conscious change Archives - Page 10 of 18 -

Sunrise…No Excuse Necessary

By Simone Lipscomb | September 30, 2013

In the wee hours of the morning I found myself driving to Destin, Florida for a morning of diving. The two hour drive would give me a chance to wake up. Of course the 63 degree temperature was helpful in chasing slumber from my groggy mind.

It was a perfectly beautiful start to the morning with clear skies and a stillness that foretold of potentially great diving. There was barely a ripple on Perdido Bay and Pensacola Bay.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon as I neared Destin when I received a call from the dive shop that the trip was cancelled due to high wind and rough seas. I was shocked…wind? Evidently the wind was blowing from the east and offshore seas were over six feet. Ugh….I was happy to miss that! But in truth, I felt that odd intuitive uneasiness had been with me since the day before.

I had my tanks serviced at a local dive shop and asked them to put a mixture of gas known as nitrox in the tanks. Nitrox is a rich oxygen mixture used in diving. It’s beneficial in that you build up less nitrogen, which is good. Nitrogen is an inert gas and if you apply the laws of physics related to pressure you know that a gas under pressure….oh, bother. The short version is it is better to have less nitrogen in the bloodstream and nitrox, being oxygen rich, makes that a reality. The downside is that breathing a richer mixture of oxygen you have more oxygen in your system because you are under pressure from being under water….it won’t bubble like nitrogen but the partial pressure of oxygen has to be closely monitored so you don’t overdose on oxygen. Making sense? Oxygen can be toxic if you get too much. So there are depth limits for each mixture of nitrox.

Anyway….the mixture I asked for was 32% oxygen (instead of air which is 21%). The guy at the shop didn’t have me analyze the tanks there…which is the usual protocol. When I got home and analyzed my tanks the digital readout kept going up and up. It didn’t stop at 31.7 or 31.8 or 32….it kept going to 35.7 for one tank and 35.9 for the other. Hmmmm. The maximum operating depth for that mix is 95 feet and that was the depth of the first dive. I don’t push limits so this concerned me.

I haven’t used my nitrox analyzer in a couple years so perhaps the sensor is bad. I calibrated it before using it and everything seemed to be working perfectly. But it made me nervous. I could dive that mix and stay shallower but I simply don’t push my limits when diving. And I always like to leave room for contingencies.

So when the call came canceling the dives I wasn’t really upset. The trip already had a weird feel to it. And even though I had planned to re-analyze the tanks at the shop in Destin before using them, it was almost a relief to scrub the trip. Once I get that ‘feeling’ –especially about a dive trip–its best to just not do it.

I had two hours before the natural foods store opened for my weekly shopping in Pensacola so I headed to the Gulf Islands National Seashore for an early-morning visit with the beach. It was very chilly and the wind was blowing. Offshore I could see jagged rollers dotting the horizon. Oh, I was happy to be on land!

Peace enveloped me as I strolled along the edge…that place where big water and earth come together. It had been a while since I treated myself to sunrise on the shore. With the Sunday morning sea turtle team duties ending September 1st, nothing had motivated me to get up at 4.30am for a sunrise visit to the beach. Pity really.

Without the distraction of my heavy camera I found myself more present and focused. The glory of nature brought me into balance and filled a longing for the elements I didn’t realize I had. I miss the mountains and the opportunity to connect daily to such immense energy as the Appalachians yet equally important to me is the chance to dance with waves and wind of the ocean…the one world ocean of which the Gulf of Mexico is a part.

The theme of self-care was really evident with the nitrox mix-up and the rough seas…and the quiet time spent wandering the white sands of the beach. I left the gulls and sanderlings and beautiful, salty water feeling clearer and more focused. And happy to have had an excuse to witness the sunrise on the shore.

The Yin and Yang of Energy Production

By Simone Lipscomb | September 25, 2013

The general tendency for humans is to not change until we are forced to…mainly because we don’t want to deal with the discomfort. Whether its emotional discomfort from facing our dysfunctional behaviors that negatively impact relationships with lovers, coworkers, and family or the physical, economical discomfort that comes from having to change the way we live on the planet….we don’t like to change.

It’s easier to continue in status quo rather than make changes necessary to become consumers of clean, renewable energy.

Our country as a whole is an example of this mentality. There has been definite progress toward positive change….recycling, re-using shopping bags, banning plastic bags, using less packaging, increased organic farming, vehicles that get better mileage…but politically and economically it is still big business to drill for oil offshore, frack for fossil fuels and use potentially deadly nuclear power. Very few in leadership positions will take the political risk to piss off the Big Oil Companies. It’s so much easier to be quiet, fill up offshore bank accounts and relax into a lifestyle that does nothing to help solve the problems our planet–and all people who reside here–are facing.

“There comes a moment in history when ignorance is no longer a forgivable offense….a moment when only wisdom has the power to absolve.” This quote from Dan Brown’s latest book summarizes my thoughts perfectly.

Ignoring a problem is NOT dealing with it.

There are two energy extremes that we know as Yin and Yang. The polarity of these different energies make up a whole, a balanced perspective. Yin energy is passive, receptive, deep, still, slow, quiet, feminine while Yang energy is active, expressive, aggressive, fiery, dominant, restless, producing, masculine. (Not to be confused with women and men or male and female). An example however can be given using women and men and the expression of these energies.

A woman might have a vague idea about a problem she wants to solve so she might ponder ideas, kick around scenarios, write about it, compose poetry about it and mull over where a man might immediately take action to fix it…and fix it now! Both are ways to deal with issues and both can be valid….no doubt. So take the example a step further and take gender out of the equation…person A likes to mull it over, think about it, write about it and person B wants immediate fix-it action!

When a country…or world leadership…tends to lean to one extreme or the other imbalance is experienced. Our need for immediate energy cannot be solved by shutting down all fossil fuel production today; however, we do need to implement renewable energy production NOW to help meet our needs in the near future. And as renewable energy production increases–wind, solar, wave–we need less fossil fuels….which makes our planet cleaner, greener and healthier. Balance.

What if, in the 1970’s when the first buzz about fossil fuel issues began, we had fully implemented wind and solar energy production? How would our lives be different now….40 years later? How would our children’s lives be different? Our grandchildren’s lives? When is the right time to bring more Yin energy to our problems and ease up on the Yang way of dealing with life?

Now. Is. The. Time.

Fire in the Heart

By Simone Lipscomb | September 20, 2013

Sometimes the biggest lesson comes from the smallest creature.

Last night a sea turtle hatchling that had been attempting to crawl out of her nest…a nest successfully exited three nights prior by 99 brothers and sisters….was helped along by our sea turtle team as we excavated the nest to gather statistics for USFW Service. The sand was so wet and the empty eggshells so packed that she was stuck. As stuck as I’ve ever seen a hatchling.

For three days after the initial hatching, the massive boil where her siblings made it to the Gulf of Mexico, volunteers listened to her scratching. That may not seem long to us but imagine being in the dark, surrounded by empty shells. A brother nearby also struggling but not having the strength to survive. Another sibling stuck in her eggshell but losing the energy necessary to make it.

But one little hatchling was determined to live, to see her ocean home. Imagine what strength and willpower it took.

When she was removed from the nest there was only one intention….CRAWL TO THE SEA! She never slowed down. Never hesitated. She was focused in her spirit, in the instincts that called her home.

In putting together a short video on her journey I chose a song that illustrated musically her journey and while watching the finished product realized that she is an inspiration to us all.

Anchoring deep in our core….feeling the strength rise up within as we work to build resilience and power….oh, yes. She is a master teacher for us.

What is your goal? What is your passion? What do you want to bring to this planet? What is stopping you?

(Thank you baby turtle and Pure Barre Eastern Shore for helping me feel my strength and realize I’m so much stronger than I knew!)

This is the Wound

By Simone Lipscomb | September 19, 2013

The wound we all carry is that we feel separated from the cosmos.” This was Otto Rank’s conclusion.

Thomas Berry believed that it would take leaders with ‘shamanic personalities’–people that could bring about a deeper sense of the sacred–to heal this wound. There is no one career path that produces these leaders. They come from all walks of life and guide us to reconnect with Earth and the Cosmos in a sacred manner.

Back to the instinctual, back to feeling our hearts beat in unison with the Earth, with each other. Back to an understanding that all life is worthy of compassion, love, attention….care. People called to do this work often carry a wound but often it is the wound of the larger community.

Out of the concrete and glass and artificial light into the sunlight and dirt and clear water reflecting the beauty of creation. Away from plastic boxes with fingers glued to keyboards into the dirt with fingers warm from soil and microbes enlivening our living planet.

Each of us has the capacity to transform our own lives and our planet by living the example. Conscious effort every day, every hour. Where does water from the faucet originate? What makes electricity that powers my computer and air conditioner…coal, solar, wind, oil? Where does my garbage go? Where do recyclables go? Conscious connection, mindful connection of how our needs are met.

Thomas Berry wrote and taught about the ‘grand liturgy of the universe.’ He suggested the universe itself is a ritual and called us to participate in it. Be aware…be present with this beautiful functioning of life.

Black Elk said, “The human heart is a sanctuary at the center of which there is a little space, wherein the Great Spirit dwells, and this is the Eye of the Great Spirit.” Berry said that at the center of every heart lies the center of the universe. So our journey begins in our own heart where we find the Eye of the Great Spirit. When we come from this place of intention, all things are possible.

How did we get to this disconnect? Berry said we became enchanted with ourselves and our ability to control the functions of the planet. He said, “We have lost our capacity for communication with the natural world in its inner life, its spirit mode. We have become a death-dealing presence.”

The wound….the wound that each of us carries is the disconnect we have from the planet. The solution? Mindfulness. Conscious awareness. Knowing things like if the plankton in the ocean died most living beings on our planet would die. Knowing that the multitude of soil bacteria enable food to be produced and without them, all life would quickly die-off do to starvation. Knowing that we don’t have all the answers and that fascination with our ability to manipulate and control the environment will certainly lead to our downfall unless we wake up.

“The natural world itself is the primary economic reality, the primary educator, the primary governance, the primary healer, the primary presence of the sacred, the primary moral value. We finally realize that we are earthlings, that we are born our of the earth, that we have no future except within the larger Earth community.” When we understand what Berry wrote, we will begin to understand the wound and how to heal it.

Finding Our Voice

By Simone Lipscomb | September 18, 2013

In her book, When Women Were Birds, Terry Tempest Williams writes about what it means to pair voice with inner truth. She shares two examples that reminds us to keep speaking our truth, even when people refuse to hear it.

She was at a public hearing speaking up for Utah wilderness lands that were being put on the chopping block by politicos. As she stood to speak Congressman Jim Hansen began coughing, yawning, shuffling papers and in general trying to distract her and show he wasn’t listening. She stopped speaking and asked him if there was anything she could say that might change his negative perspective on wilderness. His reply? “I’m sorry, Ms. Williams, there is something about your voice I cannot hear.”

It wasn’t the microphone he was referring to; it was a metaphor of the politicians, elected to hear comments from citizens– more than 70% of whom wanted more wilderness, not less–to show their displeasure in having to listen. Their mind was already made up without consulting the will of the people.

In another instance Senator Larry Craig stood up during the conservation delegation’s testimony and said, “This one is your Senator Hatfield,” and walked out of the hearing. Senator Hatfield then read a book during the entire testimony before Congress.

The result of the senator’s behavior fueled the determination of those speaking on behalf of wilderness. They hurriedly got writers and poets to submit a piece of their work on wilderness, had a graphic designer work for free to design a book and produced Testimony, which was eventually read aloud by various senators during a filibuster about the wilderness areas that were proposed to be sold. The vote that was eventually taken upheld the law that set them aside. The vote favored the protected the wilderness areas.

About a year ago I signed up for a one hour telephone call where I could listen to a live interview with Terry. I greatly respect her writing and work as a voice for all things wild and was excited to be able to hear the conversation. I called a couple minutes early and listened to silence and then a voice came on the line, “Hello? Hello? Is anybody there?”

I didn’t say anything. Not wanting to connect with anyone really because I didn’t know what to say, I remained silent. The voice would occasionally say, “Is anybody there?” This went on for over five minutes as we waited for the interview to begin. Finally another voice came on line, the moderator. She began talking…talking to Terry who was the one asking if anyone was there. I could have been having a meaningful conversation with a woman I greatly respect and I chose to remain silent. Several minutes of valuable time with a mentor was lost.

It was a valuable lesson. I could have asked her about her work. How do you stay inspired when facing such apathy? Where do you find the will to keep working when the message goes unheard? I could have learned from this woman of power. Instead, I chose silence.

Is there something that needs your voice? A mountain? A river? Sea turtles? Manatees? Black-foot ferrets? Your heart?

Speaking our truth has never been more important. Bringing light to our planet, our communities, our homes is a practice that must be cultivated to help shift us from the darkness that we see and experience around us.

With compassion and love and gentleness let us speak from our hearts and together create something truly beautiful. It’s time to use our collective voice.