UNEARTHING

Quote by Ram Dass

“When you go out into the woods, and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying ‘You are too this, or I’m too this.’ That judgment mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.”

Book – “The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy” by Anand Giridharadas

This book has completely changed the way that I think about moving forward DEI work and change management in schools and other organizations. The book profiles multiple inspiring activists, including Loretta Ross, AOC, the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement, and more – illustrating beautifully the complexities they face as those on the forefront of social justice in an age of intense polarization and cancel culture. Giridharadas does a wonderful job of utilizing their stories to showcase the pivotal moment America is in as a country and the amazing potential we have to move forward to true diversity, equity, justice, and inclusion. Here’s one of many memorable quotes from the book:

The lifeblood of any free society is persuasion: changing other people’s minds in order to change things. But America is suffering a crisis of faith in persuasion that is putting its democracy and the planet itself at risk. Americans increasingly write one another off instead of seeking to win one another over. Debates are framed in moralistic terms, with enemies battling the righteous. Movements for justice build barriers to entry, instead of on-ramps. Political parties focus on mobilizing the faithful rather than wooing the skeptical. And leaders who seek to forge coalitions are labeled sellouts.

We can heal our fracturing country by calling out threats and injustices, calling in those who don’t agree with us but are willing to engage in dialogue, and understanding the power of bridge-building.

Podcast – Brene Brown and Susan Cain on Bittersweetness

This two-part podcast from Brene Brown’s Unlocking Us, is based on Cain’s newest book, “Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole”. I’m currently reading the book and taking her course on bittersweetness but if you want to just get a general overview of her book, these episodes do the job. This has really helped me to embrace the bittersweetness of life and to channel it into inspiration and creativity, like this blog!

Episode 1, Episode 2

Everything that you love, you will eventually lose. But in the end, love will return in a different form.

Photography – Andrew Richard Hara

I first became aware of Andrew Richard Hara’s photography during the 2018 volcanic eruption of Kilauea. I am constantly amazed and moved by his ability to capture the raw and powerful natural beauty of Hawaii and other places in the world. Here’s a few favorites, but please check out all his work!

Poem by Danusha Lameris

Small Kindnesses
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead — you first,” “I like your hat.”