Your wake-up call for how you’re living your life right now

Buses with only one person on board

All fares free

City sidewalks empty

 

I’ve heard that the only two times global warming slowed were when the Cold War happened

and the stock market crashed

I wonder if this is another

 

It’s eerie, almost

But the birds are louder

 

I wonder, if all stores

if all systems

Shut

Down

Would that be sad?

 

Or would the world thrive

 

The sun looks at me

She is setting

 

Golden hour doesn’t mind what it touches

 

She shines her light on the

homeless man singing to himself

The boys with their beer cans

 

Who dies when businesses suffer

People who have less

 

Who dies when the earth warms

 

Humans

 

I walk so slowly it is worrisome

No one comes near me

 

My shadow is the only one I can see on the

entire stretch of sidewalk

 

And if I woke up tomorrow and the streets were even quieter

Would I mind

 

I might not mind

 

See, if the news isn’t on

if other people’s opinions are not

accessible through every platform

 

There is room for contemplation

 

And what arises

 

Not worry, but planning

Not anxiousness, but consideration

Not sadness, but maybe grief

Not resistance, but understanding

 

The flowers are magnificent, this time of year

The trees a home of shade

Magnolias like teacups

Cherry blossoms like snow

 

I have been waiting for weeks for the magnolias to open

Today I finally saw the inside of one

She let me pull her petals down, slowly

 

There are white flowers on vines with six petals

 

The purple ones have already bloomed and disappeared entirely

 

A man with a shopping cart full of Things

 

I think what is more interesting than watching the computer, the television

Is noticing what the natural world is doing around you, day by day

 

Do you notice?

 

***

 

The world, the way we live in it, is not sustainable. Environmentally, but also emotionally.

The way we relate to ourselves and to one another shows up in the way we relate to and make sense of our environment.

Everybody sees something different when they look at a tree. A woodworker might see something with which to make a table. A paper mill will see paper. A developer will see something blocking profitable space. An animal might see food, or shade.

Most people would not spend much time thinking about the tree, even less so if the tree was not sprouting pretty flowers, or tossing off colorful leaves.

And what I am offering is the invitation for a tree to be a friend. A fellow species. Another being, inhabiting the earth.

This might seem woo, but it’s not. We only experience the tree in our relationship to the tree.

With human eyes, we see something entirely different than what a dog will see, what a rabbit will see. Not just different in terms of thought, but different in terms of literal vision. You see only the colors your eyes can see.

You relate to the tree through your past experience with other trees, through the word “tree” itself, which has been taught to you, and to the ways humans have shown you to relate to trees.

You can consider this about a tree, and you can consider it with anything.

We create the meaning we see in the world. In this way, we literally create what we see in the world.

And right now, humanity is seeing the world in a particular way, and that way has us headed for our own self-destruction.

Viruses, pandemics are not new. But as Alanna Shaikh spoke about in her viral TED talk, the more we continue to push our way into areas of the world we haven’t been in before, the more we tear apart other beings without a thought for what’s next… the more viruses (and floods, fires, and other destruction) will continue to occur.

Nothing is new, but it is escalating.

You can relate to this pandemic in any way you choose.

In my mind, the only effective way to relate to it – if you want to live in a world filled with pleasure, joy, and aliveness – is to allow it to be a wake-up call.

It can feel like a potent, silent moment of awareness: Are you happy? Do you like the way you show up in the world?

If you died tomorrow, would you say yes, I’ve taken every risk, I’ve lived my life in the way I most wanted, I’ve contributed?

There is never a good time or an easy time to challenge your perceptions and your thoughts.

There is never a right time to decide you create your own meaning and that you’ll live life and show up in the world the way you choose.

Leave the relationship. Change the job. Say what has been left unsaid. Do the things that make you feel alive that you always say you’ll get to later. Explore the pleasure potential of your own body.

The natural world is stunning. Art is stunning.

And a large part of the rest of the world that humans have created is trying to restrict our innate nature, our aliveness, and our ability to continue our existence on this planet.

Opt out

 

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