are feeling called toward something...different. Unlike the commercialized overwhelm of the season, we are not talking about something drastic. In fact, that drive toward perfectionism, individuality, and overall large-ness that capitalism insists upon runs in direct opposition to Winter's lessons: to retract, conserve, protect, nurture. Winter knows that time is abundant even in darkness, and that death is deceptive - just another form that life takes. I've just finished Clarissa Pinkola Estés's Untie the Strong Woman, from which I took many notes, including the philosophy of Cultura Cura, which means "culture cures" - "that is, what is in the culture we make together, can cure us all in love." Acts of resistance - like spiritual acts - may be tiny. If enough of us feel called to do something - anything - different, all these tiny acts of resistance to the normalization of things we actually don't agree with, in the fiber of our bones, add up to something monumental. If you feel similarly pulled to do something different this day, week, month, or year, consider how simple it could be. If you tend to speak out of turn, say less. If you don't speak up enough, say more. Change the way you purchase gifts (see tidbit: Roxane Gay's Audacious gift guide), or give them (see tidbit: Izzy Chiosso's Dinner Party Economy). Invite someone you're not sure why you don't include, or say no to including people who cause harm. Make many small donations (and invite friends to join you), or take the many small donations you would make in a year and give them to one person or group. Allow for grief as you would allow for joy (see tidbit: Marisa Renee Lee's Guide to Holiday Grief). Call a friend instead of texting them. Or text someone the moment you think of it, without hesitating. Send a handwritten note to a few, along with - or instead of - a photo card to many. Meditate every day, for just 60 seconds (see tidbit: a reader supplied audio meditation). Do less of the things you feel you should, more of the things you want to do. Be brave. Risk rejection. Start a conversation. Here's to building something different, together. |
tidbits...resources on anti-racism, environmentalism and food culture AKA stuff we're reading / listening to / watching / noticing / thinking about / captivated by this Tuesday . . . Do One Small Thing . . . each week we highlight one small contribution to the type of world we want to live in: What is one small - even tiny - thing you could do differently? Make a commitment to that thing - whatever it is - and let us know how it goes. Gift guides are so ubiquitous that we often reflexively delete them, but Roxane Gay's guide has just the Audacity we were craving. |
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