I am gathering words for 2022 because:

Language is how we humans understand, mediate, construct and control our reality, it is how we communicate with ourselves, each other and the more than human world.  Changing language is powerful, we can use it to:

I want to re-member

 – to put things back together, maybe in a different way 

I want to re-store – re-story

– re-story – to create a better story for out children to inherit about how to live in peace and harmony with each other and the earth.

I want to pay attention to:

Monoculture – one thing – not only of crops, but us (white, male, educated), how we think (capitalism), how we work (career ladder)

White privilege – power structures which have been invisible for too long

Colonization – not just of distant lands, but of women, language, sexuality, childhood and this process is still live and happening, not just historical and in the past

Othering – the way we separate ourselves from each other, usually because they scare or challenge us and upset out view of what ‘should’ be

Natural resources – this language views us as being something separate from nature and there for sees nature as something which we can exploit for our own ends without realising we are nature and that nature is a complex system which can not sustain our current extractive activities

It – what we use to objectify and things and separate ourselves from them which often means we can then cease to care.  We tend to care more for things we refer to as ‘he’, ‘she’ as they join us in subjectivity.  When we call trees, and animals and seas as ‘it’ we strip the life from rich, and vital eco-systems

Colonization – not just of distant lands, but of women, language, sexuality, childhood and this process is still live and happening, not just historical and in the past

Trail of tears, land enclosures and clearances – how we were separated from our roots, self-sufficiency and land by force, for profit which led to the erosion of the natural world, family structures, community, connection to the land….

Anthropocene – the geological era we are now in where humans are changing the planet and the responsibility to future generations which comes from that

The great unravelling – Joanna Macy – we are in it now where systems are collapsing, changing

 

I want to embrace:

Polyculture –  polyphonic, polymorphous, polysexual , polyamory, multi-potentiality – many, various, variety, inclusive, there is strength in variety

Multi-potentiality – Emilie Wapnick– the recognition that some of us (many of us??) have many skills and talents and things we want to do and be and that one job for life is an outdated, mono-cultural structure which is outdated.

More than human – David Abram – we are just part of a web of life which includes animals, plants, fungus and that they are as important as we

Menstruality – the art of being aware of and working with menstrual cycles and phases rather than supressing them.  Our work and power structures are not constructed to allow for this circularity, perhaps now is a time to reflect on this to allow more cyclical approaches to living which are more in tune with our biology rather than society.

Witch – a woman or man who could use indigenous knowledge to heal and cure who were then maligned and murdered by the church, a way of silencing people who didn’t fit in with the power structures of the time

Mycelia – the fungal networks connecting plants and trees to sustain and feed them, like a web of conversation or connection such as we all need

Regenerative – not sustainable – sustainable means maintaining the status quo, we need to bring things back to life

Indigenous/ indigeneity  – where we come from; our roots, the land where we know, the land we care for…so many of us have lost this

Reciprocity – we are very good at taking from earth, but we need to understand that the relationship needs to be reciprocal, because, like any relationship, if it is all take, and no give, the relationship erodes and ends (Robin Wall Kimmerer)

Collectivism – not just in opposition to individualism, but working with it to allow individuals to find connection and community not just with each other but with the more than human world

What do you want to re-member and re-story?  Which words will you use? Which will you explore? Which will you turn on their head? Which will you leave behind for history?

If you enjoyed reading this please share it with friends. You might also be interested in talking to me about coaching , or maybe try some of my online courses (some are free), or treat yourself to a climate protecting pamper with vegan friendly, organic Tropic which supports the planting of forests and education in deprived areas.
Thanks for being here.
Julie