In the late 80s and early 90s, when I was writing articles about a complex and troublesome issue in Navajo country, I was fascinated with the way stories informed the people's lives. To drive or walk over the land with a Navajo woman or man who knew it intimately was to experience stories mythic, personal, and historic, all bound together. The stories had ongoing meaning for the people, and since each one was linked to a particular place, the place maintained the vitality of a living being. Places reminded people of stories, and by telling the stories, they reinforced their connection with the land. Ever since then I have looked for ways in which storytelling deepens and broadens our connection with our own lives, those of others, and our place in the world.

To those who are receiving this newsletter for the first time... welcome! Here you'll find news of upcoming Vision Arrow and  Radical Joy for Hard Times events, writings by us and about our work, reflections, profiles of  people doing extraordinary things, and stories of transformation that occur when we accept in small, bold, startling ways, the invitations the world is always sending us.     

A WORLD OF STORIES

 

 

On May 20-21 I had the privilege of attending a few sessions of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations. My friend Grove Harris, who works at the UN interfaith Temple of Understanding, thought I might meet people who would be interested in the event Radical Joy for Hard Times is planning for next year, The Ground Beneath Your Heart, a day of solidarity and creativity for people living in mining and drilling communities.

 

I've long been an admirer of the UN and was curious to know more about its inner workings. To my surprise, what I encountered were people telling stories. Many hundreds of people from NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and countries around the world wanted others to know about the travails they were dealing with. They spoke of poverty, discrimination, the co-option of sacred objects and their ancestors' remains by museums, their land torn up by industry. These stories were personal and cultural. Particularly moving was a panel called "Honoring Indigenous Women's Wisdom." Women activists from Guatemala, the Philippines, Native lands in North America, and other places spoke movingly about resource development on their lands and the community-wide efforts they were taking to put a halt to it.

 

At every session each speaker wanted to call attention to his or her urgent concern. As I sat in the General Assembly people repeatedly came by to place flyers on the table before me. Whenever I did broach the subject of The Ground Beneath Your Heart, I discovered that the person I was speaking to had a cause of their own they wanted to describe. As a newcomer to the whole process I felt overwhelmed by so much suffering, effort, and anxiety. With so much trouble being expressed, could anyone really hear, let alone help, anyone else?

 

Then it occurred to me that one of the great benefits the United Nations offers ordinary people, not world leaders, but simply people trying to survive and thrive in a troubled world, is a platform for telling their stories. "The U.N. tries to make sure that stories that do not necessarily grab the headlines are not forgotten," UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiya Alaska said once. For a few years the UN Department of Public Information even posted an annual list of "10 Stories the World Should Hear More About."

 

Perhaps it's a good thing to be overwhelmed by moving, even heartbreaking stories now and then. Maybe we need to be awash in the stories, struggles, and occasional triumphs of others simply because we are part of humanity. If I can let go of my own story long enough to listen to those of others, my heart breaks open and compassion pours in. And, at the end, even if I can't do something about hunger in Sudan, I can give a little money to the homeless man on the street corner two blocks from the UN.

 

Video: Joan Carling speaking at the Honoring Indigenous Wisdom session at the UN. Video from Kairos Canada

LISTENING WITH THE HEART

 

 

 

Each person's story is worthy of great respect. That's what Steven Foster and Meredith Little repeatedly drummed into those of us who trained with them to guide vision quests. The story brought back by a person who has gone out to fast in the wilderness needs no embellishment, no corrections, no judgment. The role of the guide is to listen with her whole being and mirror back what she hears.

 

This is not the way many of us are used to listening to stories. After a vision quest in Colorado a woman returned from her solo holding a cow pelvis up to her face and peering through the twin holes of the hip sockets. When it was her turn to speak, she referred to this part of the skeleton as a "skull." To her it represented the archetypal face of all creatures on Earth, whom she referred to as "our ancestors." Later one of the men corrected her: it was not a skull, but a pelvis. The woman was embarrassed and her journey trivialized.

 

It's how we tell our own story and how we listen to the stories of others that really matters. In AA recovering alcoholics tell their stories in order to "keep the memory green." The story customarily describes what it was like when they were active drinkers, what happened that compelled them to set out on a path of sobriety, and what it's like now. It's literally a way to remember the past, not to cling, but as a useful tool for reinforcing the imperative of sobriety.

 

Abraham Verghese, a physician who volunteered to help out in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, discovered that medical treatment was only one of the services he could offer. At first he asked his emergency patients out of politeness what had happened to them when the city flooded. But gradually, he wrote, "I understood that they needed me to ask; to not ask was to not honor their ordeal."

 

Steven Foster used to listen to each person's story as if it was the greatest, most important, most moving tale ever told. And perhaps that's exactly right.

 

Image: Vision Questers telling their stories, Endless Mountains Vision Quest, 2009

 

RADICAL JOY FOR HARD TIMES NEWS

 Lead Like a River was chosen by the Times of London as one of their "20 Retreats That Will Change Your Life"!   

In the lives of certain women and men there comes a time when garnering more successes and earning more money is not enough. What they long for is to undertake work that will contribute to the well-being of the planet. If you are a leader in the arts, community service, or business  this program in the Atlas mountains provides the ideal opportunity to reflect on your path, gain strength through connecting with nature, listen to what is important to you... and take the first big step toward shifting your attention to a truly meaningful path.

You'll stay at the beautiful Kasbah du Toubkal, just over an hour from the Marrakech airport. Perched on rocks with stunning views of remote valleys and the summit of Mount Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa, the kasbah is a remarkable venture between Berber and English owners, and has been named one of the top eco-lodges in the world. We'll spend five nights in the Kasbah and two nights high in a mountain lodge that we will trek to. You will have a dawn-to-dusk solo in a wilderness place of your choosing, where you will reflect on both the landscape around you and the landscape within as you mark your passage to a new height of personal leadership.

Program is limited to ten participants.

Guides: Eugene Hughes and Trebbe Johnson
Cost: €2,950 / $4,500 (includes all meals, lodging, and transportation to Kasbah du Toubkal Lodge; does not include airfare)     

Writing Our Way to Wisdom

August 29-31

Catskills, Greenville, New York 

Seventh Annual Bali from Within