Part 2 · Honouring the Pain
Human
Read the Lyrics
Singing Key
Wake up, mate! You've been sleeping now for days. You got tangled in your old old ways But your friends are all still with you and today is a different day So wake up, mate! There's a million things to do We could write the world over and bring laughter to our lives We could just watch the sparkles in the water for a while Can you hear me, mate? Are you listening? As long as you and I've got time, I'll be counting all my blessings for the years of bloody good friendship - You've been on my mind So wake up, mate! We're just fucking lucky to be alive We've got all the shimmering brilliance of the whole world in our minds And do you remember: sometimes we felt immortal when we were just having a good time Can you hear me, mate? Are you listening? As long as you and I've got time I'll be counting all my blessings for the years of bloody good friendship - You've been on my mind It's not always going to be easy; sometimes it's just really fucking hard Mate, it's tricky being human and I know there's no easy answers but I know you've got a good heart So wake up, mate! You've been sleeping now for days. You got tangled in your old old ways But your friends are all still with you and today is a different day Can you hear me, mate? Are you listening?
Sit With This — reflect on any question that resonates with you
Theme: depression, return, friendship, surviving hard times together
- What does it mean to be a human in times of collapse and crisis? How is it tricky?
- Can you think of someone you know or love who is struggling right now? If so, what's one thing you could offer that doesn't try to fix them?
- Hosting yourself is the first step to holding others. What helps you to reregulate and settle your nervous system?
- Can you identify a place, experience or thing you do where you get a felt sense of having "all the shimmering brilliance of the whole world" in your mind?
- Do you have something as simple as watching "the sparkles on the water" that you can go to, to settle yourself to calm?
Being Circle ▾
A Cards for Life practice · Tom Mansfield, paleblueperspective.com/cards-for-life
Human is a song about needing each other, and about the friend who notices you've gone quiet. This gets a room from polite to actual surprisingly quickly — usually inside ten minutes, and usually by way of something nobody expected to say out loud.
How it works
If you have a deck of cards to hand (any deck with evocative images works, or improvise with objects in the room), each person draws one and shares a brief, honest response to what it stirs. If no cards are available, each person simply shares one honest sentence about how they're arriving right now.
Facilitation note: keep shares brief and grounded — no cross-talk. Calibrate timing to group size, roughly a minute each.
The Milling ▾
A practice from the Work That Reconnects · Joanna Macy, Active Hope
Human is about isolation, and about the friend who turns up and says wake up, mate. After a song like that, a room usually needs to properly look at one another before it can do anything else, and that is all this is.
How it works
Everyone stands and moves slowly through the room. Make eye contact with each person you pass. No words. Notice what you feel.
Facilitation note: works even in a small space. 5 minutes is enough.