I’ve known for a while that when I was little, one of the reason’s I had such a drive to excel academically was to get love and attention. What I didn’t realize was that this belief—learning being a critical way to get love—was still running the show!

The spiral of silence is that we stay silent with our opinions that we sense are in the minority. As a result, we stay silent on many things: what our opinions and emotions are, especially about contentious issues like climate change.

Climate change progress continues to be too slow. Many scientists say it’s inevitable that we’ll overshoot the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius. What can we do? In this blog I share some of my process in being with eco-anxiety, and new research that suggests the answer may be to welcome catastrophic thinking. To feel, think and act within the realities of the climate crisis. Luckily, Focusing can help with that.

A really powerful and personal way to find calm is to visit a memory of a time we have felt this way in real life. For many, this is a time in nature. This blog explores ways to achieve calm, and what to do if finding calm is elusive.

Nature has such a calming effect. When we’re in nature we relax and stress melts away. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s not always possible to get out into nature. The practice of Focusing can take you back to a previous time in nature. Sinking into your body and reliving a memory can evoke feelings of awe, calm, relaxation and connection.