Reflections & Common Threads: Community Survey

Today I am writing to you as I review all that was submitted through the Community Check-in Survey, and while we all await the big scary poll results in the states. Before even beginning the reflection process, i’m feeling both deep gratitude and a bit of anxious anticipation as I see over 50 of you submitted and there is so much to read!

So, one step at a time: first I begin with the multiple choice questions and their graphs, since that helps me visually see patterns and common threads at a zoomed-out level.

Here’s what’s showing through when you all were asked “what feels most true for you right now?”

Our top collective struggles are revolving around feeling overwhelmed with personal life AND national + global life, and this reflects on our journaling and practices that we feel we are behind on. Not feeling like there’s enough time is a close runner-up, and i’ll include it because maybe general “overwhelm” can count as one category.

My heart always skips a beat when I hear about folks feeling behind on journaling and practices ~ not because it’s a problem, but because part of me wants to challenge that claim with “you’re not behind, you’re just showing up at your current capacity, and that’s okay!”

And maybe that’s my tendency to want to fix, tend, coddle any doubts.

If I look at myself honestly, I will see a similar pattern: more white space in my journal than filled-in space, and feelings of doubt within me as I wonder “am I wasting this resource / getting the most out of it?”

And another part of me feels that this is the overwhelm speaking for us through a mask of doubt and scarcity.

What if blank space and slowness is something to reorient to instead of fight against? It may be an uncomfortable part of the process, but maybe it’s part of our un/re-learning of what is productive, effective and doing it right or not.

What also stands out to me here is what got the lowest amount of votes: few of us seem to be forgetting what helps us. And what this says to me, even for those who are in this boat of forgetting (makes sense in our world of distraction), is that we know we have options, resources and tools of support and care. It’s just a matter of making space for them ~ easier said than done, but definitely possible, like a puzzle.

So peeking into the next question of “what would need be to different for the next year to feel genuinely satisfying for you”…

We have common threads around more time & energy for doing what we love, progress on personal goals & dreams, and deepening spiritual + creative practice.

I can feel our souls longing for just space and room to breathe.

Am I metaphorizing / spiritualizing too much if i were to say that this echoes/reflects the unfilled spaces in our journals and practices? That that emptiness is a signifier of potential?

I know, I know… energy and time and capacity beyond overwhelm are the very factors inhibiting many of us from transforming that blank space into our desires.

So what if for now, our practice is just starting to notice and be with the spaces between: whether large swaths of un-journaled pages, or tiny moments in transition between work and cooking dinner. Could we practice seeing these pauses as allies and bridges, that in time may surmount to more of what we really want?

I too dream of days and weeks of wide open space & abundant energy to tend to nothing but my paintings and altars.

But for now, I will embrace the sprinkles of time with imperfect dips and peaks of energy.

And I can feel how these personal layers would naturally feed into local & global movements and our world at large ~ because I know those options only got slightly lower votes since our personal lives are a prerequisite to the interpersonal (especially in a world that doesn’t help us naturally weave them together).

Then I asked you “What’s going on for you right now or what the specific struggle is?”

Before and during reading this list of key themes, I invite a deep breath / stabilizing touch before. Know that alongside all these struggles, so much love and desire and care were written between the lines.

And I’m holding so much heart around the heaviness we are all carrying in the specifics of our individual yet not separate experiences of overwhelm in:

basic needs / responsibilities taking priority
- compromising / having to pull back
relationship + family changes
- tension, breakups, parenting, births, deaths, moving
- boundaries around expectations from others
financial + career changes / struggles / misalignment
world we’re living in + pushback on our efforts
- systemic oppression + government / politics failing us
illness + health challenges / issues
- grief, stress, discouragement, fatigue / exhaustion
- disability
- addiction + recovery (substances, etc)
- sleep
limited/drained attention / energy
- social media complexity
- disconnection + forgetting + disorganization
- information overload + control
speed / pace / options → hard to keep up / slow down
spiritual + creative practice feels hard, inaccessible, determinant of specific energy, and/or inconsistent
direct social/political action is outside of capacity

~Deep breath or touch something stabilizing.~

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The threads of “too much all at once” are strong here. These are all the reasons there doesn’t seem to be enough time, energy, attention, etc… it’s being systemically drained from us. Because exhaustion is fascism’s bestie. And it’s none of our faults.

Does this list affirm or validate you, even a little, even if it’s overwhelming to read?

We’re all trying our damn best to meet our damn basic needs, while knowing that it shouldn’t have to be this hard and that if things were more evenly distributed in this world.

I’m holding space for the solutions and relief we are seeking.

And I wonder for each of us what the smallest, simplest ways to bring in bits of what we are yearning for in could be? What can count as something, even occasionally, even when it doesn’t fill our whole cup?

And also here validating and witnessing you for when it’s insufficient or inaccessible.

& may what we wish to weave more into our lives be a counterbalance to all that we cannot control.

I asked “What do you most want from the rest of this year?” and here’s the common threads you echoed:

clarity / intentionality
- fewer distractions
strength / courage / confidence
remembrance
support / feeling held / not doing it alone
balance / steadiness
peace / safety / stability
health / healing
change (consensual, choiceful)
- moving, work / job
connection with nature, spirit, creativity
connection with community + loved ones
rest, practice, care (without guilt!)
- ritual / routine
- patience / slowness
nourishment / purpose / fulfillment
energy
essentials: money, time, health, purpose / fulfillment
“enough”

Our struggles are as complex and interconnected as they are unique to each of us in our lived experiences, and no isolated actions or ideas will solve them. Maybe the practice in these moments is to allow ourselves to feel seen and heard among the shared voices of the community, knowing that we’re each going through it.

What connects us is struggle, but also change. As someone noted in their survey, “I know I’m not alone in feeling overwhelmed and powerless. But I believe new, more nourishing ways of living are possible.”

May these shared results be bridges and points to wander between, ask, call in specific guidance and direction.

Nurturing possibility can become a practice of looking for and creating beacons of hope in the growing dark. Harvesting our desires while we’re even vaguely aware of what they are can help store them for the winter.

So, if we ponder the list of things we want for the rest of this year, we have the opportunity to guide our intentions and weave their practice into our lives. starting could look like this:

sit with the 1-3 things you want most or resonate with most from the survey results
brainstorm 1 micro way you can practice each of those things
- micro as in: can be done in just a few minutes or with minimal energy / even on a difficult day
- optional: use a tarot / oracle deck to pull cards if you feel stuck
write them by hand somewhere, even if it’s on the back of a nearby envelope
post the list somewhere you’ll see it every day

Don’t pressure yourself into making the list pretty or putting it in your journal. The point is to declare ~ with your senses ~ what matters to you. If you feel inspired later to do more with your intentions, you’ll know what and how when / if the time comes.

And thank you for all the love you shared. I’m noting your requests, and tucking these words of love in my pocket. It helps me feel like all the labor put into the love of my work is worth it. <3

“Thank you for asking and listening. Your work is extremely valuable/invaluable. <3”

“Your journal has been instrumental in navigating my health issues and patterns over the last year. Thank you!!!”

“Thank you for what you do to offer this embodied support - I'm looking forward to learning more from your deck as well. Wishing you support as well through this season.”

Especially as I work up the endurance to crowdfund the $15k reprint of Embodied Ecosystems Tarot & Oracle while the world & economy are huge question marks… 🫠

I hope you can help me share the campaign waitlist with your community & loved ones, whether you decide support the campaign goals through pre-ordering or a smaller or larger cost bundle or not!