It's OK for the heart to be broken over the world. What else is a heart for?
Wisdom from our beloved Joanna Macy
One of my biggest heroes and an important profile for collective healing, Joanna Macy, passed away on Saturday. And her passing serves as a powerful reminder when we need it the most.
These times are not easy. Our hearts are challenged every day, and you wake up and wonder, “Wouldn’t it be easier if I just shut it out?” With one extreme headline after the other, one is justified in wanting a break. A chance to tap out. A wish to wake up in a different world, with a different reality, and a different future waiting down the line.
But learning about her passing made me think of an excerpt from my book. I use her wisdom to explain the importance of allowing our hearts to feel — even when doing so feels heavy, or almost impossible.
By speaking up and sharing your thoughts with the people around you, you invite 360-degree healing. You begin to heal yourself while allowing others to tap into their awareness and grieving as well. Don’t keep it to yourself. Be that bold person who dares to wear their heart on their sleeve and tell the world you’re hurting.
We must make it normal to talk about climate change, and that starts with trust. It starts with unity and mutual understanding, and by telling others it’s okay to be worried, angry, sad—even ashamed.
Joanna Macy, environmental activist, author, and scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology, says it so beautifully: “It’s okay for the heart to be broken over the world. What else is a heart for?”
Our hearts are being put to the test
Ecosystems are suffering as the US government continues to cut funding to important environmental work. An entire people is starving to death in Gaza, and the world watches from outside borders in horror. And those are just the “stars” of the show at the moment — the bad news doesn’t stop there!
I start each morning with a heavy heart and wish things were different, but then I remind myself that we must begin with accepting grief. Because, as Joanna Macy said so profoundly,
“It’s OK for the heart to be broken over the world. What else is a heart for?”
Image of Joanna Macy by Brooke Porter (courtesy of Jess Serrante), via workthatreconnects.org
What happens when we allow grief to inhabit our hearts?
What might come from us daring to feel even bigger? Carry our pain even deeper? I’m not proposing we choose a life in sorrow and remorse (joy and optimism are essential for our path forward, and more on that in just a second), but we cannot feel real joy, and we cannot muster grounded and resilient optimism, if we do not first allow our hearts to feel it all.
Climate optimism — the practice of showing up with our best, most resilient, and inspired selves at the table — exists in the intersection of grounded awareness and empowered action. If one of these falls, real optimism cannot exist. You can have hope for the future, and you can want for and believe that a better world is possible, but to truly embody climate optimism, you must continuously choose both:
You must work on your inner leadership and grow your emotional resilience, so that you can stay the course without giving in to defeatism, toxic positivity, or despair. (This takes serious, ongoing work!)
You must commit yourself to showing up where you can. You must choose to matter, whatever that looks like right now, and trust that your actions lead to results.
It’s a simple equation. But that doesn’t mean the work is easy.
But to practice being a climate optimist is probably (if you ask me) among the most rewarding there is — and I think Joanna Macy would’ve agreed.
You get to participate in the most important work of our times and know that your time here on Earth matters. You get to find your unique skills, passions, and contributions to this journey and infuse your life with meaning, joy, optimism, and hope.
Because even if things seem dire, it’s not too late to care. It’s not too late to feel and speak up for what you think is right and important. It’s not too late to choose healing, and it’s not too late to seek ways to help. These are the times when we step up and let ourselves feel, no matter how hard those feelings might be.
Because, as I always remind myself: Awareness hurts, and that’s okay.
