I have an elderly mother and several elderly aunts and uncles and we are constantly called upon, and we believe that being there for them is part of who we are. We also live a special global connection to important community building happening in the village of Longido in northern Tanzania (www.projectembo.org). My partner’s sister and her partner are the founders of a small charity that is committed to empowering the local women and essentially - over the next several years - doing themselves out of work. And by contributing financially - as well as contributing our ideas and our thinking - we are a small part of that empowerment. It is, indeed, a distinguishing characteristic of our time that it is both the scariest in our living memories and, at the same time, there is enormous hope. Hope that is grounded in good things happening in the world. Hope that even the scary things hold meaning as they stretch us to rethink who we are and what we need in order to be that person.

I recently had the pleasure of hearing economist Richard Florida speak on the emergence of a creative economy and how the way out of these times is through shifting the economic engines away from things, towards people, towards creativity and ingenuity and intellectual capacity. We need to value every person’s capacity to be creative and to contribute, and only by caling that creativity forth will we transition into the new economy and create growth and wealth once again.

I was struck, in particular, by two things he said. He told us he won’t use the language of recession and he doesn’t like to speak of what’s happening as an economic crisis, but rather, he thinks of it as an economic reset. An important opportunity to revisit our values and think the hard thoughts about who we are as a society, what kinds of choices we’ve made, and do those choices reflect the best of who we are? Like a reset button, it allows us to get past the mistakes of the past and imagine the possiblities of the future. The second thing he said that resonated with me was that the economic transition we are living is as significant as when our ancestors went from an agriculture economy to industrial; that we are living that magnitude of a change.

I find it reassuring and comforting to think of myself as being a small part of history and so I like the idea that what we are experiencing is, indeed, significant, and that we can impact it by the choices we make, locally and globally. I like to think, in fact, that as a species we can reset our values and choose to live differently.

As belts tighten and I sense anxiety among my friends and family, I think of the wealth that exists in other forms of currency - like friendship, health, stillness, and love. What I’m seeing many of my young friends worry about is having to move home to live with parents, not being able to buy things, having only part time or no work at all. I’m trying to find the opportunities hidden within these challenges. Moving home means more time to reconnect with family. Not being able to afford to buy someone a birthday present means I can learn to craft and make use of all the stuff lying around my house to create one instead. Having less time at work means more time for things I really love, like taking walks in nature, gardening, and being with friends. I’m also starting a weekly potluck cookoff, where I ask each friend to bring one ingredient they already have around the house. We meet, survey the collected goods, and create a huge feast for everyone to share. We get to hang out, have a good time, eat, and save money all at once.

As a woman of 42, married with an eleven year old daughter in the prime of our ‘earning and saving years’, living in uber-depressed Michigan with jobs dependent on the decimated auto industry I hear FEAR everywhere I go. It is inescapable. Relentless. Yet, I am strangely calm. I have four amazing friends and the teachings of Christina the Wise and Anne the Courageous on how to come together in deep conversation and tell the story of what we see.

One of the things that we have been talking about and practicing (after a good long RANT about whatever stupidity we have just witnessed, or comeuppance we are celebrating) is finding the mental, emotional and physical space to live in beyond the paradoxes of hope and fear. Rumi’s piece has become a bit of a touchstone for me. “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

This was put sorely to the test this week when my husband was informed of a meeting that his boss and president of his company would be coming across the state to have with him. No further information available. With rampant layoffs and dismal sales we sat in limbo for three days. Had I not just come from a two day retreat with my girls I know I would have been panicked, adding to the crushing weight of responsibility on my husband’s shoulders.

Our circle’s center on our retreat (a tarot card layout from Angeles Arrien’s book - the path of balance) showed us that the legs holding us up are our relationships. The ground in the groundlessness. And, the feminine physical capacity we have in spades to express great care. Over those couple of days I reached out to him, not to share worry, but to mirror back to him his finest qualities and simply be together. It made a huge difference and I hope I can do more of that with him.

I am reaching out, and back, to the most meaningful relationships in my life, and inviting new ones. A huge feat for my hermit self. Its all I have.

In the words of R.E.M. “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.”

We, too, are debt-free, and my husband is still gainfully employed, so we are fine for the moment. We’ve been poor off and on in our lives and know how to live frugally; we enjoy used and discounted clothing and books so our expenses are not out of line with our income. Our daughters are both in college, though, and I’m worried that they won’t be able to separate from us and build lives of their own after they graduate. My husband has been wanting to retire, but we both know he’s very happy working, so the current plan is for him to continue doing so as long as his current employer continues to pay him — which doesn’t look like it will stop any time soon.

All of which makes us among the lucky ones. And so, on behalf of those less fortunate, we are working this year to clear out the “extra stuff,” giving away the clothes we rarely wear that someone else might need, the collection of fabric from my quilting days that might make quilts for children in hospitals, the books someone else might long to read. And, like many people, we’re cooking at home more, reading more, going out less, traveling less…

When my girls were little I used to read a story to them, written by Leo Lionni, about a mouse named Frederick, who stored up light and color and stories while the other mice were busy collecting nuts and seeds for the winter. They accused him of being lazy, but they sang another tune when, in the dark of winter, the nuts and seeds ran out, and Frederick was there to offer them memories of color and sunshine and music to help them wait out the dark days til spring.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of the Depression, I think of those dreadful gray pictures of people waiting in food lines, and then I think of the amazing art that was created during those dark years. As an artist, I’ve seen my income dwindle to almost nothing in the last three years (thank God my husband has a job) but that doesn’t mean I don’t keep doing art. So now I have begun sharing, both my photographs and whatever faith I bring to the journey (I am an occasional Episco-buddhist, I guess) on two daily blogs. One is photos and poetry, a quick read (www.contemplativephotographer.blogspot.com) and the other is photos with longer meditations (www.contemplativephotography.com). It just feels like a way to say we’re not alone, and that some struggles - especially the ones that try to seek or create meaning in the ordinariness of things — are common to all.

Thank you again for providing space for us to express our fears and think through what gifts we may have to offer in the time ahead.

I suppose I am naive, even at age 69, but I calmed down, paid off all credit card bills, realized that I have a great support team where I live and know that I have a wonderful circle of friends who will take me in if it came to that. Several of us have talked about the value of shared community living.

I have more than I need but have been paring down the last few years. Some things I can give to charity, some to the trash heap, but I’m learning I need a lot less of what I have. My bills are only basic living expenses, with a bit for recreation or spiritual enrichment. I still have a small mortgage but can handle it.

I think when we realize that there are so many in our communities who have a great deal less than we, it prompts us to take a closer look at our own lives. This hit hard many years ago when I was in a religious community. I went home for a visit and my mother apologized that she didn’t have steak to feed me (We never had steak at home.) because she “knew the sisters ate steak.” What an eye opener. How glad I am that I had the opportunity to come to her aid as she was growing old and becoming dependent on her children.

So, I pray that all of us will come to understand our role in these economic trials and reach out a hand to those around us.

Thanks for asking!

The way we are answering this question in our household of two single women is to invite in a third to cut down on expenses, to broaden our community, to provide a safe place for this third who is hungering for a change of environment and a place to grow and belong. Her soil has become toxic and she desperately needs to be replanted.

We, the current two, have developed a weekly prayer calendar to take our concerns and often times fears and convert them into the positive, creative energy of prayer. We pray every night before we go to bed. We have seven items per night that we take before our God to make requests, to pour out our desires for each and to offer the parts of them that are too heavy for us to bear to the One who has the ability, resources and insight to do what we alone cannot.

We, through God’s miraculous provision, keep this house stocked and often find ourselves in impromptu lunch and dinner engagements, hosted at our community house. We want to be a lighthouse here in our community, always open and welcome for the weary one that needs a place of refuge. We want to be the place where people run to. We have had the unique priviledge of being that to a few. We are praying that will increase as we grow.

We got our house last August as we prayed for perfect roommates to do life with. We found each other one week and within the next week, we found the house. We had no furniture between us, and now had a fabulous 1940’s 4 bedroom 2 bath craftsman to fill. We sat on the empty living room floor and prayed that it would be what God wanted it to be and I declared that the house would be filled within two weeks, the date that we would be moving in. That happened. Through the free stuff site on Craig’s list, the free giveaway site in our local newspaper, and on our free cycle local yahoo group, we had what we needed, without paying for a thing. Later we filled in some empty places with a few bought things at prices that would make any bargain hunter envious. Neither of us had done this before, but now we know about provision in a way that we never would have if we had not been willing to pray for help, and be brave enough to take a risk that by sight alone made absolutely no logical sense.

I encourage people to open up to doing life in a new way. We truly will be richer and wiser for it. Thanks for giving me a place to share this story.

It seems to me that everything cycles — there are up-cycles and down-cycles — it seems to be the natural state of things, why should economics be any different?

It also is amazing to me that people, corporations, countries expect continuous growth — that is really impossible. When you get to a certain point it should become maintenance.

I am very fortunate in that I have always had to live frugally; however I do have some credit card debt — all for necessities — car repairs, medical bills, taxes, but I am slowly paying that down. The education loans are all paid! The work-load is continuing — the rent will be going up, but not for several months now until all the remodeling is finished. I do have an option there — I can go back to the midwest and live with my sister (although that will mean starting over in the job and medical areas). I will be 66 in August and if I take my ss payments and keep my 2.5 jobs I will be able to afford to live in Southern California for a couple more years.

What inspires me is stories of the “Great Depression” — people shared and became closer and they got through it. I think we are in for another learning experience of sharing and learning what is really important and we will survive this economic downtown and maybe come through it with improved infrastructure and simpler lifestyles and more ecological awareness and nurturing for the earth.

Not much scares me because I have family to turn to. I get scared for my daughter who lives on her own in Manhattan (the most expensive place in the US to live) and works in the world of theatre which is very uncertain). But, she, too can “come home” for a while if she needs to.

I sometimes think this is a “leveling of the playing field in that the people with the most may eventually realize that accumulation of stuff is not what life is about. We will get through this and we may learn to live on a more sustainable level.