The primary purpose of our groups was to discuss intense negative emotions, eco-grief, eco-anxiety, and the anger that is ignited by the global failure to make the changes we need to survive. We were also, at the beginning, strangers to each other. So before plunging into our emotional depths, I wanted to make sure that we all had emotional ‘safety valves’ to enable us to take a break from intensity when we needed. Two such lifelines are mindfulness and our personal strengths.

We started with breathing. There are many ways to encourage a state of mindfulness, but because we are always breathing, learning to focus our attention on the bodily sensations of our breath is a quick and ever-available way to move into a temporary space of calm. Most of the time, especially for those of us who live in wealthy countries, the present moment is not unpleasant. So shifting our focus to the present moment is one way to move us from fears about our future. It is not difficult to voluntarily ‘move’ our attention to a present experience, such as the feeling of air moving into and out of our nostrils. It is, however, much more difficult to keep our attention focused on unchanging stimuli so that is where mindfulness practice is useful. To provide a bridge while we strengthen our skills in holding attention to a single focus, guided meditation is useful. During the first meeting, Russell, who is a meditator, guided us to attend in a non-judgmental, non-controlling way to our breathing. At intervals, approximately when our attention would drift to something else (thoughts, random sounds, things to do, and the endless list of things that call for our mental attention), Russell would, in a quiet and soothing voice, suggest that we notice our breathing – the sensations in various parts of our face and abdomen, the sound, the effects on the rest of our bodies – bringing our attention back to the present moment and bodily experience. Like any skill, the more we practice mindful, nonjudgmental attention control, the better we get at it. We introduced this valuable ‘emergency practice’ in the first meeting, and then opened most subsequent meetings with a brief guided meditation.

The second thing we did to provide participants with a potential way to rapidly access the not-so-bad present was to invite them to identify one of their strengths. We all have things that we are good at, either by genetics or by experience, as well as things that are difficult for us. Doing something that calls on our strengths is experienced as very satisfying, usually fostering a sense of wellbeing, according to positive psychology research (e.g., Park et al., 2004). These are the actions that ‘bring us joy ‘, as Alice Bell (2022) puts it.  If we have such joyful activities ‘on standby’ in our memories, we can turn to them in difficult times to provide ourselves with some respite from despair. So before inviting group members to describe their emotional pain in any depth, we had them describe the actions that evoke joy for them.[1]

With these two ‘items’ (mindful meditation & actions that bring us joy) safely stowed in our emergency backpacks, we were ready to open the floodgates to the deep emotions about our environmental disaster that we needed to discuss with others.

References

Bell, A. (2022). https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/28/ipcc-climate-report-grim-hope

Park, N., Peterson, C., & Seligman, P.E.C. (2004). Strengths of character and well-being. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 603-609.

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[1] Focusing on the actions that bring us joy is also a good strategy to plan our own climate actions. Because our earthly situation is so dire and so complex, many people expect themselves to do everything, and overwhelm themselves with the burden and stress of such impossible expectations. However, if we remember that others have different strengths than us, and therefore find joy and renewal in some of the same tasks that we find extremely difficult and draining, we can more successfully contribute our strength-tasks to the earth-saving efforts, keeping ourselves healthier and more sustainably in the fight.