A cartoon
A thought
I really appreciate the conversation in the comments of my last post, Death by News. You have given me permission to step back further from the chaos—thank you. My cartoon today is a musing on that.
A few months ago, my friend
wrote about the transformative power of pragmatism. At the time it struck me as a good lens to help me work through the overwhelm of the media cycle and the apparent chaos. Asking - what are the key data points in this situation and what is in my sphere of influence? He told me about the saying “Pay attention to the shark closest to your boat” - a cartoon begging to be drawn!Being practical and pragmatic, I’ve also got real questions about the value of my witnessing. If the cost of me witnessing is diversion and distraction from things in my small sphere of influence that I can truly make a difference with, that is a significant cost. If we multiply that out across all the caring people on earth, what beautiful, helpful, healing, connected things are not being made or getting done because of the barrage of trauma delivered through our screens?
For now, I am taking a pragmatic view of asking where I can be of use? That answer is going to be different for all of us. Thank goodness, as I can’t hold it all, but perhaps I can hold the things I care about most and perhaps you can hold the things you care about most and perhaps we could stop judging each other for not caring about the same things and instead be grateful that each of us cares for something different in this wide beautiful world.
Thank you all for helping me come to peace with this!
You can follow Paul and his cool prosocial ideas at
, the post on pragmatism is here:Glimmers and sparks*
My glimmers for today are:
Slow gentle rain after a long, hot start to autumn.
Giving our smallest doggo bean a haircut - he is so skinny underneath it always makes me laugh!
A scarlet robin caught my eye in the bush. If you’ve not seen one before, they are one of my favourite birds - the flash of their chest in the trees always catches your eye - it is so bright - like a tradie’s high-vis shirt! You can take a peek here: https://canberrabirds.org.au/our-birds/canberra-garden-birds/robins/scarlet-robin/
Li’l bean is your reminder to pause and ask: What are your glimmers for today?
From your friend and your small, steadfast companion,
*Drawing Li’l Bean helped me navigate out of a period of depression in 2023. A good friend 13, 595km away, helped, too, through a ritual of swapping daily glimmers via text.
A glimmer is a tiny spark of hope, enthusiasm or joy that lifts your heart. By helping me find three glimmers each day, she gently helped me see the joy and beauty already around me.
I’d like to share this practice with you and invite you to reflect on your glimmers for the day when you read this. Think of Li’l Bean as a reminder to notice the glimmers and sparks in your life. We’d love it if you would like to share your glimmers in the comments.
Awww shucks Gillian, thanks for the shout-out. I love what you have done with your image. This is going to be one of my glimmers for the day. :-)
Love what you have written here and am going to read Paul’s article. This connects to our exploration of ‘developing capacity”, because we can’t hold, see it or care for it all ❤️🩹 I ask a similar question “what’s mine to do in this great transformation ?”
A big glimmer today as off to spend the weekend with my daughter , son in law and granddaughter at Center parc’s .