As people around the world get ready to participate in the Global Earth Exchange on June 22, we like to remind everyone that this event is all about reconnecting people with place. It’s about taking a new look at surroundings you might ordinarily have dismissed as ugly or depressing. It’s about finding something unexpected there. And it’s about making a gift for the place from things the place itself offers you.
There’s no such thing as “doing it right.” And there are…
…10 ways you can’t do it wrong!
1. All you have to do is show up.
2. You don’t need training.
3. Anything you do will make a difference.
4. It’s okay if it’s just you and a friend—or just you and the Earth.
5. Everything you need to have the experience is already there—except a camera.
6. A place is “wounded” if you feel sad about it.
7. If you think you don’t know how to listen to the land, you do. Just be present, look around, and tune in to your feelings.
8. Whatever you feel is appropriate, even if you feel nothing.
9. Sharing stories? You noticed something in this place. What was it?
10. Make a gift of beauty for the place: Make the RadJoy Bird out of materials you find at the place. And/or: sing, dance, say a prayer, jump, sit, cry, shout, laugh, make a sculpture out of trash, make a circle, make a mudpie, hug a friend, hug a tree, drum, chant, walk in circle, make a human pyramid, do a cartwheel, make a mandala, write a poem, play, make prayer flags, make music…
There’s still time to sign up on our website and receive a hand-painted RadJoy flag. And even if you don’t sign up, you can still send us the photo and story of your Global Earth Exchange! Check this blog next week or visit our Facebook page for details.
Trebbe is the author of The World Is a Waiting Lover and 101 Ways to Make Guerrilla Beauty. Her new book, Radical Joy for Hard Times: Finding Meaning and Making Beauty, will be published in Fall 2018 by North Atlantic Books. Her articles about people’s emotional and spiritual relationship with nature have appeared in Orion, Sierra, Ecopsychology, The Ecologist, The Nation, Harper’s and other magazines. She lives with her husband, Andrew Gardner, in rural northeastern Pennsylvania, a region currently under exploitation by natural gas companies.
Image Credit:
- Frangs Whale: Janet Frangs
MORE RADICAL JOY REVEALED
What Is the New Story?
When we're honest with ourselves, we recognize that we as inhabitants of the Earth are entering a time of enormous change. It is a time of loss, to be sure, with species becoming extinct and [...]
The Border Wall That’s Beautiful
Ever since he ran for office, Donald Trump has been boasting that he would build a wall between Mexico and the United States strong enough to keep immigrants away. According to Trump, those who are [...]
“All We Do Matters”
"All we do matters," wrote Judy Todd of NatureConnect NW after the Global Earth Exchange she and friends held for the Sandy River near Portland, Oregon last Saturday. And as people around the world showed at [...]
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
Radical Joy Revealed is a weekly message of inspiration about finding and making beauty in wounded places.