“The world is calling for us to deepen our relatedness, with ourselves and each other, with our teams and our ancestries, with our dignity and humility. Each of us can become a focal point for coherence and safety. Each of us can start to create healing architectures around us. Our collective wounds need a collective body to heal.” — Joint statement from the leaders of the forthcoming Trauma-Informed Women in Leadership Course.
A reminder that I’ll be co-hosting a climate Global Social Witnessing event with the Pocket Project focused on the U.S. Gulf Coast on Monday, May 22. Details here.
Resonant World #29
As Bill McKibben pointed out in The Crucial Years this week, sea surface temperatures off the east coast of North America are up to 13.8 degrees Celsius higher than average.
13.8 degrees Celsius.
Even for somebody used to digesting grim climate news, that gave me a jolt.
Things on this planet aren’t going to get any easier anytime soon.
But there’s part of the story that isn’t being told — at least not nearly enough.
The truth is that we have enormous latent capacities to connect, heal, collaborate and anchor in new, undreamed possibilities — when we remember how.
Unconscious Agreements
I’ve experienced this first-hand in the immersive two-year Timeless Wisdom Training with Thomas Hübl and his team, and in many other spaces besides.
But we’ve been schooled out of our innate capacities. We’ve entered into unconscious agreements about who we are; how we relate to each other; and what’s possible that reflect unresolved collective and ancestral trauma — not the emergent future.
The good news is that the tools to dismantle these agreements and forge new ones are already in our hands. We can learn how to:
Observe our triggers; track our process, and respond rather than react
Build subtle competencies to relate at a much deeper level
Create conditions to evoke the awesome power of collective intelligence
Explore conflict and shadow material without causing groups to fragment
Defuse the tendency of unintegrated collective trauma to derail collaboration
Connect to ancestral resources
A lot more besides
It’s just that many of the tools for doing these things have gotten a little rusty.
New 20-Week Course
To build the “healing architecture” — a global network of trauma-integrating groups, spaces, organisations, and many other forms of connectivity weaving together at all scales — will require us to sharpen and wield these tools en masse.
And that’s going to require investment.
If this is starting to sound a bit like a sales pitch, that’s because it is.
Women: If you’re looking for a way to get started on this path — or deepen your existing practice — then I invite you to consider joining this 20-week experiential course offered by my friend Kosha Joubert, chief executive of the Pocket Project, a nonprofit dedicated to resolving individual, ancestral and collective trauma.
Kosha is one of the most skilled facilitators I’ve ever encountered, and brings a wealth of global experience in building healing communities, and deep understanding of individual, ancestral and collective trauma — and what can open up when we support each other to integrate these old, multi-generational wounds.
Kosha will be joined by an amazing group of fellow trainers, including Deb Dana, Maria Leister, Rola Hallam, Louise Marra, Karen Simms and Bettina Rollow. (Profits will go towards the work of the Pocket Project).
The course is called Trauma-Informed Women in Leadership.
That’s convenient shorthand — but trauma is the doorway here: Not the end goal.
By exploring where the unresolved past is keeping us stuck, we open radical new possibilities for the future. That’s what leads to the big shifts — in individuals, groups and at larger levels. Fresh energy moves, conflicts dissolve, and creativity starts to flow. I believe this kind of work is precisely the medicine the world needs right now.
Key Outcomes
The course runs from May 31 to October 19, with simultaneous interpretation into German and Ukrainian.
You can find out more by visiting the course webpage. And if you have any questions, please do email <info@pocketproject.org>.
Here’s what the organisers say are the key outcomes:
Developing tools for the cultivation of presence, resilience and spaciousness
Tools and frameworks to refine our leadership, develop trauma-informed guidelines and healing architectures
Willingness to approach challenges as if they are “the way” (rather than “in the way”) — cultivating curiosity and catalyzing latent intelligence
Ability to engage more skillfully with team and community challenges
Ability to respond more adequately to symptoms of stress and trauma
Increased capacity for relational and systems sensing, and leading from the future.
Note: I only ever promote courses or events when I am either married to the organiser, or know them personally. In this case, I will receive an affiliate donation if somebody registers for Trauma-Informed Women in Leadership via this newsletter, which would be a welcome contribution to keep Resonant World viable).
Climate Witnessing On Monday, May 22
A reminder that on Monday, May 22 I will be co-hosting a Global Social Witnessing event with the Pocket Project on the struggles to stop more fossil fuel megaprojects blighting U.S. Gulf Coast communities — a crucial line in the global climate fight.
Anne Rolfes, executive director of the Louisana Bucket Brigade, a nonprofit which has spent two decades battling to protect the state from the oil, gas and petrochemical industries, will be sharing her experiences. And I’ll be speaking about my impressions from covering these fights for DeSmog and the Guardian. You can can find out the times in your area and register for free here.
I write Resonant World in my spare time from my editing role at DeSmog, a nonprofit news service focused on investigating the vested interests blocking action on climate change. Support from readers is a huge boost — and that includes reading, sharing, or commenting in response to my posts. Any variety of coffee gratefully accepted. Thank you!