Climate Cafe: Let’s Talk

Climate change anxiety AKA eco-anxiety is a real condition, one that is primed to worsen as we approach the Super El Nino scientists predict is just up ahead for us.

And experts suggest that finding people to speak with is an important coping mechanism. It’s imperative that we not feel alone.

The Climate Change Anxiety Support Group introduces the Climate Cafe, a space where you can share your thoughts and fears and find community to assist you as we deal with this unparalleled situation. We’ll be here to check in on each other as we navigate through this crisis, to share resources and provide some tools to help us cope. The Climate Cafe will be a safe space for you to report on your feelings and let us know how you are directly being impacted by climate change.

Look for our posts on Sunday afternoons at 1 Pacific. Please join us.

I had a breakthrough during a therapy session last week. I entered the session in a deep state of anxiety about the planet. Heart racing, mind petrified, body tense. The therapist recognized the crisis I was in and we spent the session doing some spiritual work, all grounded in the concept that I am separate from my fear, that there are many other parts of me and that I could ask the anxious part to allow a little space for other parts of me.

The session calmed me down and made me realize how the solution to my anxiety attacks and deep seated grief and despair rested in my ability to reacquaint myself with a spiritual practice. First to mind was The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle’s classic. A Google search revealed that Tolle offers tips on how to cope with anxiety about climate change.

Google AI assistant provides an overview of his teachings on this.

For starters, he suggests separating life from the life situation: the ‘life situation “exists in your mind. It is where climate models, news cycles, geopolitical conflicts, and worst-case future scenarios live. While these issues are macro-realities, constantly dwelling on them turns them into a psychological weight that causes suffering.”

Life itself is “the immediate, physical present moment. If you look around right now—the room you are in, the breath you are taking, the chair supporting you—there is rarely an immediate crisis in this exact second.

Recognize the Futility of Mind-Projected Fear

According to Tolle, fear is a thought form that arises the moment you project yourself into an imagined future. Eco-anxiety is almost always a projection of loss, destruction, and disaster that hasn’t happened in the immediate “Now”. Your body cannot tell the difference between a real physical threat and a mental image of a climate disaster; it reacts to your thoughts with physical stress, adrenaline, and panic. Recognizing that this worry is futile helps you step out of the loop.

Use the Senses as an Anchor

When global news triggers a wave of panic or helplessness, Tolle advises shifting your attention away from the thinking mind and redirecting it to direct sensory perception.

• Silent Looking: Look at your immediate surroundings without mentally labeling or judging them.
• Conscious Breathing: Take a single conscious breath, following the inflow and outflow. You cannot actively worry while giving 100% of your attention to your breath.
• Inner Body Awareness: Feel the aliveness and energy inside your hands, feet, and torso

Meet Uncomfortable Emotions with “Allowing”

If the grief or anxiety about the planet feels deeply stored in your body, Tolle warns against resisting it. Instead, become the “sky” observing the “clouds”. Acknowledge the physical sensation of anxiety—whether it is a tight chest or a racing heart—and allow it to be there without weaving a doom-laden story around it. When you stop fighting the emotion, it loses its power to control you.

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I hope this overview was helpful. I know that it really is helping me.

How are you doing this afternoon?