The World is Worth Believing In

Meditation on All Things Wild

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth.

Hopefulness is not a neutral position, it is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism.

Each redemptive or loving act as small as you like, such as reading to your little boy or showing him a thing you love or singing him a song or putting on his shoes keeps the devil down in the hole.

It says the world and its inhabitants have value and are worth defending. It says the world is worth believing in. In time we come to find that this is so.

—- Nick Cave

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Hello lovelies—

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We are, all of us, afraid.

How fast a system can fall. How easy the destruction.

Into this, a creeping sense of despair.

But we must not give in, friends.

We must hold on to beauty.

I have only to step outside. The skin of night is velvet where stars hang like bits of incandescent fire. A sliver of moon slips toward the horizon. All is quiet, but for the wind, the voice of winter on the mountain.

The shadow of a fox emerges. She watches me. Good morning, I breathe into the chilly air. Yuki looks on, excited. She does not yet know what to make of the dog-like creature below.

It’s the middle of mating season and fox visits are sporadic. I hear their territorial barks and submissive whines in the gulch at night. Their lives go on, propelled by instinct, to mate and choose dens. In the spring, hopefully, there will be another litter of pups gamboling in the woods.

As the sky lightens, Clark’s Nutcrackers who have gathered in the nearest ponderosa, drop down to pick peanuts from the deck railing. This year there are at least a dozen wintering near the house. They fly off to cache whatever they have gathered in the barks of trees, the same places where in the spring they will build nests. They are part of our family now. Greg and I look for them each morning, the dove grey bodies and black striped wings, the loud raucous call—louder even that the Steller’s Jays or the miracle magpies also wintering with us this year. Their presence is solace.

The deer have come in. They winter closer to the house, perhaps, like the birds for the pile of sunflower seed kicked off the deck. At night they graze in the shadows. Sometimes, when I step out to let Yuki pee, I will startle one who goes bounding back into the dark. Last night it was a band of bucks—four of them. The largest, an eight-pointer, waits at the end of the yard, a sentinel, until woman and puppy go back in side.

Still will I gather beauty while I may.

Each year I threaten to have this saying from Jack Kornfield’s A Path With Heart tattooed on my wrist. Perhaps this is the year.

I have always found solace in beauty. Not the beauty of climbing big mountains, or searching out enormous vistas, the beauty of traveling to new places. Instead, I have practiced looking out my window and seeing what’s there. I have stalked the woods near my home—here and on Overland Mountain—and gotten to know the animals and plant beings with whom I share life as part of my daily meditation, as part of my daily prayer.

It is enough to notice and wonder.

How the world would change if every one did this one simple thing.

Right now, the forces of cynicism are threatening to claim it all. To swallow the world whole.

I refuse to give in.

Instead, I carry hope as a warrior emotion.

I do it because the world is worth believing in.

There is so much beauty. Even now.

This is my practice and my prayer.

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Hold onto beauty, friends, and to each other. Carry hope. The world is worth believing in.

Big love,

Karen

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Thank you for reading.

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Opportunities and Events

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I know the world is a lot right now. We all feel it. And though it may not seem like it, this is exactly to the time to tell your story. We must continue to speak up and out, to create art, to tell the story—our story—because the stories we are telling are stronger than the story of destruction. So, I invite you to join me for this Fishtrap yearlong project to write your novel, to sit with your memoir. Now is the time. We are waiting to hear your voice.

Fishtrap 2025 Yearlong Workshop with Karen Auvinen

Only 8 spots left.

A Walk in the Woods: Mapping New Territory and Exploring the Terrain of Your Book-Length Story

“A journey of a thousand miles is begins with a single step” —Laozi

Just as a walk in the forest reveals hidden paths and surprising discoveries, this Yearlong workshop invites you to uncover the path of your own story by learning to trust your intuition and the act of putting one foot in front of the other.

Applications Open Now, first come basis.

I am very excited to announce I have been asked to return to Fishtrap in lovely Lake Wallowa, Oregon to lead the yearlong book project (summer 2025-summer 2026). My last yearlong cohort finished in 2023.

Fishtrap is a one of a kind experience. I would love to have you join me!

Click this link for more information. The yearlong workshop includes two in-residence workshops at Fishtrap (summer of 2025 and 2026), monthly zooms, comments on monthly submissions, personalized book recommendations, writing exchanges with your cohort and a optional winter retreat.

Here is the promo video from my 2022 Yearlong Workshop: The Year of Writing Generously:

Please join me for this space-limited workshop and begin the journey of your book-length Story.

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Writing Wild Workshops

Workshops exploring the landscapes of the body and the earth.

Writing Wild Workshops are generative workshops exploring our wild, physical selves in all the landscapes we inhabit. Participants drop into their senses and write to and from this place in a series of exercises meant to inspire and get their creative juices going. Plan for camaraderie, craft talk, nature walking, discussion, and plenty of writing. #writingwildworkshops

Join Me for Summer 2025 Workshops!

Dates Coming Soon

May - Writing Wild: Intuition

June - Writing Wild: Ritual

Aug/Sept - Writing Wild: Wilding Your World

$150 for a full day of writing and discussion. Space Limited.

Or $125each, if you register with a friend.

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A Woman’s Place is in the Wild is a reader-supported weekly meditation on all things wild. Both free and paid subscriptions are available. If you would like to support my work and these weekly posts, the best way is by becoming a paid subscriber, which gives you access to the full archive of weekly Living Wild Meditations plus all of the Living Wild creativity and writing prompts. If you want to read more, check out Rough Beauty: Forty Seasons of Mountain Living.

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