Earth Send On 8 March 2024
Welcome to our meditation for the well-being of all life. Welcome to this sunlit Friday approaching spring. Welcome to Women’s Day. Welcome to Earth Send.
Only days have passed since my last Earth Send invitation, and it feels like it was many moons ago… Many of you have been tidying up and reorganizing your pantries, wardrobes, work desks, craft corners, garages, greenhouses, sun rooms, patios and porches… Many of you have been shedding weight and burdens that you are not taking into the next chapter. Some of you have sent out applications for a promising job. Some of you got your taxes done. Some of you have treated yourself to a make-over, to new health routines, to quality time with your favourite people in your favourite places, or to a larger portion of self-kindness… Almost all of us are making space for more self-attention. We are on our journey to self-discovery, no doubt, and moving away from self-neglect. Bravo. Let’s continue!
Many songbirds in my corner of the Earth are under the impression that it is spring. The iconic Canada geese have been migrating to Ontario two weeks earlier than usual. Canada geese are iconic not only for their spiffy appearance and choreographed flight formation, but also for their significance as totem messengers of quests and expeditions, of a plant-based diet, of team building, team functioning and similar wavelengths, of something “to write home about”, of life changing movement.
Also, many river restoration programs all over the world are observing success with native fish and aquatic animals returning, spawning and growing in numbers. For example, river Hiitolanjoki in Finland has become full of salmon since three dams were removed only a few years ago. Many European countries are planning to dismantle their aging and no longer useful dams, so that fish can move freely with the waters.
Further, people are swimming in the Seine again, in Paris. When I was a teen, the Seine was one of the most polluted rivers in Europe. The idea that one day it could be cleaned up would have sounded like a miracle to me. And here it is: it has been done.
There are many achievements to be grateful for: river rejuvenations, permaculture gardens, Housing First initiaves, countless individual transformations in recovery networks in the direction of sobriety, wisdom, and savvy money management, and quantum leaps in parenting groups. Today’s parents are more conscious than ever that what happens in their homes and what they give their children lasts, and they are more willing than ever to give their best.
Of course, we need to find our way around sensationalist broadcasts about heartless egomaniacs (who have plenty of exposure, so I don’t need to name them) and disasters on the planet to find the awakening that is taking place in our day. The most striking shifts that I observe are within my circle of acquaintances. People are talking about the ways they regard the Earth and their own time on Earth, about the impact they wish to make and that both our own and shared future is being shaped as we speak, and how they translate their increasing sensitivity and thoughtfulness into decisions, a matching lifestyle and commitment to their values. If you want good news, — and I do! — , you need to open yourself to good influences and new people. You need to network. You need to reduce exposure to screen time that offers info meant to unsettle, depress and confuse. I am going to share a lot of good news in the coming months.
Just for today, remember to bring your tools — your gratitude container / thank you files, your Gallery of Mudita / compilation of mentors, confidants, advisors and spiritual elders, and your vision board / action map to this session — whether you are a practitioner, co-meditator or well-wisher. Your own hands made and chose those tools, so a connection with your palms has been made, and every time you hold these tools in your hands, you strengthen your gratitude, the sense of being supported and your focus.
Everyone who has been sitting on the fence about those tools and how and when you will integrate them into your practice, please follow inspiration today to pick and craft them. Then, bring them again to every Friday.
Some people like digital versions of those tools. Yes, you can create Pinterest boards for the topics of gratitude, of mentors and role models, and of projects and desired outcomes. Tactile tools may be less lightweight than your gadget, but they end up being more useful, especially if you create portable, sensually appealing, weatherproof versions of the tools “just for Fridays“, and they are more engaging. A lot of people consider the digital model the upleveled shape of everything. But I suggest that touchable, three- and more-dimensional tools are a stronger declaration to your space and to your subconscious about “This is what I want!”, “This is who I celebrate!” and “Here is my record of what I am grateful for”; in short, there is more substance and more realness to them.
Please bring at least your action or vision map to our sessions, so we can bless your goals in our sessions, and our reiki practitioners can let reiki flow through them. Let me know what you have manifested since you have been vibing with this circle and what your progress has been like.
I want to announce now that I am training to become a Feng Shui practitioner. You probably saw it coming. I contemplated it for years, and I taught myself what I could on my own. The right moment came to study with a teacher I look up to and adore, and I signed up for it. I have no words for how grateful I am!
Reiki is going out at least three times from my home today. May your Friday be a stunner. In gassho. I humbly receive.
“Those of us who practice have seen very clearly that meditation and relaxation are the most effective ways of promoting creative, innovative thinking, intelligent choices, success and satisfaction in all areas of our lives.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
8 March 2024
