the fabulousness of our existence

Walking through my garden right now, I am in awe of the fabulously opulent, burgundy peonies that are just about at their prime.  Through the open window, I hear a beautifully clear and bright bird concert that changes by the minute and is such a pleasure to listen to.  Looking at the sky I squint my eyes because the sunshine is so bright it makes me smile.

What is so fabulous about all of that, you might ask?  What’s so fabulous about it is the self-awareness that permits me to reflect on it.  A gorilla isn’t awed by the sheer beauty of the misty rainforest it lives in.  A cat isn’t amazed by the myriad smells it encounters all day long.  A giraffe doesn’t smile at the bright sunshine with thankfulness. Without self-awareness I wouldn’t notice, admire, reflect, be awed, opine on the beauty, be amazed and happy and grateful for these delightful experiences. Instead, I would go through life matter-of-factly and accepting of what is, a definite notch down from awe.

Awing turns my attention away from myself, away from my small ego to the big world out there, as Christopher Bergland observes in Psychology Today.  

 What awes you?

nature's resilience

Nature’s resilience and ability to bounce back are awe inspiring.  Five years ago, when we built our current net-zero house, we guiltily took down some trees (we’ve replanted lots and lots since), we disrupted nature all around with heavy machinery and lots of construction noise, earth moving and construction work.  

 It’s taken some time for nature to jumpstart the regeneration effort, but it’s roaring now.  This year especially it struck me how many new trees are popping up everywhere, how fast they are growing, and how many animals are coming again through our property, either for brief visits or for moving in.  Bears, racoons, deer, groundhogs, garter and black racer snakes, lizards and salamanders, box turtles, foxes, squirrels and chipmunks, in addition to hawks, several types of woodpeckers, a whole host of birds, praying mantises, and butterflies are among the visible and apparent species.

Nature is powerful, intuitive, resilient, relentless, and sustainably so much smarter than us. It knows what to do. It is flexible. It is patient. It is very forgiving, until it’s not. Nature let’s us learn, and mess up, and make good again, as long as we respect it. What has nature taught you?

2019

my kind of healthy food

My kind of healthy food has to taste delicious not virtuous.  My kind of healthy food needs to feature interesting vegetable combinations instead of steamed vegetables.  My kind of healthy food includes meat, fish and dairy (in moderation) - the more variety the better - in combination with the entire spectrum of all that’s available.  My kind of healthy food incorporates tasty sauces, and copious amounts of clever spice and herb combinations.  My kind of healthy food features interesting textures - crispy, roasted, stringy, smooth, firm, chewy, and gooey.  My kind of healthy food is fresh and vibrant and beautifully colored, a feast for the eyes. My kind of healthy food is inspired by cooking styles from all over the world and is exciting.  

Comedian JP Sears, who makes good fun of those who preach an ultra-healthy and spiritual lifestyle, made a hilarious video on cucumber pizza - raw cucumber slices spread on a round pizza sheet, covered with raw cucumber sauce, and sprinkled with raw cucumber shreds.  Where did we pick up the belief that fried, carby and cheesy party foods are rewarding and fun and delicious because bad, while healthy food is boring, bland and virtuous?  Sounds religious.

No cucumber pizza for me!

live a little

When school is out they wish the kids a safe summer.  When we go away people wish us a safe trip.  “Be safe” is something people sometimes even say as a good-bye.  Kids are so overprotected nowadays, they don’t learn to recognize and navigate true danger.  All that wish for safety hides fears of the unexpected (the unexpected can be good, it can be better than what you imagined!) and the wish for predictability. Same old, same old because it is a known entity.

Have a safe trip!  I wish people so much more than safety on their trip – adventure, curiosity, discovery, connection, awesome weather, great food, new friends, new sights and vistas, relaxation, a shift in awareness, new realizations, and a sense of expansion.

Have a safe summer!  I wish people so much more than a safe summer – beach and sunshine (or mountains and lakes – whatever tickles your fancy), a slower pace of living, lots of vitamin D, feeling the sunshine on your skin and a smile spreading across your face, a bit of laziness, more sleep, lingering outside by the fire on a warm night, and getting through a good book in one swoop.

Have a safe life!  I wish people so much more than a safe life – joy, love, discovery, true friendship, community, serendipity, fulfillment, creativity, endless learning and consciousness expansion.  Here a link to a former related post, letting go of the breaks, and one on serendipity.

 Live a little, discover a little, enjoy a little, savor a little.  

hitting the glass ceiling

All eyes these days are on climate change.  Climate change is of course the huge challenge of our times.  This in turn creates other challenges, such as people migrations north to escape arid and hot, unsettled or flood prone areas; agricultural quandaries like longer drought periods or overabundance of precipitation, and more erratic weather patterns in general; but also shifts of growing zones, and with it for example wine growing regions moving further north, or the reduction and extinction of species. We could go on.

 With science currently being our God, we still focus on technology to fix all our problems, but we are hitting a glass ceiling.  The medical sciences don’t understand many of our current afflictions, hence cannot heal them.  Agriculture becomes ever more technology oriented with its last ditch efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, and having to feed a still growing world population, by using ever more pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and genetic modification technology, which is making us and the environment sick.  

Let’s face it.  Technology is helpless when it comes to something as huge as climate change.  Author Charles Eisenstein has reframed the whole climate quandary in his Climate: A New Story, and zooms out to recalibrate our outlook on a bigger issue yet, that of our disconnection from nature in general, the disassociation of ourselves from consciousness, and the need to recognize ourselves as spiritual beings in a physical body.  Even the atheist visionary historian and author Yuval Noah Harari leaves the door open to a solution beyond algorithms and technology in the final conclusion, and the final words, of his recent book Homo Deus .  He asks, ”Are organisms really just algorithms, and is life really just data processing?  What’s more valuable – intelligence or consciousness?” 

Sometimes we need to zoom out to see an issue in a completely different light.  Already Einstein is purported to have said that you cannot solve a problem from within the same paradigm that created it.

own it!

Cooking can be fun, cooking can be meditative, cooking is empowering, cooking brings you in touch with your body, cooking connects you with your cultural heritage and to the Earth. What’s not to love about cooking your own food?

Your body exists in a very tight and intimate relationship with the quality and type of food you eat.   It may sound dramatic, but food can heal, and food can kill – literally.  When you cook your own food you take responsibility for your health and wellbeing because you pick the ingredients and put them lovingly and imaginatively together in a soul and body nourishing creation.  

 Own it!  Take charge! Cook!  Enjoy!