TRANSITION BONDI’S GUEST DINNER Tues 17 Feb, 2026
ACTIVE HOPE with Mary Stringer (she was on zoom)
Words from Mary:
Mary:
For decades I’ve been distressed about the Industrial Growth Society that we seem to be trapped in. I came across the work of Joanna Macy in the 1980’s, went to her workshops in Sydney in the 1990s and trained with her there. I found her approach provided for me a way to face the daily bad news. I’m delighted to be sharing this hour and a bit with you.
We invite you now to each share in turn your name and why you made time to attend this session (Kit to facilitate – maybe encourage talking stick or similar symbol)
Overview of Active Hope – including group work and pairs
Mary: I’ve been invited to talk with you about Active Hope and to dip our toes into the experiential processes in the Active Hope spiral.
Joanna Macy over decades of running workshops developed the Spiral of the Work that Reconnects also called The Active Hope Spiral. Gratitude, Honoring our Pain for the World, Seeing with New Eyes and Going Forth.
1.Gratitude: Whatever we do in our work for the world, never underestimate the value of a gratitude practice. Daily. And indeed any of our group sessions and activist planning and “Ain’t it awful” conversations we find ourselves in – it’s worth mentioning Gratitude. It can be as simple as beginning a meeting by sharing “something I delight in… “ or “something I relish… “ or “I deeply appreciate….”
Around the circle each in turn share (without interruption):
“Something that happened recently that made my heart sing….”
2. Honouring our Pain for the world: This is a key step in the spiral, as we are often afraid to express the grief or anger or despair or overwhelm or numbness we might be feeling about the way the world is going, In a workshop setting the Truth Mandala is a powerful process, or various grief rituals. See https://workthatreconnects.org/resources/introduction-to-honoring-our-pain-for-the-world/
In pairs, each in turn “think aloud” without interruption:
“When I see what is happening to our world, what breaks my heart is….”
3. Seeing with New Eyes: There are many and varied practices that help us to see with new eyes:
Practices that connect us with gifts or words of wisdom from our ancestors; An imagined conversation with a child of the future – what would I say to a child living 200 years hence?
Connecting with other living species on this planet eg the Council of All Beings where I might be a fish or a koala or a bee, speaking my thoughts to the human who is there to listen…
In pairs, each in turn “think aloud” without interruption:
“Looking at the future we are heading into, what I deeply hope for is …..”.
4. Going Forth – all about how we can go about actively contributing to change in the world.
”A part I’d like to play is…..”
“A step I’ll take towards this in the next week is…”
Follow-up info:
The Active Hope online course arose from a book by the same name jointly written by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone. Many people formed Active Hope book groups to work through that book together. Then Chris Johnstone developed a series of videos to form a free online course based on the book. Both reflect the entire body of work developed over a lifetime by Joanna Macy.
Joanna Macy was an eco- philosopher, a scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. see https://workthatreconnects.org/joanna-macy-in-memoriam/
Dr. Chris Johnstone is a resilience specialist with a background in medicine, mental health promotion, and the psychology of change. He is based in Scotland and known internationally for his online resilience training work.
The 2-minute Active Hope intro spoken by Joanna Macy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEXAbX1f3Nc
Active Hope online training (a free video-based online course) https://activehope.training/p/active-hope-foundations-training
Video (7-mins) of Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone introducing the Active Hope book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZNv9c8fNtk
Other resources:
Nettie’s free online Sunday Active Hope spiral get-togethers: https://events.humanitix.com/falling-in-love-with-the-world-active-hope-spiral-free-online-sundays
Deep Ecology workshops with John Seed https://events.humanitix.com/host/6020c6b3b0a6fb000bc7fb82
An inspiring song for The Great Turning: Thrive East Bay Choir Performing We Shall be Known: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKhjaN72dRQ
Lyrics for We Shall be Known https://songsforthegreatturning.net/going-forth/we-shall-be-known-by-the-company-we-keep/
Resources for The Work That Reconnects https://workthatreconnects.org/directory-landing/
