This heat wave that has been hitting our planet has been getting me thinking. It’s hard to cope with the environmental changes. It causes stress and anxiety, feelings of helplessness. How do we work through these? How do we cope with everything that feels difficult and overwhelming? There are lots of things that we can try, but one of my go to coping skills is to just start writing. It could be in a beautiful bound journal just for my thoughts, on a paper napkin while in the coffee shop down the street, or maybe the back of the envelope from that blasted parking ticket floating around in the car. Whatever paper you have, or notes app in your phone you use, the important thing to do is take a few minutes to give those swirling thoughts a place to go. Get them out of your head. Don’t know where to start? Try a few of these prompts….
- Thoughts about heat.
- The world is having a heat wave. What feels like a heat wave in your own life?
- While heat waves are difficult, both in real life and metaphorically, what gets you through them? Hone in on what feels most important to you right now.
- What hot emotions do you have?
- If those are “hot emotions” what are “cooling” or “cold” emotions.
- Write about a place or an image that makes you feel cool, calm, and collected.
- What brings you hope in any part of your life?
- People have turned around other natural disasters in the past. Lake Erie was one of the most polluted lakes in the 1950s and 1960s. People paid attention, got the clear water act passed in 1972. After a couple decades the water became blue again and the fish returned. Are there other examples you can think of or find of successful environmental efforts?
- Write a list of small things you can do in your everyday life which can help the environment. Need some ideas?
https://www.sierraclub.org/toiyabe/100-things-you-can-do-save-planet
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