I live in radical amazement of this sacred planet. Spending time in the wild has opened my eyes to the wonder and awe of being alive, to the experiential knowing of the One Source that exists at the root of all things, to my True Nature, the very ground of being itself. I’ve come to realize that there is no physical “me” apart from the elements. To be human is to be a child of the earth. My heart is open wide for Pachamama.
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To love is to risk pain. The poet David Whyte wrote that “heartbreak is a measure of sincerity.” It is difficult to look upon this world and the devastation being caused by our species without tears and much sorrow. I hold it all with compassion because I see this destruction as a symptom of the illusion of separateness. We live in a society that perpetuates this story. I hear a call for a paradigm shift in consciousness. A call to wake up to our interconnectedness. Grief is a powerful motivator for transformation. And so, I lean into the heaviness, and I ask what is mine to do?
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My work as a forest therapy guide was born from this wounding and this question. To guide has become my dharma. We will not protect what we do not love. By being in relationship, this love grows. My hope is that those who engage in the practice of forest bathing would come to truly know the natural world, to know themselves as nature, on an experiential and heart-centered level. That they would find a sense of belonging to the land. A feeling of kinship with the beings here. That they would fall ever more deeply in love with Mother Earth, and that LOVE would be the catalyst that awakens them to act on behalf of all life.
#earthday #earthjustice #pachamama ❤️