We are all Children of the Earth
Our Mother offers us what we need Photo by Sandra Butel
I am Sandra Butel and this is my beautywalk.
beautywalk is a collection of my reflections while I am out and about in the world; walking and finding beauty as I take one step at a time. It is my attempt to chronicle my learning and growth as I develop and test out the tools that I need to build my most authentic and meaningful inner and outer life during my short time on our glorious planet.
Market Day
Today I visited a little market in a village in the Maine-Loire region of France and picked up farm fresh vegetables for my upcoming eating delight. I stopped for un café before heading to the Super U (big supermarket) for the rest of what I will eat over the next week. I was excited about the fresh products I found there and was able to pick up three kinds of potatoes, broccoli, red pepper, cucumber, zucchini, green beans, carrots, onions, eggplant, garlic and some homemade hummus. This is one of the things I love about Europe, and France especially, is the farmers markets that abound in all of the cities and many of the little villages each day of the week from spring until late into the fall. They not only provide a ‘plein-air’ shopping experience they also allow for connection between producer and consumer. People of all ages and cultures gather to pick up their fruits and veg and cheese and meat and household items and perhaps to catch up on the news from their friends from distant villages or neighborhoods.
Our Mother provides such beauty to all of us Photo by Sandra Butel
One Wild and Precious Life
Some ideas are sticking in my head as I can still hear Sarah Wilson narrating her newest masterpiece One Wild and Precious Life. Her words and wisdom accompanied me in the last few weeks, as much as when I walked amongst the hills and trees of the countryside as when I walked amongst the concrete and human messiness of the cities. I pondered much of what she had to share and there were moments when I felt uplifted and validated by her words, and others where I felt hopeless and ashamed and fearful by her spelling out the reality of how urgently we all need to move into action to be able to save our beautiful home; Mother Earth.
As I wrestled with my discomfort on my own I came to understand that my current state of aloneness was what I needed to find my way towards really understanding who I am and what I want out of life and more importantly, what I want to put into life. As I take step after step on my personal beautywalk I continue to ask myself how I can add to my offerings. In what ways can I be of further service to our Earth and my fellow beings? I ponder how I can direct more of my time, my knowledge, my energy and my vulnerability towards making a positive difference in the world that is my home.
Remember our Mother
All of the concepts and ideas that are coming from thinkers such as Wilson and so many others are coming closer together each day and forming into a new worldview that has me focusing my energy on more love; for ourselves, for each other and for our Mother Earth. As I write this the words of a man I met in a cafe in Nantes come back to me.
(I am pretty sure he literally meant our mothers, as he did mention nine months of growing us in their bellies, but I give myself permission to take my own narrative license and raise his words to the spiritual metaphoric level where the mother in question becomes the Earth.)
In his words:
We cannot critique, or question our Mother and we must do all we can to show Her respect and love. She has made our lives possible and without Her we would never have been born. Without Her being in good health we will not survive.
We must remember our Mothers in the trees and the plants and take our wisdom from the Mothers in all species; like the Mother Barn Owl and her duty to stop feeding her fledglings so that they learn to take responsibility for themselves by heading out into the world and finding their own ways.
We must make time to sit still for a time every day and remember who we are; we are children of the Earth. No matter our language, religion, or sexual preferences, or genders, the colour of our skin, our species, we are all connected and we all hold power to bring love and care to the world around us.
With each step
My vision becomes clearer on how to live life
Connection and Disconnection
As so many thinkers before me and so many more that will surely come after me have concluded, we are all connected. I see this more and more wherever I go and I am starting to see the barriers between myself and others dissolving into nothingness.
It is in our current state of disconnect that we have brought to ourselves and the Earth so much strife and inequality and fear and discontent. In our isolation we reach out for the nearest easy fix – the scroll through the dopamine minefield for the latest sale of the "must-have "article that has been designed specifically by a deep study of our preferences to draw us in. Oh, the promise of the high we will get with the next click; the next like; the next purchase. If we keep up with the Joneses or even better the Kardashians we will not have to feel this pain that fills our chests and catches in our throats. We won't have to leave the relative safety of our cosy boxes and venture out into that which makes us uncomfortable.
Dirty Boots on my Cream Coloured Furniture
Here I make the choice to be vulnerable and speak about my own patterns and struggles and about when I start to feel the discomfort of the situation our world and humanity is in. Initially, my subconscious pulls me away from the contradictions and dire predictions that have been made by persons more educated than myself and offers me an out into an immediate place of sublime unreality. I get caught into the endless "one more game "or "one more episode" that takes me far down into my own numbness and find myself lost in this fruitless pursuit until the wee hours of the morning are upon me.
I have begun to understand my pattern. I get myself to a place of peace and comfort and I settle into a sense of greatness in the world and, more specifically, a sense of rightness about my choices and where they've brought me in my life. One day of not enough sleep, the unpredictability of travel, too much heat and interaction with strangers and the fear that comes from the state of the Earth around me and the Judge makes his way into my cerebral nest and settles in for the long haul. He leans back and drops his shit covered boots on my cream coloured furniture and flicks the ashes of his ever lit cigarette all over the cleanliness of my living room. He settles in with a nearly endless barrage of criticism. He berates my appearance, my intelligence, gives me a failing grade for what I ate today, and sets in with an unquestionable surety that I am not doing enough and that it is my fault (amongst others) that the Earth is well and completely fucked.
He paints a picture in greys and blacks and patches of deep blood red. There are figures in misery whose heads are dropped back with open mouths emitting soundless screams of pain and misery. So yeah, it is not that surprising that in face of this ugliness and hopelessness, I reach for something to take the pain away. Damned if my phone isn't right nearby and doesn't even require that I find the energy to lift my sorry self from the heap I have dissolved into; hopeless and helpless and defeated.
Whenever things get dark … Hold on photo by Sandra Butel
And Again UP
And yet, a good night's sleep, a cleansing rain storm and a full glass of clear clean water and I am back onto the path that brings more peace and wisdom. I sit in a café on my own, empty espresso cup to my right, amidst the voices and cries and giggles of people of all ages, some background music tickling my right ear and sounds of traffic echoing in my left one. I take the steps I need to get myself back into what is real. A post-rain breeze that passes every 15 seconds or so in a wave from right to left and the occasional drop of rain that interplays with the ink from my pen, leaving it's unique ink print that holds the secrets of the universe.
STOP … by Sandra Butel
STOP
This is the roller coaster ride that many of us are on. We try each and every day to outrun the fear and judgment and just find some even ground. We ask ourselves the questions that burn in our heart of hearts. How do we stop feeling so up and down and on edge for what evil awaits us in the next moment? When will we be found out? Who will expose our innermost doubt? When will the roller coaster dip sickeningly towards a certain death as it speeds in the direction of the worst thing we can imagine happening?
In Wilson’s words we need to ask the more beautiful question which in this case is:
What can we do right now to find more peace and ease?
One answer that I have found is to STOP!
Stop right here, right now, in the middle of reading this sentence and take a breath. Feel the air coming through your nostrils and the lift to your chest as you fill up your lungs.
Pause and hold your breath for one, two, three, four seconds or more. Then let the breath go for one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and when there is no more air just sit with the tightness in your chest for a couple seconds before a deep inhale starts the whole process up again.
Feel your feet on the floor or crossed at the ankles on your bed or wherever they happen to be. Feel your arms and whatever sensations are there – whether the tickle of air and it's warmth or coolness or the slight scratch as your clothing touches on your skin.
There is Hope by Sandra Butel
REMEMBER
Remind yourself that you are a child of the Earth.
Remember that you are full of love and beauty and potential.
Remember that this moment contains everything that you could ever need.
Remember that you are enough.
Remind yourself of all the steps you have already taken to make beautiful things happen for yourself.
Remind yourself that you are worthy of love and connection.
Look yourself in the eye and reassure yourself that you are capable of finding your own answers.
All that you need is already within your skin and bones and blood vessels and the unstoppable breath that is the pure life that dwells within you.
Resources for Further Study and Personal Growth
More information on the work and words of Sarah Wilson
My new program From Worry to Worthy offers up an opportunity to remind yourself of who you are and what your life purpose is. Check out the full program details and book your first free session with me to get started.
If you are interested in signing up for TrustedHouseSitters you can get a 25% discount (as well as pass on 2 free months of membership to me in the process).
I am Sandra Butel and this is my beautywalk. What’s yours?
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