Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes – American poet, Jungian psychoanalyst,
storyteller, and author of Women Who Run with the Wolves
“Her book, Women Who Run with the Wolves, is a powerful book about the human connection to the wild and the earth. This quote really speaks to me because when I think about the mountain of crises that we’re facing right now and that we address in our book, Order of the Sacred Earth, it’s very overwhelming and it’s very painful and can make you fall into despair and not want to do anything at all. I can identify with that feeling: I can’t do it all so I’m going to do nothing because that’s easier.
What’s so inspiring about what she says is you don’t have to worry about the all, you don’t have to always be holding the big picture. All you have to do is find that piece of the world, find that piece of the earth and of our human community that you can give to, that you can heal and reach for. And she says to stretch for it, stretch for that one piece that’s within your grasp. It’s still difficult, it’s still challenging but it’s one step. And then the last part too: The most powerful thing you can do is stand up and show your soul. It’s not all the doing. It’s not all the busyness. It’s not all the action – although that’s incredibly important too – but the root of all that is being in touch with your soul and letting that shine for other people. That makes me question what that looks like for me in my life, what that looks like to show my soul. And I would ask you, what does that look like for you? How can you show your soul?
Jennifer Berit Listug is co-director of Order of the Sacred Earth
and co-author of Order of the Sacred Earth:
An Intergenerational Vision of Love and Action.
