In Loving Memory of Joanna Macy (1929-2025)
Intro:
How can you reconnect with your inner ember of resilience when life feels overwhelming? What can we do to get unstuck from worry or stress? Can you connect with the helpers around you, and how can their presence encourage your own resilience?
Topic to be discussed:
In this podcast episode, Michael Glavin speaks about how to reignite your ember of resilience and stay committed to the path forward.
Summary:
* Why choose this podcast?
* Remember your ember of resilience
* What separates being stuck and moving forward?
* People who benefit from suffering pathologize you
* Look for the helpers and resisters around you
Show notes:
Why choose this podcast?
I’m curious, what brought you here? As you hit that play button, what is your motivation? What are you hoping to get out of this podcast? Just take a moment and notice that internal impulse in you.
(Michael Glavin)
I imagine that you want to feel better and, like me, you’re suffering in a world that feels broken, and you want some relief.
Keep your eye on this instinct to improve things around you. This is something that all living creatures share.
Remember your ember of resilience
Notice the desire to feel better - that is what this podcast is all about.
We all sometimes struggle with resistance to doing the things we should be doing, but what about the part of ourselves that desires to grow and become better? That is transformance, the equal opposite of psychological resistance.
That ember of resilience is always there. Sometimes it might be buried under the ashes, but if we can look deep enough [within ourselves], it is there, burning within us. So the point of this podcast is for me to help you turn that ember into a fire.
(Michael Glavin)
With this podcast, I strive to bring you kindling and wood in the form of information and action steps to feed your fire, because once you start it and keep it burning, it will continue to guide you forward.
I will provide you with various resources, some will be of help to you and some won’t, but you will take what you need and modify it to fit your situation. Once your fire is going, you’ll share it with others. How does that sound, do we have a deal?
(Michael Glavin)
What separates being stuck and moving forward?
Sometimes I feel stuck for ages, and I can’t seem to take any meaningful steps or action, and I hang around an issue for a long time. However, sometimes I’m able to make that necessary change and finally put an end to the stagnation.
But what separates these two processes? What sparks the change that we all want but sometimes struggle to reach?
I’ve noticed that when I am stuck, I’ve avoided my feelings. I’ve avoided what happened. I’ve pretended that everything was fine, and that caused me to get stuck. But when I face what was happening, or what happened, and allowed myself to feel my feelings and work through them, and I took action, I’m able to move on.
(Michael Glavin)
Once we start to turn to face what is happening or has happened, and sit with the feelings we have about it, I have often found that it is in those moments that we can begin to change the situation.
I think the most important question of our time is this: How do we cultivate resilience so that we can take life-affirming action in the face of authoritarianism and climate crisis? That is what this podcast is dedicated to trying to answer.
(Michael Glavin)
People who benefit from suffering pathologize you
The people who see what is going on, who are rightfully upset by it, and are calling attention to the issue are paradoxically the ones who get the blame.
Like the person who calls out a toxic household dynamic who then becomes the scapegoat for the issue, people who are pushing back against the current global narrative that ‘everything is fine’ are the ones who are often blamed.
Trump and the right wing are pathologizing speaking the truth … It reminds me of what happens with domestic violence and abusers.
(Michael Glavin)
However, you are not alone, because so many people are experiencing the same thing, and can see what you see. Remember, you have your ember of resilience inside you.
Look for the helpers and resisters around you
Apart from all the struggle, there are also helpers and people going good work around you. Look for them.
Look for the folks who are organizing, protesting, building communities, learning and sharing skills, and building support systems. Team up with us, we are all around.
The future is not a fixed point, it is being shaped right now by the choices we make, by the stories we believe, and the stories we tell, and the actions we take - and that means you matter. That ember of resilience inside you is part of something much larger: a global movement of people choosing life, choosing courage, choosing to turn towards each other and towards the earth.
(Michael Glavin)
Useful links:
Podcast website: resilienceindarktimes.com
Practice website: dcctherapy.com
Diana Fosha, PhD, https://aedpinstitute.org/diana-fosha/
Joanna Macy and Jessica Serrante, “We Are the Great Turning,” a podcast
Joanna Macy, Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work That Reconnects *
Mary Oliver, Red Bird *
*To support the Podcast and Independent Bookstores, please use the affiliate link. Thank you!
