Join us for The Seeds Storyteller Series: Difference-Making During the Corona Crisis in which we’ll be talking with an impassioned storyteller and gender equity activist. Joining us from SOUTH AFRICA, Lauren Jacobs will share about her callings to speak out and write stories that bring hope, truth, and change. She shared with me that one thing she wants to talk about is this: “You have permission to be unproductive – it’s ok to not be ok.” She believes that it’s important to feel share that during this crisis to create safe spaces for each other and that, together, we are stronger than we think. Get ready to learn a few things from this wise sister about the world and some tangible ways to move through these challenging days with courage as a connected community.

If I could choose a title for my storytelling, it would be “herstorian,” I write and tell women’s stories. Inside, I am a justice seeker wanting to protect, nurture and create safe spaces where justice and healing take place. I believe that is part of my spiritual DNA to be someone who advocates for justice in order to create awareness and drive change. -Lauren

In case you missed the livestream, check out the replay right here or head to your favorite social media platform: YouTube | IGTV | Facebook. While you’re there, subscribe to join the fun with us at Seeds of Exchange. Keep the convo goin’ in the comments below.

This sistah and I have been part of each others’ lives for years. Every time I hear from Lauren, I am enCOURAGED, my perspective is expanded, and I learn something new about the world. I asked her to share her story with us, because I believe you will find a bit – or a bunch! – of your story in hers and will discover a gem of what is most needed in your life today.

WHAT you can look forward to in this conversation:

– enCOURAGEMENT to create safe spaces for yourself and others during this crisis where raw emotions can be shared and held authentically.

I believe in authenticity and living consciously and truthfully. As individuals facing a global pandemic which has changed our “normal,” many are experiencing hard emotions, anxiety, disconnection and uncertainty. Sharing is important because an untold story or experience can never heal. Let’s be safe spaces for each other. -Lauren

– PERMISSION to not be productive and to be more present than ever.

I’m practicing taking small steps day by day … just focusing on this hour, this day. -Lauren

– NUDGE to keep it real and be STRONGer than you think you are.

It’s okay not to be okay. Emotions are not negative. Rather, it’s the understanding we attach to them, the way we’ve been socialised, that has attributed positive or negatives to our emotions. We can be real with ourselves. We are stronger and more able to overcome than we think we are. -Lauren

– Unexpected GIFTS of clarity and quiet that have come to Lauren during lockdown.

My challenge right at the beginning, was as a speaker I had engagements cancelled when our lockdown came in to effect. Initially, I was upset about this as I was excited about a number of events I was planning to attend. But with the time we’ve had indoors, the gift it has brought to me personally is the gift of clarity. I am usually too busy in my mind to focus on things I often want to do. I have discovered there are things about my “normal” routine, which I actually do not like. Habits I have which are not positive. I see these things unravelling now and that’s a gift. -Lauren

– GUIDED moment to BE STILL and take a “PoP” (Place of Pause) together with a specific idea or two for you to take into your everyday life and practice on your own or with your family so you can experience peace and strength within these stormy days.

NUDGES for inspired ACTion:

1 – 3 NUDGES from Lauren: SUPPORT small businesses. DONATE to animal shelters. MEDITATE and Listen.

2 – PONDER: What 3 words give you hope during these disrupted days? Lauren’s are: “Peace. Everlasting Arms. Desire.”

3 – WATCH a movie that inspires you. One of Lauren’s favorites is “The Hundred-Foot Journey”.

4 – COMMIT TO YOUR OWN PLACES OF PAUSE. Choose 1 thing to weave into your life from our storyteller’s practice that will create plentyFULL peace within you.

Take a moment to be silent. Suspend the desire to think about the future or to know the outcome of all this. Be present in the moment. Breathe in and out. What comes up in your thoughts – what is the first thing you feel led to do or that you need to do, which pulls you from this place of silence? Can you identify it? Ask yourself why is this thing important? What does it mean to me? Is it rooted in guilt, shame or fear? If so, is this thing really just preventing me from experiencing peace in my own life? How can you lift this thing up in a small prayer today? -Lauren

5 – CONNECT WITH, follow, and friend our team:

• Lauren: Website | Email | Insta
  

  Who I am: Storyteller. Visionary. Woman. Justice Passionate. Creative. Wife. Child of Yahweh. Daughter. Sister. Gender Equality Activist. Writer. Researcher. Ordained Minister. Speaker. Friend. Compassionate.

• Sarah: Website | Facebook and Insta | 7 ways to join the fun so you can be inspired and ignited to make a difference locally and globally, together.

Lauren’s favorite poem – enJOY!!

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost

ABOUT the Seeds Storyteller Series:

Difference-Making During the Corona Crisis | Stories of community, compassion, and creativity in the midst of everyday life, today. We share these stories about everyday difference-makers with you in the midst of the Corona pandemic so you can be informed, inspired, and ignited to care for yourself and others in the midst of these disrupted and challenging days. Get ready to find a bit more of your story as you listen to the stories of ARTivists (artist-activists), students, parents, elders, entrepreneurs, and activists!