100 Seconds to Midnight

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Volume 9 - Issue 11 - Feb 2020

Dear <<First Name>>,

Welcome to the February newsletter from BWIS.

The question this month is - how are you reacting to the climate change issue?

Best wishes from Charlie, Martin, Phil, Steve, Sue.

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In This Issue
100 Seconds to Midnight
News and Events
Inspiring Quotes
And Finally...

100 Seconds to Midnight

The Doomsday Clock (symbolising the gravest perils facing humankind) is now closer to midnight than at any point since its creation in 1947: just 100 seconds away. One of the greatest threats to humanity is climate change.

It can be tough to take a personal position on the subject of climate change… to move through anxiety and despair to personal empowerment and meaningful action.

The anxiety is a natural human reaction, an appropriate response to an out of control situation that leads to many negative future scenarios. But it takes energy to suppress - so perhaps a first step is to feel the despair and own the anxiety, instead of distracting ourselves in work or entertainment. Not just to feel it but celebrate that we feel it, however uncomfortable it is.

Then we can allow ourselves to feel the implications and make provision. We can find personal motivation for mitigation and staying positive, but it’s easy to burn out. We can find a shared mutual purpose in community resilience. But we will also have to find ways to adapt and live with climate change.

How can we transmute the feelings into energy? We need to be able to take action without attachment to outcomes. Many of us may not see the improvements, that’s for future generations. We can welcome our sense of gratitude for how things are now… maybe it will never be as good as it is now.

While it’s only human to deny it in our various ways, it is unhelpful to blame and demonise… it’s divisive and disempowers us and takes away energy. We all in this together, we are part of the rainforest… overcoming the imagined separation… getting away from the prison of isolation and going beyond ego.

News and Events

LIFE LOUNGE
7.00pm at Quay Place Ipswich 2^nd Thurs each month. On Thurs 13 Feb it’s The Eco Crisis and Me – finding support and empowerment in the face of ecological gloom. Book your place at The Life Lounge. If it’s your first visit, just put FIRSTTIME in the code box and join us for half-price.

Peer Support
You are invited to a free introductory event on Sun 1 March 10.00-12.30. Come and find out how a ‘free for life’ emotional support network can massively enrich your experience and underpin your personal growth. Contact Sue with questions.

Coach Group
Open to all qualified coaches, meets at Ipswich Quaker Meeting House. Mon 17^th Feb 6.45 for a 7.00 start, finish by 9.30. Contact Steve with any questions.

Coaching Mastery
Our Advanced Coaching training begins on Friday 14 Feb. It is open to Small Steps graduates or those who can demonstrate equivalent coach training and experience. Contact Charlie.

E GYM - The Listening Circle
Drop into the E.Gym at Quay Place Ipswich at 6.30pm for some free Emotional keep-fit (and find out about Peer Support). Next event Weds 19 Feb or contact Sue.

Mindfulness
An 8-week course begins Mon Feb 3^rd in Ipswich, for those wanting to cultivate and maintain a mindfulness practice, with mutual support from fellow travellers. With free Mindfulness Taster sessions at Quay Place.

Inspiring Quotes

"My humanity is inextricably bound up in yours” - Desmond Tutu

"We need to get angry and understand what is at stake. And then we need to transform that anger into action and to stand together united and just never give up." – Greta Thunberg

"The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say - we will never forgive you." - UN Climate Summit, New York, 23 September 2019

And Finally ...

It’s important to take a step back from time to time and ask... Is what I am doing working? Is it getting me closer to what I want in life and from life?

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result" - often attributed to Einstein, but the earliest record is from a newspaper article quoting an attendee at a meeting to help alcoholics.

Whoever said it, it is hard to argue with.
Are you starting this decade doing the same things you were doing at the end of the last decade? Do you want something different from this decade?
What are you going to do differently?

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