Books, articles, essays, and occasional writings in other genres by me
BOOKS
JUST PUBLISHED!
Fierce Consciousness: Surviving the Sorrows of Earth and Self
Calliope Books, 2023
When grief and anxiety beat us down, the struggle to cope can feel like it’s crushing us even more. To meet big challenges we need to develop fierce consciousness. In her new book Trebbe Johnson offers 34 simple practices for not only surviving tough challenges to our personal lives and our ailing planet, but also engaging with them in ways that give new meaning and beauty to daily experience.
From March 10-April 21, I’ll be doing a 21-city, cross-country book tour! See the complete schedule.
“Unabashedly courageous and edgy, wise and poignant, Trebbe Johnson recognizes that each of us is a makeweight in the shaping of any possible future for us and the planet. She turns away from nothing, inviting each of us to find our deep affection for this beleaguered world and to put our love on the line.”
—Francis Weller, Author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow
You’ve Made the World More Beautiful
2021
In 2010 Radical Joy for Hard Times launched their new organization by asking people to go to places they loved that had been hurt and make simple, spontaneous gifts of beauty for them. The response was so enthusiastic, we knew this had to be an annual event. In this book some of the participants share their photos and stories.
Radical Joy for Hard Times: Finding Meaning and Making Beauty for Earth’s Broken Places
North Atlantic Books, 2018
What do we do when the places we love are damaged or endangered? By facing what’s broken, sharing stories, and making wild, spontaneous, heartfelt acts of beauty, we reconnect with the ground beneath our hearts and find, yes, even joy.
“It’s a great vision that Trebbe Johnson is sending out into the world, and it is very much her own. The great central truth of what she is doing is the very hard lesson for all of us in our lives, and yet it is our blessing.”
—W. S. Merwin, former poet laureate of the United States
101 Ways to Make Guerrilla Beauty
2016
How are we to respond when the forests, rivers, and neighborhoods we love are hurt by human or natural acts? This slim book is filled with ideas for empowering ourselves and reviving our relationship with these hurt places by making bold, creative, spontaneous gifts of beauty for them.
The World is a Waiting Lover: Desire and the Quest for the Beloved
(Foreword by Thomas Moore)
2005, Published by New World Library
When Trebbe Johnson was 50 years old and happily married, she fell in love with a young man who was assisting on a wilderness journey she was leading in the mountains of Colorado. She discovered that longing and desire are often linked to something greater than human relationships and that following that longing can lead to a more compassionate—and passionate—engagement with the world.
“The World Is a Waiting Lover can be read as a grand adventure, a love story, or a guide book on attaining union with the divine. Whatever you call it, the book offers an unabashedly delicious and juicy
—Parabola Magazine
ARTICLES (a partial selection)
“The Juniper Tree”
Kosmos Journal, Winter 2022
“Kissed by Fire”
Parabola, Fall 2021
“The Coal Remembers”
Essay in the Practice volume of the new 5-volume Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations
Center for Humans and Nature, 2021
“Guerrilla Beauty“
Humans and Nature, Spring 2021
“Gifts in the Promised Land: A Pilgrimage of Spirit, Song, and Friendship“
Parabola, Summer 2020
“On the Moors of Omaha“
Fine Lines, 2019 Spring Issue
“Equipment List for the Journey Home”
Parabola, Fall 2018
“Spiritual Activists Confront the Woes of the Planet: The 2018 Parliament of the World’s Religions”, Parabola, Spring 2019.
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“You Are Now Entering the Environment”
Minding Nature, January 2018.
“Uncommon Gratitude“
Orion, July-August 2015
“Devoting: Meetings with the Force That Impels Faith“
Parabola, Fall, 2014
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“Gifts for Broken Places“
Ecopsychology, March 2014
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“Gaze Even Here”
Orion, November-December, 2012
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“Reuniting with Wounded Places“
The Ecologist, January 21, 2013
“Where’s the Temple?”
Parabola, Fall 2011
“Rituals for Wastelands“
Spirituality & Health, July/August 2009
“Without Heart You Have Nothing”
Parabola, Fall 2009
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“Getting to Aha”
Spirituality & Health, July-August 2008
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“Walking Like Lions”
Second Journey, Fall 2007
“The Fierce Lover, the Royal Child, and the Rest of Your Life”
Stephens College Commencement Speech
May 5, 2007
“Falling In Desire, Landing Whole”
Life Challenges, 2006
“The Second Creation Story: Redefining the Bond Between Religion and Ecology“
Sierra, 1998
“The Monster of Grim Prospects”
Parabola, Fall 1998
Reprinted in The Inner Journey: Myth, Psyche, and Spirit,
Ed. Martha Heyneman, Morning Light Press, 2008
“In My Backyard? Sure”
Harper’s, April 1994
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Trebbe Johnson Complete CV