40 Days of Peace DAY Four
THE POWER OF UNITY
The medicine of the trees
I’ve always been a friend of the trees and they’ve been dear friends of mine. One of the healing tools in my belt is time with the trees. I even have a bucket list dream that I travel the world photographing every species of trees on the planet. I find trees amongst the most magical of beings that exist!
When I read “The counsel of pecans” chapter in Braiding Sweetgrass, I fell even deeper in love with the trees! Trees are BRILLIANT, BEAUTIFUL BEINGS! We have SO much to learn from them! I am now reading The Hidden Life of Trees and loving it as well.
I believe a key to healing our planet and uniting the world in the Great Law of Peace can be found in understanding the trees. “The trees act not as individuals, but somehow as a collective. What we see is the power of unity. What happens to one, happens to ALL. We can starve together or feast together. ALL FLOURISHING IS MUTUAL.
The idea of “Mutual Reciprocity” is how we heal and create a harmonious balance in nature. The circle of giving and receiving is a sacred dance. TOGETHER, the trees not only survive, but they thrive. When one is sick or injured, the collective senses this and sends their medicine to heal the sick. Can we imagine a world where we adopted this dance? Can we see the medicine that the trees are sharing with us?
It’s not a competition
“Francis of Assisi profoundly understood that. He let go of his life in the upper class and joyfully lived in solidarity with those at the bottom, the sick and the poor. But you and I have grown up with a capitalist worldview, not a Franciscan worldview. That doesn’t make us bad or entirely wrong. But it has blinded our spiritual seeing. We tend to think that more is naturally better. Spiritual wisdom reveals that less is more.” -Richard Rhor
To live in a world of freedom and joy. There must be an alternative to our consumer, commodity, market mentality. We could call this more of a “BEING” mode. Just as the trees naturally work together in a system of community, we could experience this natural flow if we chose to work in cooperation instead of competition. This divine flow requires us to LET GO of our desire to “be the best” or be a “winner”. Our consumer culture says, “this makes me feel good so I need MORE of it.” This false idea of pleasure leads to greed and gluttony and ultimately an imbalance in the system.
“The key is to find what really makes you happy, which finally has to be on the level of your naked being, not any doing, achieving, or performing. Oh, I hope you do a lot of good things, but let them come out of your good being, and then you can be happy whether you succeed or not. As a Divine creation, you have an intrinsic meaning, an irreplaceable worth.
Once you can fully accept that inherent dignity in yourself, your happiness is henceforth an inside job, and you will naturally hand it on to others too, because the Source is now infinite and you are finally connected to your Source.” _Richard Rhor
40 days TOGETHER
Just like the roots of the trees, human BEings are consciously connected. In Lakota they have a saying that means so much to me and I will say it often in these 40 days.
Mitakuye Oyasin~~ We are all related ~~ All my relations
We aren’t made to “do it alone”… we are Divinely connected and our dis-connection only causes dis-ease. Holding space TOGETHER for these 40 days (and beyond) helps us grow individually and as a collective. We all have different things we struggle with, different addictions, different traumas, different stresses, different views of our world… but at the core, we’re all very similar. We all come from LOVE, remembering this and remembering who we are and why we’re here is part of this Great Awakening. We’re all fighting some battle no matter who we are or where we live or where come from. Some of us have had an easier road. Others have suffered from the start of their life. Now just imagine if we practices “walking in our sisters shoes”. Empathy is a powerful tool. I imagine the trees as empaths, using their “senses”, their “sensitivity” to heal each other.
I AM
I AM the mom fleeing violence in a prayer to give her children a chance.
I AM the mom sitting up all night with her son who’s sick from chemo.
I AM the father who works a job that steals his joy so he can give his family insurance and a roof over their heads.
I AM the boy living on the streets because he’s aged out of the system that failed him.
I AM the man serving life for an act made by the broken boy of his past.
I AM the soldier who’s seen more than he signed up for.
I AM the grandmother living on a reservation still named a ‘Prison Camp’.
I AM the roots of the trees. I AM the blade of grass. I AM the hawk, the ant, a drop of water. I AM YOU. YOU ARE ME.
WHAT IF… like the trees… we saw each other as ONE? What if we stopped competing with each other and starting supporting each other? I believe that we must do the work to heal ourselves if we want to help heal the “collective”, the whole world. When we rise out of suffering and do the work to heal ourselves.. its our gift to the collective to share and support our brothers and sisters in their healing.
THIS is why it is so beautiful that we are choosing to be here, now, in this sacred space together to do the hard work of healing. Healing our bodies, our minds, our spirits. Just think how many people YOUR ROOTS CONNECT TO… When you choose to love yourself and heal, your LIGHT burns even brighter, and EVERYONE you connect with and meet will feel the healing power of your Light.
Wopila ~~ Thank you
We’re on day 4 of this journey and many of you are starting your “detox” ~ “cleansing” work now. It’s not easy to let go of the things we love, things that give us pleasure but maybe don’t serve our highest good. I thought alcohol was my best friend for a long time, turns out he wasn’t a good friend at all. Turns out, too much of a good thing ain’t a good thing. My addictions we’re my dearest friends when I couldn’t face my suffering and the dark shadows that abuse had gifted me. My addictions helped me escape and disconnect from my reality but they only made me sink deeper into the dark.
When I started to let go of my addictions, one by one, I had to come face to face with the reality of my trauma. I had to face shame and guilt and anger. But I wouldn’t be who I am today if I hadn’t faced my fears head on. I had to dive into them. I had to dance with them, thank them and get to know them on a deep, sober level.
It’s been a very long journey, healing doesn’t happen with the wave of a magic wand (or even a power shake). Real change takes time and it also takes community. I didn’t get here alone. I have a team of angels, seen and unseen, who show up when I call for them, and sometimes they show up when I’m too ashamed or scared to even ask for help. Part of healing for me was learning to be completely vulnerable and share my story. Then layer by layer I could begin to heal.. by gathering a “tool belt” of skills like yoga, meditation, nature medicine, food medicine, herbs… the journey unfolded and I am grateful for EVERY step of it.
I want to thank YOU for showing up in this sacred space. I want to thank you for walking towards your TRUTH and loving yourself enough to listen to your higher self to see what is calling to you. This Soul work, this work to heal your body, mind and Spirit… is part of healing the collective. Like the roots of the trees, we are so much stronger together. You are loved.
Journal Time
Imagine your future self….
Ask your future self~ your “higher self”~ for guidance.
What do I need to let go of to live MY TRUTH?
What is holding me back?
How will my healing effect the healing of the whole collective?
Healthy snacks!!
Here’s a few of my favorite snacks during the day!
I eat every few hours.. small meals all day. If you are diabetic or pre-diabetic this healthy meal habit will help you regulate your blood glucose.
Apples and almond butter! YUM and filling.
Cucumbers and Hummus! Hydrating and good protein
Avocado and blue chips or sweet potato chips
Blueberries and gluten free granola with coconut yogurt!
Superfood POWER SHAKE! Our Apple Berry power shake has 8 servings of greens and spirulina…
Shams of Tabriz’s 40 Rules of Love
Rule 4
Intellect and love are made of different materials. Intellect ties people in knots and risks nothing, but love dissolves all tangles and risks everything. Intellect is always cautious and advices, ‘Beware too much ecstasy’, whereas love says, ‘Oh, never mind! Take the plunge!’ Intellect does not easily break down, whereas love can effortlessly reduce itself to rubble. But treasures are hidden among ruins. A broken heart hides treasures.
Images from article here https://www.buddhistdoor.net/news/the-interconnected-world-of-trees
Quotes from Richard Rhor Daily Meditations https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/
Audio of Braiding Sweetgrass https://audiobooko.com/product/braiding-sweetgrass/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAno_uBRC1ARIsAB496IWIuP_Neag6q7_WXPQV-SVFiKf849Guprc9-o0R5kF6L_-Ej6kOS8caAsPQEALw_wcB
