As the pandemic continues to challenge us with the sometimes disturbing realities of change, I watch our community of awake and aware leaders continue to grow in wisdom, expanding our hearts and the steadfastness of our will to be love in action.
Recently, I woke to the devastating effects of the pandemic internationally on women and girls -- beyond overwhelming medical issues. Increased violence against women, teen pregnancies, and mental health crises are among the impacts being felt by our sisters both inside and outside the U.S. Many small micro-businesses were devastated by lockdowns and cratering economies. School closures interrupted and, in some cases, ended formal education and created social isolation.
While there are many dilemmas inherent in giving and helping, the love we share and the warmth we truly wish for each other reminds us we are connected, in one global consciousness with each other and all life.
The holidays are a perfect time to give back - and the truth is, local entrepreneurial initiatives bring powerful lasting changes in communities. That’s why I am thrilled to celebrate talent and ingenuity with an end of year donation to the International Women Leaders for the World Fund, providing small grants to local leaders addressing the devastating effects of the pandemic on women and girls. (see below for details on the grants) and to donate to the Pathways to Peace Memorial Fund in honor of my dear friend and colleague Avon Mattison.
There is so much we can do to contribute to a world that works for everyone.
If you want to join us in making a difference through the IWLFW International Women Leaders for the World Fund small grants, please consider contributing here. These grants support remarkable grassroots initiatives run by graduates of the Women Leaders for the World.
Pathways to Peace works to make peace a lived reality and build a sustainable culture of peace. For the four decades I was honored to know her, founder Avon Mattison was lovingly insistent that we all envision and work to create a world at peace. She and the team worked with the United Nations for many years and co-led efforts to inaugurate the UN International Day of Peace in 1981, a day for us all to commit to Peace above all differences. This day, celebrated on September 21, has grown into a global movement that reaches hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
You can make your own donation here to a memorial fund in honor of Avon. To learn more you may enjoy this inspiring panel I moderated on 9/11/21 where Avon speaks so eloquently of the importance of peace.
A world that is uncertain makes connecting with others and giving as much as we receive even more important. In a recent Forbes article, Tracy Brower says, “being generous benefits both the recipient and the giver, strengthening social connections, a sense of meaning and purpose, and a feeling of control.”
In other words, generosity is a flow that connects us and benefits everyone. I found this study, published by Elizabeth Dunn, et. al., intriguing as they show how the benefits of prosocial spending can be detected in the brain and the body, resulting in more happiness, relatedness, competence, and autonomy for both givers and those who receive.
Researchers have discovered that “whenever we give to charity, our brains react in the same way they would if we were eating some chocolate.” (!) By using MRI technology, scientists were able to observe the human brain when a person is generous. It turns out that the body releases endorphins which react with opiate receptors in the mid-brain. This leads to a feeling of euphoria. In addition, the production of a neurotransmitter known as Serotonin is triggered, causing us to feel happy and experience a positive attitude. This feeling is often called the "warm glow of generosity.”
And, as we enter this season of giving, let’s strengthen our sense of connection to each other, the earth and all life by doing our part in considering how and what we purchase this holiday season - the environmental and social consequences of what we buy, whether more stuff is needed or wanted. Perhaps a thoughtful story, experience, a poem, or donation might delight even more. (At the end of this blog I’ve included a poem I’m gifting this year. Feel free to use it as well)
Together, we make a difference, generating peace in our hearts and homes and supporting remarkable leadership at local and global levels.
We wish you a season filled with kindness and wish us all a regenerative, wisdom-filled relationship with our one beloved earth.
Karen, and the Communicore team
MORE INFORMATION ON THE 2021 IWLWF GRANTS (many more deserving women applied and will be funded as we receive more grants!)
International Women Leaders for the World Fund - small grants making a big difference in the hands of established women leaders and local capable organizations to address significant needs in their communities.
Icon Enterprise Foundation, Uganda - active support for families and out-of-school adolescent young women now more vulnerable to violence and early pregnancies.
Girls Empowerment Sierra Leone - Sister Circle project addressing mental health COVID-19 related issues in high schools and through radio and television.
LifeBloom International, Kenya - training workshops on mental health; building counseling skills of community mentors.
Talia Women’s Network, Zimbabwe - Teen mothers and disadvantaged young women trained in a proven model to stimulate entrepreneurial micro businesses.
Vaccine Network for Disease Control, Nigeria - Skills hub to train more young women and restore women-owned, skills-based businesses affected by COVID-19.
The Gifts of Poetry
Teach the children. We don’t matter so much, but the children do. Show them daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen. The lives of the blue sailors, mallow, sunbursts, the moccasin flowers. And the frisky ones—inkberry, lamb’s-quarters, blueberries. And the aromatic ones—rosemary, oregano. Give them peppermint to put in their pockets as they go to school. Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms.
Attention is the beginning of devotion.
- Mary Oliver (1935-2019), From – Upstream: Selected Essays