A cartoon
A thought
I am feeling happy and it is weird. In the last few weeks, I have noticed a lightness, a smile and an ease coming my way that is totally foreign. I think in huge part it is due to me giving myself permission to draw, write, and share it with you beautiful people. The reflected joy that bounces back to me in the form of your glimmers and comments feels like one of those endless fun-house mirrors where each of our positive moments reinforces another. I hope you feel a little of that too.
Seriously though, I feel the climate doomisim that has become prevalent of late is totally counter-productive. If we take out those who care enough with despair, depression and anxiety, we dilute our capacity to influence the future. How we frame a crappy situation and what we each choose to focus on is powerful.
Tiny action
What is something that has you bummed out? Take a step back from your despair for a moment and refocus, look for the people helping, speaking up, the caring, loving and grieving that is going on everywhere - you are not alone. I am not advocating toxic positivity or naive denialism. Things can be shit AND we can notice all those holding and tending the possibility of a different tomorrow.
Glimmers and sparks*
My glimmers for today are:
Discovering one of my favourite writers
has just started a Substack: . I loved her book Power, A Woman’s Guide to Living and Leading Without Apology.I’m re-reading Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy. It was the book that started my love affair with science fiction when I was 20. It is every bit as spectacular reading it again nearly 30 years later. I think I will crown it my most favourite piece of speculative utopian fiction ever! Do you have any utopian fiction you love? I am hungry for utopian visions at the moment!
Having a warm midday nap on this grey wintery day.
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.
I feel ya! We are planting like mad here in western Oregon. The garden is in, and the landscape is lush emerald green and exploding with color and vitality. The horse chestnuts, mayflowers, dogwoods, magnolias, and fruit trees are in full blossom. I am gobsmacked with gratitude for the beauty that surrounds us. My worries/fears/dread/angst/overwhelm fades away in the face of it.
Lovely. I just read “How High We Go in the Dark” and loved it. Interlinked short stories. By Sequoia Nagamatsu. Bleak in places though.