We are not meant to live in isolation. What makes us healthy and whole is the connections we form with one another. With our families. Our friends. Our colleagues and our community… The thing we need the most to feel healthy has become harder to get.
After more than 30 years in the field of social work, I know one thing to be true. We do not need to be victims to our situation. We have choices to make, each and every day about how we want to live our lives. How we choose to show up for ourselves and each other.
Practice #12 - Thank Mother Earth
Earth, Teach Me
Earth teach me quiet ~ as the grasses are still with new light. Earth teach me suffering ~ as old stones suffer with memory. Earth teach me humility ~ as blossoms are humble with beginning. Earth teach me caring ~ as mothers nurture their young. Earth teach me courage ~ as the tree that stands alone. Earth teach me limitation ~ as the ant that crawls on the ground. Earth teach me freedom ~ as the eagle that soars in the sky. Earth teach me acceptance ~ as the leaves that die each fall. Earth teach me renewal ~ as the seed that rises in the spring. Earth teach me to forget myself ~ as melted snow forgets its life. Earth teach me to remember kindness ~ as dry fields weep with rain. - An Ute Prayer
Today is Earth Day.
In my early career I spent a few years living on the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Ashland, Montana. In the short time I lived there, I had the profound opportunity to witness and participate in a number of Native practices, from dances to drum circles to sacred gatherings. I was struck, over and over again, of the very different way Native teachings view nature and our relationship to the natural world. To the water. The sky. The ground below us. Unlike the way many of us live, the Native way it is not a way of mastery but one of harmony.
A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to listen to David Swallow Jr., a Lakota medicine man who spoke about this very thing. I walked away shaken, aware of how far I had strayed from the Knowing I once had, of the lessons I’d learned all those years ago. I began to ask myself three questions. How do I live in harmony with the world around me? What does she have to teach me? What keeps me from listening?
Try this - At some point today, step outside for a moment. Stand very still. Breathe in the air around you. Feel the sun on your face. Listen to the whisper of the wind. Notice the way the sun illuminates the leaves on the trees. Delight in the song of the birds. Marvel at the plume of Indian warrior that peeks through the forest floor. Be grateful for the stars in the sky that light our way in the darkness. Pay attention to Mother Earth. Recognize the gifts she gives to us. Thank her for the lessons she teaches us every day.
