Written by: Caroline Lewis, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
We are all living through a time of Great Turning. The Great Turning is an incredible phase in our Earth’s history when humans steer away from an industrial growth society and towards a life-sustaining society not just for humans but for all living species and our Planet. Joanna Macy and Molly Brown describe this through “The Work that Reconnects.” This turning is now taking place, and sensitive people are already witnessing and contributing to this time in our Earth’s history.
In the beginning stages of the Great Turning, life can feel more unstable as old models and structures that have supported a society scaffolded by the outdated growth-for-profit agenda begin to crumble. As more and more people turn away from what is no longer working, and turn towards new socially and ecologically just ways of cohabiting our planet, a huge shift in our Earth’s history occurs. A new cosmology of the Earth that is both old and new replaces the existing story of colonization and domination over nature, and humans and the non-human world (animals, plants, watersheds, ecosystems) heal fractured relationships with one another in order to live in a future of reciprocity and compassion.
“In the story of the Great Turning, what’s catching on is a commitment to act for the sake of life on Earth as well as the vision, courage, and solidarity to do so. Social and technical innovations converge, mobilizing people’s energy, attention, creativity, and determination in what Paul Hawken describes as ‘the largest social movement in history.’ In his book Blessed Unrest, he writes: “I soon realized that my initial estimate of 100,000 organizations was off by at least a factor of ten, and I now believe there are over one – and maybe even two — million organizations working towards ecological sustainability and social justice.”
Why Emergent Sensitive Leadership is necessary
“In the past, changing the self and changing the world were often regarded as separate endeavors and viewed in either-or terms. But in the story of the Great Turning, they are recognized as mutually reinforcing and essential to one another.” — Joanna Macy
Highly sensitive folks often care deeply about the state of the world and the future of the planet.
They are highly creative and artistic, entrepreneurial, or/and are in healing and helping professions. HSPs have open hearts and often find themselves supporting others in their relationships and in work environments.
Highly sensitive and compassionate people from diverse backgrounds, races, ethnicities, lineages, gender identities, and sexual orientations who rise to leadership in their own lives and in their communities play a significant role in our hope for a more sustainable and ecologically just future.
Wildly Sensitive Leadership is the Path Forward.
However, empaths need support in knowing how to lead their lives from a grounded place instead of one sprouting from overwhelm and anxiety that is a result of a lifetime of heteropatriarchy, societal pressures, and conditionings. They need support from the community, safe spaces to grieve, adventures to inspire them, ancient intuitive knowledge from the land and their ancestors, and the deepest and most soulful connection to the Earth that has long been forgotten by capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy.
The sensitive ones who have the courage to cultivate reciprocal relationships in community and with the Earth while leading from their hearts and intuition are necessary for embodying a new path forward away from a status quo and the heteropatriarchal standard that is not sustainable for humans and our precious non-human world.
Caroline Lewis, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Caroline Lewis (she,they) is a psychotherapist, energy healer, and wilderness guide. She believes true embodied joy is rooted in the courage to embrace sensitivity, opening our hearts through the necessary risks to love, grieve, hope, and transform. Through healing and sacred nature connection, Caroline guides wildly sensitive leaders with aligning with their true purpose and souls' wisdom during this time of ecological transition. She is the founder of Root Awareness which offers transformative experiences through nature adventures, meditation, process groups, and 1:1 healing and coaching sessions.
