Part 2 · Honouring the Pain
The Burn
Read the Lyrics
Singing Key
I don't take too much of this and that and the other I don't believe too many lies If you paint the world into a box it’ll take forever To seal ourselves inside. Oh why oh why? And if I feel like going out It's not clear if I'm just Disconnected or feeling deeper doubts And if I see my silhouette Doing things I might regret I just sit down and watch the world Watch it turning, watch and wait Till I start to feel the burn I wake up early and I dress myself in feathers I go hurtling down the drive - why oh why? I chew my vitriol and I cursed the fucking weather It weighs heavy on our minds: oh why of why? If I feel like going out It's not clear if I'm just Dreaming when I hear you scream and shout And if I see my silhouette Doing things I might regret I just sit down and watch the world Watch it turning, watch and wait Till I start to feel it burn
Sit With This — reflect on any question that resonates with you
- Where do you feel the burn in your life right now. Work. News. Relationships. Your body.
- What does your system do when it’s overwhelmed. Shut down. Get busy. Get numb. Get angry.
- Is there a difference, for you, between rest that heals and avoidance that drains you?
- What kind of support actually helps when you feel this way. Quiet company. Practical help. Permission to stop.
- How could we notice earlier when someone around us is burning out, and respond with care instead of pressure?
A Somatic Practice ▾
The Burn lives in the nervous system before it lives in the mind. Here are two ways back into the body — both quick, both discreet, and both usable any time you need them. On a train. Before a meeting. In the middle of a difficult conversation.
1 · Orienting — 2 minutes
Slowly and deliberately look around the room. Let your eyes rest on objects — noticing colours, textures, distances. Don’t scan; arrive at each thing. Name quietly what you see, aloud or internally — familiar objects, a chair, curtains, the TV, a stain on the carpet. Return to the breath after each noticing. Make sure to look behind you too — check your blindspots to reassure your system that you are in a safe space. It might seem silly to notice the chairs and the stains on the carpet, but you’re sending intentional messages to the reptilian part of your brain. You are safe here. No threat. No concerns.
2 · Ear Massage — 2–3 minutes
A branch of the vagus nerve runs close to the surface at the ear, which makes it one of the easiest places on the body to reach the parasympathetic system directly — the rest-and-digest side that switches off the alarm.
- The tragus — the small flap of cartilage just in front of the ear canal. Massage it gently in slow circles with a fingertip.
- The whole ear — take the outer rim between thumb and finger and pull gently outward and downward, working slowly around from top to lobe.
Let yourself make noise while you do it — ow-ooo-ow-ooo. It sounds daft, and that is part of why it works: the sound adds vibration, and the daftness undercuts the seriousness the body has been holding.
Both of these are yours to keep — not just for this evening. Orienting is invisible to anyone watching. The ear massage is nearly so. Learning them here, in company, makes them easier to reach for later when you’re on your own and the burn comes back.
Open Sentences - Honouring the Pain ▾
A practice from the Work That Reconnects · Joanna Macy, Active Hope
The Burn opens the window on the pain of the world. This practice gives that pain somewhere to land — witnessed, not fixed.
How it works
In triads: one speaker, two listeners. The speaker completes a sentence stem and keeps speaking for a couple of minutes. No cross-talk. No advice. No consolation. The listeners' only job is to attend.
- "When I see what's happening to the natural world, what breaks my heart is..."
- "When I see what's happening to human society, what breaks my heart is..."
- "Something I have been carrying that I rarely say out loud is..."
- "The feeling I most often push away is..."
Rotate so each person speaks once. Allow a moment of shared silence after all three have spoken.
Facilitation note: give explicit permission for silence between sentences. The listeners' job is to attend, not respond. 10–15 minutes for a full round of three.