A four-week journey from
overwhelm to reverence.
I don't know about you, but my nervous system is on the fritz lately, trying to process it all. Glaciers falling. Forests burning. Institutions buckling. I keep expecting things to "go back to normal," and they keep not going there.
It's dawning on me: This is normal, now.
But what if we could embrace it. All of it. The part that hurts and the part that melts our hearts. The mess and the kiss. What if we could turn toward one another, instead of away? And what if the places that make us shut down are exactly where our compassion, love, and power are waiting, a wellspring we can tap into right now. Right here inside of us.
For four weeks, we’ll explore what it means to stay open to the whole shebang — without denying the suffering or missing the sweetness. We don't have to solve it all, either, but we're not giving up hope. Join the journey!
October 18–November 15, 2026 · Online
What's Included
Through writing, conversation, meditation, art, and history, we'll explore this mess/kiss world we live in and how we can respond to it with our full selves. Here's what the journey includes.
A Weekly Itinerary
A mix of things to help us explore the week's theme – reflections, things to read, watch, or listen to, and a prompt or practice to carry into the week.
Live Gatherings
Three live online gatherings on October 18, November 1, and November 15. Each will begin with a short meditation, then move into conversation and shared inquiry. I'll be shaking up the format, too, with a few surprises.
Practices & Meditations
Meditations, writing prompts, experiments in attention, questions to live with. Not to hand in. Just tools that move the questions out of the mind and into the body, then into the world.
Two New Certain Age Pieces
I've commissioned new work specifically for this journey from writers well equipped to provoke our thinking. Their work will widen our perspectives on the mess and the kiss.
Hello! My name is
Jean Shields Fleming
I’m a writer, editor, animal lover, and founder of Certain Age Magazine. I live for deep-end questions, like how we balance uncertainty, suffering, and change with the sheer joy of being — to expand the possibility and impact of our own lives. For nearly 50 years, I’ve been practicing Buddhist meditation and have had the good fortune to study with some extraordinary teachers, including Thich Nhat Hanh, Joanna Macy, and Geshe Tenzin Zopa. This journey brings all those threads together in community, so we can unleash our power right now, when the world dearly needs it.
Journey Map: Four Weekly Inquiries
Week 1:
The World's a Mess
We begin where we are: inhabiting disaster. War, fire, political upheaval and human suffering in the palm of our hand every day. Our attention monetized, our outrage a business model. What are we tired of? Angry about? Afraid of? Where have we gone numb?
Week 2:
Unused Love
We hurt because we care. In week two, we’ll look beneath the surface of our big loud feelings to see the tenderness simply waiting for our attention. We’ll turn toward grief, anger, despair and even disgust. What do these feelings reveal about what we love?
Week 3:
Attention as Boundary
Turning toward the world doesn’t mean unlimited access to our minds. Attention is a sacred boundary — so we'll practice discerning what we want to attend to, and how to turn away from the bottomless scrolling shitshow.
Week 4:
It's in Our Kiss
Beauty. Pleasure. Creativity. Bodies. Music. Food. Friendship. Humor. Love. They are part of our world too.
What happens when we refuse to exile sweetness from reality? When we allow ourselves to love more rather than less?
The Details:
The World’s a Mess, It’s in Our Kiss
October 18–November 15, 2026
Over four weeks, you’ll receive weekly reflections, practices, and guided meditations, plus three live community gatherings. All online.
Live gatherings: October 18 · November 1 · November 15
Time: 7 PM Greece · 5 PM UK · 12 PM Eastern · 9 AM Pacific
Gathering length: Approximately 75–90 minutes each
All gatherings will be recorded and shared with participants.
Pricing: $60 standard · $30 accessible · $90 pay-it-forward
The pay-it-forward rate covers your place and sponsors a $30 seat for someone else.
Join the Journey Today!
Standard: $60
Pay-It-Forward: $90
Accessible: $30