What a spring we are having. Nothing like last year; a proper spring with rain and sun and even some hail! This time of year is always so beautiful whatever the weather. For me, it’s even more special because I know it’s fundamental to who I am and who I am not. When Mother Nature comes to life and expresses herself in this incredibly abundant way, she is asking us to do the same; to feel how plentiful life is just in the simple things. She shows us how gratitude helps us to feel that our cup is full. This is something no material objects can offer. This is just a felt sense of wealth in the joy of being alive.
The more I grow into this way of being the more I realise how little I understood this, how far I was from being able to embody this - when it is all about embodiment - and how far I have yet to go.
I sense the world is also struggling with this concept, that we have an in-built feeling of being impoverished and it has been handed down from previous generations so that the younger generations are not just feeling poor in spirit, many feel that fear is fundamental to their lives, and for some, that life is almost worthless.
This fills me with great sadness.
I know I have lived a fortunate life and have been lucky enough to see everything as an opportunity. When events are offered on a grand scale like the one we are experiencing now as a race, I believe, this is an opportunity we would be foolish to ignore. I feel that this time could be a really important moment to re-evaluate what is happening in our society. We have created real problems that are felt collectively and have been feeling for so long, I sense we have become numb to them. Is it possible that the pandemic has highlighted some of these in a way that is not just asking but demanding that we open our hearts and eyes to what is really going on in our communities?
The other night I attended a zoom meeting by the organisation Shelter. They spoke about the struggles suffered by a high number of our population in this country who are not having their basic needs met, who are living in substandard living conditions with no feeling of security in their tenure, paying high rents and are terrified of speaking out for fear of eviction.
On the other side we have landlords terrified of their tenants that they are going to damage their property or refuse to pay rent or are just bad people.
It’s a shocking state of affairs. Our basic needs are all wrapped up in how we live, our homes, our security and our ability to put food on the table. If this lacks stability or worse, is non-existent for a high proportion of people in this country, then we are a country in crisis, It is time to truly own this and decide as a nation that a we cannot continue like this if we want our children to grow up healthy and with abundance in their hearts..
Watching what is going on in Jerusalem at the moment, my heart feels overwhelmed with grief. The situation there, in what I believe is the spiritual heart of the world, acts as a mirror for us and it is a perfect way, if we can view the issues objectively, by looking through someone else's eyes, to look at ourselves.
I do believe we have a choice, I believe we can decide to turn things around. We might choose to start looking at our relationship to our humanity, our inability to feel the plight of others. If we did, might we be prepared to stand up and do something about it as a nation? This general sense of lacking in empathy can be reflected in our relationship with Mother Earth; the way we are blind to the wake of destruction we create and dissociated from the fact that this could bring about our own destruction. Are our senses so frozen that we cannot wake up to this reality?
I believe that through limitation comes expansion, yet if we are determined to simply get back to normal after the pandemic and miss this huge opportunity for change, what will it take to shake us out of our malaise?
I know I am not alone in wanting to do something but feeling too small and insignificant, against the tide of collective inertia, to make the shift we so desperately need.
I can only trust that by continuing to connect with Mother Earth and her limitless bounty, she will show me how, from this place of rootedness, to move into action in a way that has a power born out of peace and grace. It is the children who will show us the way and so I entreat you to plug in, feel the life force of Mother Nature within, and follow their lead.
