Nurture the Nature

Last month, you had an opportunity to look at some of your attitudes toward your body.  In the tried and true tradition of connecting microcosm with macrocosm, let’s consider how that reflects your relationship with your very own home planet, Earth.

(Okay, I just know some of you out there are reminding me that you don’t actually come from here.  I’m fine with that.  Just remember that you’re living here and you don’t want to be like the bad tourists who make a mess and then leave it for the inhabitants to clean up.)

We live in such an amazing time: we’ve got access to images of the whole Earth.  We can follow weather systems as they shift and change and interact with each other.  We have a sense of how air, water and sea exchange with each other.

But when was the last time you noticed the phase of the moon?

And do your sleep or eating patterns change with the seasons?  Intentionally?

Caring for the Earth can seem an insanely huge project, way beyond Don Quixote and windmill-tilting.  Hell, caring for our physical needs is more than many of us can manage with family, work, and other demands.

So, what did you find last month?  What was the glaring area or attitude that deserves some attention and a re-write or do-over?

If that were a metaphor for something bigger on the planet, what would it be?  Are you running down the soil, by never giving it a rest or a change?  Are you polluting the air by tossing garbage into your lungs?  Is your refusal to take time for water intake causing a drought?

Yes, we’re being simplistic here.  Because we can solidify our personal nature intentions by approaching them from the global perspective.  And those of us who are already concerned about the bigger picture can find our personal reflections of the problems we see out there.

If your intention is to stop running yourself ragged, and the only doorway out of that you can see is to need less, here’s your opportunity to reduce, reuse and recycle.  If your blood pressure spikes because you haven’t been dealing with your emotions regularly, here’s your opportunity to defuse the emotional violence in the world with compassionate conversation.  If you want to tune your sleep cycles to the natural world, here’s your opportunity to observe and mirror the patterns of the flora and fauna around you.

Despite our cultural behaviour, we are not separate from the rest of nature.  Here’s your chance to reconnect with the rest of our tribe.