SEVEN WAYS TO LIVE WHEN EVERYTHING SEEMS TERRIFYING
“How Not to Be Afraid is a Necessary Book.”
— Kathleen Norris, Bestselling Author
The world seems terrifying - each of us has experienced stories of fear, uncertainty, and pain, and many of us feel unsure what to do in response to what seem like overwhelming odds.
In How Not to be Afraid, Irish storyteller, activist, and creative convenor Gareth Higgins explores seven common fears, inviting us to change the course of our stories through seven habits of hope and action for the common good.
How Not to be Afraid is ripe for the moment in which we find ourselves. If you’re feeling afraid, and want to consider an option beyond fight, flight, or freeze - an alternative that might actually transform our experience of fear into something better, come on in. You’re not alone.
JOIN GARETH HIGGINS in 2024: North Carolina, Wyoming, or Ireland
How Not to be Afraid
Join beloved writer and spiritual activist Gareth Higgins for explorations into in spirituality, society, courage, creativity, and the common good.
Gareth Higgins writes and speaks about the power of storytelling to shape our lives and world, peace and making justice, and how to take life seriously without believing your own propaganda. He has been involved in peace-building and violence reduction in northern Ireland and helping address the legacy of conflict, and helped found the Wild Goose, New Story and Movies & Meaning festivals. Gareth leads retreats in the US and Ireland; and he founded The Porch Magazine.
March 7-9: Montreat, near Asheville, NC: The Porch Gathering. Click here for details.
May 26-June 1st: Dubois, WY: Ring Lake Ranch. Click here for details.
Various Dates in June & October: Belfast & Kilkeel, Northern Ireland: Ireland Retreats Click here for details.
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Gareth Higgins was born in Belfast in 1975, grew up during the northern Ireland Troubles, and now lives in the US. He writes and speaks about the power of storytelling to shape our lives and world, peace and making justice, and how to take life seriously without believing your own propaganda. He has been involved in peace-building and violence reduction in northern Ireland and helping address the legacy of conflict, received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Queen’s University Belfast, and helped teach the world’s first graduate course in Reconciliation Studies at Trinity College Dublin. He also helped found the Wild Goose, New Story and Movies & Meaning festivals. Gareth leads retreats in North America and Ireland; and he founded The Porch Magazine.
Brian McLaren says Gareth’s new book How Not to be Afraid is “a beautiful book”, Kathleen Norris says it’s “a necessary book”, and Micky ScottBey Jones says it’s “a much-needed resource for skill-building through our fear and trauma, so that we might create the belonging and communities we desire”. Nadia Bolz-Weber says “I totally trust Gareth Higgins when he writes about his own fear and how it’s actually possible to transform it into something powerful, something capable of healing us and the world.” Pádraig Ó Tuama says “Gareth Higgins is a friend. This book is too.”
We’re delighted to welcome Gareth for an evening of storytelling and conversation about courage, creativity, and community, based on the ideas in his beloved new book, and decades of experience in northern Ireland, the US, and elsewhere seeking to nurture communities who learn and share a better story.
"All I can say for now is WOW! It’s as if Spirit handed me your book in answer to my persistent, ongoing plea, HOW-HOW-HOW (to heal)? Thank you. I’m recommending your book to practically everyone." - Tracy Rittmueller, Founding Director, Lyricality
Also Consider Our Self-Guided Course: A Forty Day Journey toward Living Better When Everything Seems Terrifying
A journey exploring:
* our fears and the stories we tell about them
* where fear comes from, and why it can help us
* how to transform unnecessary fear into a better story that inspires us to live better
* the relationship between death and joy
* a simple but profound model to anyone who wants to build communities that promise mutual support, challenge, inspiration, protection and service to the common good
We'll offer the following:
* a daily practice which can be done at home in 5 to 15 minutes
* recommended music for deepening the experience
* a weekly movie reflecting on an aspect of fear and transformation
* a weekly exercise that helps turn our fears into energy for goodness
* a weekly video from Gareth reflecting on the week’s practices, music, movie and readings
* all building toward a "cleaning house" of some old fears, replacing them with a wiser story of ourselves and the world we are called to love, to serve, and be loved by
Because we know that video calls have become a lifeline during the pandemic, but also need to be used sparingly so they don't tire us all out, we're offering only two Zoom calls on this journey, one at the beginning, and one at the end.
And it’s not a problem if you can’t make it to those calls as they will be recorded to watch or listen later. Additionally, we will also offer the option for anyone who wants to meet in a small group of between six to eight people to do so with a simple format, at times and frequencies that work for you.
We believe that money should not be an obstacle to experiencing community, wisdom, and healing, so this course is being offered on a pay-from-the-heart basis. We hope you'll join us.
How to Register
We’ll reopen registration for this course soon, and when we do, we’ll ask that you consider what you feel a forty day journey with the possibility of long-lasting transformation might be worth to you, along with the resources you have available, and opt-in at that amount. Because folk sometimes tell us that they would like a guide for the registration fee, we are setting standard registration at $150 (you can make either a one-off payment or opt to pay in installments); we offer a $75 registration fee if you need a 50% scholarship; and if you can give more we'll provide that option too.
If you need to pay less than $75, we offer installment options to pay over time, and also options to register at varying amounts as low as $10. If you need to register for no payment, we’re delighted to have you; or if you would like to contribute more than the amounts listed on the registration page, we’re grateful. In either case, please click here to contact us and tell us that you need a gift registration for yourself, or that you’d like to contribute more to help support this work. We'll point you in the right direction.
Registration will reopen soon.
With registration you'll receive a free copy of the ebook of The Seventh Story: Us, Them, and the End of Violence, by Gareth Higgins and Brian McLaren
We encourage you to purchase a copy of Gareth's book How Not to be Afraid, available wherever books are sold
* All the movies we recommend are available to stream on the Criterion Channel, which offers a 14-day free trial, and costs $10.99 thereafter, but you can cancel at any time.
“This book is a much-needed resource for skill-building through our fear and trauma so we might create the belonging and communities we desire."
— Micky ScottBey Jones, the Justice Doula, director of healing and resilience initiatives with Faith Matters Network
“I totally trust Gareth Higgins when he writes about his own fear and how it's actually possible to transform it into something powerful, something capable of healing us and the world."
— Nadia Bolz-Weber, author of Shameless; Accidental Saints; and Pastrix
About the Author
Gareth Higgins was born in Belfast in 1975, grew up during the northern Ireland Troubles, and now lives in the US. He writes and speaks about the power of storytelling to shape our lives and world, peace and making justice, and how to take life seriously without believing your own propaganda.
He has been involved in peace-building and violence reduction in northern Ireland and helping address the legacy of conflict, received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Queen’s University Belfast, and co-taught the world’s first graduate course in Reconciliation Studies at Trinity College Dublin.
He also helped found the Wild Goose, New Story and Movies & Meaning festivals. Gareth leads retreats in North America and Ireland; and he edits The Porch Magazine. He’s happy to be a work in progress. If you'd like to connect with his work, you can see more at The Porch Magazine, have a look at Ireland Retreats, explore Movies & Meaning, or go to GarethHiggins.net.
“Gareth Higgins is a friend. This book is too."
— Pádraig Ó Tuama, writer, poet, Theologian-in-Residence at On Being, and author of In the Shelter
"Through his brilliance as a storyteller, Gareth Higgins has allowed us simple but deep insights into the possibility of managing the debilitating emotion of fear. By bearing his soul-exhausting experience with fear, he allows us to take our own hero's journey to find our way through."
— Dr. James McLeary, former CEO of Inside Circle Foundation and executive producer of the award-winning documentary The Work
We’re taking a deep dive into How Not to be Afraid over the six weeks of the season of Lent 2022.
With an open mind and a heart ready to explore a beautiful and difficult conversation about transforming our fears into a bigger story, everyone’s welcome to join us.
Details at www.theporchcourses.com