Tag: ENVIRONMENT

Communion

Communion

Curious about the SUP board, the juvenile says hello.
Curious about the SUP board, the juvenile says hello.

It is no secret to anyone who knows me that my best friends are finned or flippered, feathered or furred. My heart is touched by an encounter with wild dolphins or a gentle nuzzle of a manatee in ways that surpass any human connection. Maybe that’s why men I’ve shared my life with have moved on…never content to come second after my love of wild animals. Connection with all creatures wild is my Communion, a way to rise above the mundane and connect deeper, more fully with beings more evolved than humans. (Personal bias).

Today I received an early-morning call from a friend and she tearfully expressed her love of the woods surrounding her home was about to be logged, destroyed so the landowner could purchase a vehicle for his son. How can you put a price like that on a sacred woodland? When will humans learn that the planet is not a commodity to be pillaged, a land to rape for spoils but rather a sacred cathedral?

The mentality of profit at any cost is not a luxury we can afford any longer.

Joanna Macy’s teachings come to mind. She explains the necessary evolution from a life-taking society to a life-sustaining society. We are in a time of moving from a profit-at-any-cost world to a life-sustaining world. We are in the middle of the dissolution of the old way and are awakening to the reality of the mess we’re in economically, socially, environmentally. And within the mess, within the reality of how we have treated the planet and each other, we find positive change occurring. Many, many people are choosing to act from a place of responsibility, a place of compassion and love. We are waking up to the idea that it is possible to live in balance with respect for all life.

simonelipscomb (5)Wildlife reminds me of the connection we have to the whole. The manatees scarred by propellers remind me that humans still have a huge impact on fragile species, that we have done great harm to our planet. And when I see volunteers paddling their kayaks, overseeing interactions with these gentle beings and acting as protectors, hope is refueled.

While snorkeling recently, a juvenile manatee came to me and demanded my attention. My goal is passive observation, in or out of the water, but while filming them, one insisted on connecting face-to-face and drew me out from behind the camera. He swam in front of me, stopped and I felt his gentle spirit guiding me to remove the camera from between us and commune, one wild heart to another. I gently placed my hand aside his face and channeled as much love as I could to him and his kind. And I listened in silence to him.

In those moments we were one with each other. There was no me, no him. In that neutral stillness was birthed understanding. Deep, profound understanding.

simonelipscomb (4)As we parted, sobs wracked my body and soul for the trust demonstrated by a species so abused and wounded by humans. The future of this planet is in our hands. That is both frightening and empowering. What will we do to create a better world?  Will we do anything?

It can start with daily communion with the natural world. Let it show us our next step each day.

He checked out my dry suit, my fins, my snorkel, my camera...always learning more about humans, these little ones.
He checked out my dry suit, my fins, my snorkel, my camera…always learning more about humans, these little ones.
The Gap

The Gap

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There’s a place within each of us where all is quiet and still. Where thoughts cease and worries are set aside and there is silence. Photographing nature brings me to The Gap more than anything else I do. And today I was lucky enough to find myself in this neutral place of stillness twice.

First, while kneeling on the beach photographing the waves all thoughts ceased and whatever I am was at one with the water, the sand, the air. What an exquisite experience.

simonephoto (28)Then while sitting on a concrete piling, crossed legs bracing my elbows to support my telephoto lens….it happened again. Completely lost in the moment, empty and yet full because of the complete oneness with the moment.

My path for this year is a journey into full immersion of the beauty of planet Earth. And to share what I experience with others. Today I celebrate the oneness of all life and the understanding that we truly are one with it.

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Beauty is My Passion

Beauty is My Passion

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Over the years there has been a narrowing of focus. I steadfastly have endeavored to serve and help humanity evolve, with the end goal of promoting planetary stewardship. Sound idealistic? Unrealistic? Did I drink hemlock-spiked egg nog?

Paying attention, listening, being still with a calm mind….little tools we can use to help us find our way. And as we progress through our trials, dead-ends, and times lacking in joy, and surrender to our life’s calling, we become more content.

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My personal journey has led me deeper into beauty, most significantly the beauty found in nature. The glance of a pelican as it soars past, the gaze from a shark as it swims alongside, a sea turtle hatchling gazing up at me as she scoots past….the whisper of trees as they sway in the wind and countless moments spent outdoors call me to recognize beauty, to champion it and to celebrate it.

Over the years I’ve struggled with direction and purpose and wandering…and wondering. It comes down to this simple truth for me: Beauty is my passion. It is my sincerest desire to translate it to others through photography and writing. With no agenda, no push to make others see….because without this expression my life dries up and I feel off course.

Gulf Islands National Seashore (5)What is your passion? How does it influence your life?

Whose Story is it Anyway?

Whose Story is it Anyway?

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Geshe Thupten Dorjee

At the lunch table yesterday a discussion began… it actually continued from weeks ago. My friend Geshe Thupten Dorjee was describing teachings he is sharing with people to help them overcome challenges. He said that our suffering and pain comes from being unsatisfied and discontent. One reason is because we respond to things that happen in our lives with old behavior patterns.

An example he gave was of a hunter and a bear trap. If the hunter baits the trap the bear doesn’t have to step in it. The bear makes a choice to step into the trap or avoid it. Likewise, we make choices that either keep us trapped or give us freedom.

A few weeks ago our Voluntary Sustainability group was discussing the hook. I describe the hook as being dangled tauntingly by circumstances in our lives, especially in our relationships with other humans. We are so conditioned to respond in a certain way that we often bite the bait and the hook even when the consequences result in pain and suffering. And we know, even before biting the hook, that our behavior will create suffering in our lives….but we do it anyway.

Why?

Years ago a friend suggested I journal about my personal myth. I had no idea what she meant. My personal myth? But over the years I have come to understand that each of us has a story upon which we base our lives. Our story comes from society, family and teachers in our young lives but continues to grow as we become fixated on it and unable to break free from it. As a practicing psychotherapist, I witnessed some clients identify so strongly with labels and rigid personal stories that they found it almost impossible to find healing and wholeness. “I was an addict so …..” or “I was mistreated as a child so….” or “Nobody liked me in my family so…..”  All stories upon which their lives were tightly woven, too comfortable and familiar, even with suffering or agony, to rewrite.

Geshe-la gave the example of a medical doctor thinking that a fine car, huge home, country club membership and all the fluffy fixings were part of being a doctor, that those things defined what being a doctor means. Not that there is anything wrong with nice stuff, but creating a life story around a limiting societal belief gives a person little room to be fully able to bring their gifts and talents into this life, to experience freedom that comes from being authentic and real.

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The Work That Reconnects with Joanna Macy
by Simone Lipscomb

This lunchtime discussion created an opportunity for me to reflect upon our relationship with Earth. What stories do we buy into? What information do we take as valid without question? How have we failed to challenge mega corporations who continue to rape the planet?  They tell us we need what they are producing but do we? Whose story is that?

We have a most amazing opportunity to rewrite the story of our relationship with the planet. Each day we can add a new chapter. This is a living story, an unfolding love story….or a murder mystery. It is our choice.

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Manatee, Three Sister’s Springs
by Simone Lipscomb
Alive in the World

Alive in the World

SimoneLipscomb (2)As tornadoes roared over Mobile, just 30 miles west, and Christmas day came to a close, I realized that we are witnessing more and more planetary shifts. The intense weather patterns give evidence to climate change. I sat gazing at the weather radar and imagined how this planet might have been when it was a babe, turbulent in its youth with dynamic and powerful changes that were constant. As it has aged, many cycles of change have presented but this time billions of humans are witnessing the shifting atmosphere and climate. In turn, there are social changes with people arising to claim freedom, love, peace and health.

I reflected back 30 years ago when environmentalists warned of over-consumption of fossil fuels….pesticides…chemicals….peace-lovers warned of the propagation of wars….and here we are moving through a most intense period of time where we are reaping the results of our carelessness, our ignorance. And during this time, which Joanna Macy calls The Great Turning, we are needed–more than ever–to be peacekeepers, earth stewards, promoters of good health, gardeners, artists….the talents and gifts we have will help us collectively move into a healthier place and help create a healthier planet.

SimoneLipscomb (1)If you are alive today, you are needed to help make this shift. Your gifts and talents are vital to the planetary transformation we are experiencing. This isn’t the time to sit on the proverbial sidelines. We are alive in the world and therefore we are necessary to its healing. None of us can do this alone. It will take all of us to make the leap to a more peaceful world, a healthier place. I am excited! How about you?