How to Save the Planet
Over the past year I have experienced an inner struggle. I feel profound love for the Earth yet the environmental damage I’ve witnessed from the oil spill has created immense inner frustration and anger. Love has kept me present while walking the beaches, yet there has been a progressive closing of my heart. I did not know what to do to make a difference, how to take action, how to help the planet. I felt the pain from the water, land, animals, plants….people.
I fully immersed myself in the Gulf work because of love, yet have rarely allowed myself the pleasure and joy of connecting with pristine areas since I began it. If I opened myself to these areas of beauty, I would have to open to the pain within.
Because by nature I am a positive and open person, the fire of my heart began to speak loudly. Girl, get out there and deal with your ‘stuff.’ So yesterday I journeyed to the Smoky Mountains in an effort to reconnect with this sacred area, to commune with the land and water, the plants and animals there–and to take the risk to open to beauty.
I left my home before sunrise and spent the entire day opening and connecting with treasures of the Earth. One hour into my trip and the heaviness on my heart was gone. My spirit had broken through the sadness, the grief for Mother Earth. There was snow, ice, hoar frost, moss-covered rocks, pristine streams, blue sky, happy people, elk, hawks, deer, fog, mountains….endless opportunities to see and experience precious life. As I drove from place to place, I listened to music, sang, whooped and shouted ‘thank you’ to everything I passed and even danced (not THAT difficult to do while driving…even on steep, curvy roads). The day became a celebration of life!
In Cades Cove I came upon a giant tree that had fallen with a winter storm. I climbed onto the massive trunk and peered into the hole that had caused the beautiful tree to fall. As I put my hands on the wood, I realized that closing my heart created a hole within me. As I moved through the rest of the day I pondered this truth.
If I close my heart, for whatever reason, I create a chasm that cannot be filled. Only an open heart can receive….and give.
Questions echoed within me as I walked and sat within nature. What if I open my heart without any expectation that others will meet me in that space? What if I choose LOVE as a way to make a difference? What if I dare to open to the dance of helping others learn to care for this precious planet out of love, out of compassion?
At the end of the day I knelt beside delicate wildflowers and whispered sweet words of gratitude for their presence. I sat on moss-covered rocks in the middle of streams and laughed as clear water danced onward. My heart connected with the amazing life force in the woods and streams and I gently came into balance again.
*Love–exponential….sweet…..transcendent…luminescent….this is the key to saving the planet, the key to saving ourselves. My vision quest ended with this truth.
The Universe can only fill an open vessel.
(*this series of words comes from the song Foundling by David Gray. “At the feet of love, sweet transcendent love, exponential love, luminescent love. Feast your heart on love.”
4 Replies to “How to Save the Planet”
Beautiful, as are all your photos.
I’m glad you have opened your heart all the way.
Love you,
Barbara
Beautiful words, photos, and insights here. Absolutely beautiful! It makes me smile so much every time I see a new post go up here. This one made me especially happy when I saw the David Gray lyric at the end. 🙂
Keep up the amazing work, Simone!
As I started reading, I felt like I was reading my own thoughts. By the time I got to the third paragraph I was in tears. It has been so hard to stay positive with so much corruption in our presents. My heart filled with emotion as I read on. I lived in the foothills of the Smokey Mtn. for 6 years and instantly, I was taking the curves and singing right along with you and could remember the smell of cool, crisp fresh air.
It is just a short drive to the gulf where I would walk on the waterfront and watch the sunrise. Before sunrise the bats would be flying and the birds when I would come back. Dolphins leaping and stirring up around crab traps, counting how many times a mullet would skip across the water. This was my mountain retreat. I haven’t walked there for the past year. Not only has these toxins corrupted our bodies, but our soul as well.
I had a need to search for a non-contaminated, inspirational, place to release heartache for nature and fill it back whole with love, compassion and peace towards Mother Nature. I have found this peace in you Simone. Thank you for opening your heart, as it has reopened mine.
Dear Lori,
May we meet in the space of open hearts and celebrate this beautiful planet and life as it struggles to recover from human-created obstacles.
As I walked the beach at Alabama Point today the waves reminded me that all can be made new and clear, given time and support.
In Light,
Simone