Active Hope: A Workshop Exploring The Work That Reconnects

“Our purpose here is to explore our inner responses to the condition of the world and prepare to take part in its healing.”
-Joanna Macy

It is with warm hearts that we invite you to join us for a workshop exploring Joanna Macy’s “Work that Reconnects”, offered for our Plum Village sanghas.

The “Work That Reconnects” invites us to connect more deeply with self, world, and Earth, and our parts in the healing of our world. Deep ecology is the experiential wisdom of our interconnection with earth and the world, and a set of group exercises to help us face our anger, fear, emptiness, and deep sadness about the state of the world, and to discern our role in systems change.

Rooted in Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects, as well as Thich Nhat Hanh and Lama Rod Owens, Spiral of the Work That Reconnects—beginning by grounding in gratitude (and drawing on practices of mudhita), and then honoring our heartache for the world (and drawing on practices of karuna), seeing with new eyes, and finally seeing what steps are ours to take next. We plumb these depths to reclaim and nurture the love, courage, and clarity underneath the difficult feelings. This inspiring work renews us and helps prevent burnout, allowing us to move back into the world refreshed in our roles as environmental and social justice advocates and healers.