Clare’s reflections - remembering to let go
This blog is a summary of Clare’s reflections of the last week and this week she talks about some of her activities outside of October books…. and how they are all intertwined with her work at the shop.
‘Although still busy at the bookshop this last few weeks I have found some time for other activities, one practical, one language related and the other more spiritual and related to the current global transition to a life sustaining civilisation.
The practical activity was at Hillers Arboretum and was an eco printing workshop with leaves, silk and cotton fabrics. The workshop ran from 10 til 4pm and was a fantastic introduction to the technique and I came away with a few lovely prints. The technique is magical and the results of each print were unknown until the unwrapping after boiling for an hour. A wonderful lesson in letting go of outcomes and just allowing things to happen… something I needed reminding of. The course tutor’s recommended book on the process is India Flint’s Ecocolour.
The second activity was organised by the Falay Transition Design Collective from Finland and was an online workshop about Reimagining our relationships with forests through language. A group of 20 or so of us gathered from around the world to explore and create new words that describe elements of being in the forest that we don’t yet have words for. Fun and creative, playful and with purpose, I thoroughly enjoyed the hour or so when we played with words. More letting go here too… and it was wonderful to listen to a new language emerging when we all shared our small group ponderings. My recommended read here is local author Kate Hodges book Wild Words, a collection of words from around the world, all evocative of the wild.
The final activity I wanted to share was another online workshop, this time with The School for the Great Turning. Over 200 people, again from around the globe, joined the School founder Lydia Violet to share and connect with the words of Joanna Macy around the three dimensions of the Great Turning. It was so good to feel part of a global network of people with awareness of the current turbulent world, or as the aims of the School state ‘mutually beneficial members of the Earth Community’ . Do explore the website or pick up a copy of Active Hope by Joanna if you want to find out more.
This book is also one of the recommended reads for the Writing as Spiritual Practice workshops we will be holding at the shop in collaboration with Matt West from ArtfulScribe.
All for this week. Clare
