Cultivating Hope and Peace Between the Two Realities
Photo taken by the author. February 2024.
Like many, I live in WONDER at the beauty and synergistic perfection of the natural world.
I seek to BE close and commune with her.
My heart feels peaceful.
Everything feels aligned.
No pavement, please, just my feet on the ground and my hands in the soil, whenever possible.
I stopped to take in and capture a peaceful walk, alone, in resonance with the Earth’s Spirit.
Shortly after, I returned to a crowded place of endless cement and structures paved over what was once living material. Sadly, this place we call a city is most often known for dominating, disregarding, and overpowering the natural world.
Amongst the ever-present perfection, and even more far-reaching than a city, lies pervasive, deeply engrained toxic and dominant systems that exploit, disregard, and harm the Earth and each other.
Maybe, like you, I hold deep wells of sadness, despair and confusion around navigating the distance that much of humanity has strayed from harmony, alignment and the truth of Being.
When you revere something, you cannot harm it.
Anti-reverence oppresses, controls, neglects, takes, harms, pollutes, dominates, is entitled, greedy, superior, and angry.
SO MANY resonate with peace, harmony, kindness, gentleness, wholeness, and alignment with the Earth and in all areas!
Their greed and destructiveness are loud, but our voices are getting LOUDER!! I see and feel it everywhere!
Boldly making decisions personally and collectively aligned with our values and Earth-(first) care cultivates hope and contributes to inner peace among the chaotic voices and actions.
For me, Permaculture speaks to my depths. It is a philosophy, a whole, mindful way of living and being. It is an ecological design system that aims to create harmonious and thriving human habitats by learning from and creating aligned natural ecosystems.
I have a personal passion for creating food forests, also called forest gardens and medicinal gardens. We can do this on our yards, property, schools and public and communal spaces.
Also, at the top of my excitement list is I have been approved by HomeZero Collective for a pilot project reducing or eliminating our home’s fossil fuel reliance by 85- 100%! In my case, it will be 100%!! There will be more on this coming soon.
How important is the natural world and her care to you?
Late last year, I read Jocelyn Joy Thomas’s article on Medium called “Why Nature Feels so Right on Both Sides of the Veil.” In it, she says:
“Nature is so powerful for you because when you spend time in it, there is a reset of the senses. You are shedding the physical world a little, focusing on the eternal.”
I then understood why this time IS so magical for me! Also, she speaks of nature on the other side of the veil:
“Over here, there are just as many reasons to go to nature, spend time, wander in it. It’s safer than it is in life, no worries over wild animals, they’re here but they won’t hurt you.”
The idea of still having nature when we leave this world made me SO happy!! Living in British Columbia, the thought of not needing to “worry” about wild animals (whom I love) also felt profoundly freeing!
How and where do you find peace, connection, and hope?