BEAUTY Archives - Page 47 of 56 -

Tides Are Turning

By Simone Lipscomb | June 24, 2013

I can almost hear the squeaking, grinding gears of the cogs of the old machinery as it begins to come to a stop and reverse directions. In the past week here’s a short list of positive happenings: Australian government begins a legal case against Japanese government about whale slaughter in the name of scientific research; India’s goverment banned dolphin captivity calling dolphins highly intelligent and sensitive non-human persons; a massive PR campaign to help sharks and show they are NOT the bad guys…12 people were killed last year by sharks worldwide while 11,417 sharks are killed PER HOUR by humans; Denmark installs the largest offshore wind farm in the world with 91 turbines that they are hoping will supply 10% of Europe’s energy needs in the next few years; a settlement was reach by oil companies by they agreeing not to use sonar air guns that torment and injure marine mammals…til the end of 2015; a judge protected a Kentucky coal miner who was wrongfully dismissed after raising safety concerns and was sued by the coal mining company; a victory for NC sea turtles and shore birds…driving on beach regulations upheld; the Supreme Court will hear a case against a ruling that overturned EPA mandate for cleaner air…let’s hope the justices prove they are not owned by corporations; and finally an event to celebrate the Earth and spread joy in even the most wounded places was held Saturday…Radical Joy for Hard Times.

That’s a lot of good news. Even though we continue to hear a lot of bad news as well, I believe the tide is turning. The work people are doing all over the world is making a difference. And once consciousness begins to shift, it’s going to shift big and fast and momentum will build!

Joanna Macy lead our group to greater understanding of how to help our planet and each other at Rowe, MA

While I know we’re not there yet, I have hope that we will raise awareness and gather strength through people with big hearts and open minds coming together. As we unite for the planet and all species, we are very truly uniting for our own species health and wellbeing. There is no separation from nature. We are part of it, it is part of us. It’s time to remember this truth and keep the turning in motion.

NEEDED!!: More Time In Nature

By Simone Lipscomb | June 17, 2013

Last week began the transfer of my blog to self-hosting and my website to my blog so a marriage could take place between the two. It was time to merge my writing and Turtle Island Adventures and make one website that united it all.

Once the blog was transferred to my hosting company’s servers, I rebuilt the blog website and added in pages from my Turtle Island Adventures site. Over eight hours of merging information, updating, revising, changing the theme. It was a very mental day with my brain working overtime in an area that it really isn’t fond of lingering.

Then came the end of the day and I called my hosting company to ask about backing up my site. The nice guy said, sure but let’s look at your hosting. And then came a barrage of glitches with their hosting. He was trying to fix an issue another guy there had created and he couldn’t resolve it. We spent over…way over…an hour trying to resolve this so I could save money. We never got it worked out so I was left paying twice as much for hosting as I should be because of a mistake another guy at this particular hosting company made that couldn’t be resolved.

But never mind all that….the constant left-brain activity and 90 minutes on the phone dealing with files, codes, IP addresses…I felt fried. I had missed a photo shoot I wanted to do and felt like I needed to stick my head in a bucket of ice water. I was supposed to awaken at 4.30am, do my sea turtle nest patrol, clean up and drive to Atlanta for a gathering and an over-night visit with a friend. After a week out of the country and a four day trip to Michigan over the past two weeks I felt as if I was imploding.So I cleared everything off my weekend schedule except the sea turtle nest patrol and watched an old movie while eating popcorn.

The eastern glow of the rising sun was just warming the night sky as I stepped barefoot onto the beach. As soon as I took my flip-flops off and felt the sand my entire body breathed a sigh of relief. It was in that moment that I realized I had Nature Deficit. The walk was a blissful reminder that I simply cannot be healthy and balanced without a daily connection to nature.

This morning found me sitting in my hammock chair on my back porch watching dawn arrive. My two cat companions were intently listening to songbirds and I was watching clouds move above the massive branches of the live oak tree that lives in the courtyard.

Then another morning of polishing the new web/blog site but I’m grooving. Patience for tedious adjustments has been with me and I remember to glance out the large window and observe the oak trees, sky and squirrels scurrying around brown branches.

It’s my guess that we can all use more time in nature….and less time in front of computer screens.

Still Room for Hope

By Simone Lipscomb | June 5, 2013

The morning began by a walk to the water before sunrise while the silver light of the waning moon still illuminated the sea. When the blue was still kissed with silver I stood, toes in sand, sinking into the soft substrate while warm, clear salt water kissed my feet.

In the quiet, when the birds were still considering their opportune moment to call up the sun, I breathed in the day.

As dead pieces of coral tumbled and tinkled in the rolling water, small bits of colored sea glass glittered amid the neutral tones of sand and coral rock. I began collecting them, gathering them into my empty tea cup.

I bent over in my sea glass meditation, in a sort of salutation to the morning, and in a moment of clarity gained understanding. I realized how broken litter–human garbage–was transformed into objects of beauty by the constant motion of waves working the sharp edges and shiny surfaces into something new and beautiful.

Many sins humans commit against our planet can still be righted. There is still time for us to collectively turn the tide and create something wonderful and healing. We can stop the assaults, poor decisions and mistreatment we have leveled upon the Earth and all of Her creatures, the land, water and air.

I smiled at the thought of a global awakening and realized the same metaphor applied to my life…to every individual’s life. The constant movement through changes and obstacles keeps refining us, inviting us to allow a deepening of awareness and an unfolding and strengthening of our talents and skills.

Each of us has the ability to become more beautiful, more effective in our walk on the planet. We can choose to remain broken or we can allow the process of transformation to change us into brighter expressions of our highest selves. There is indeed still room for hope.

When Technology Outgrows Conscience

By Simone Lipscomb | May 22, 2013

In my cross-training efforts the elliptical trainer provides an opportunity to catch up on TED talks. While I whirl and sweat I watch videos from these amazing talks and recently I’ve been viewing those related to oceans.

I watched three today and each one nurtured a perplexing subject that has been surfacing in my mind over the past few years. Today I heard a clear question whispered from the ethers: Is it really good to discover new sources of life and potential material wealth when human consciousness has not evolved at the same pace as technological development?

Shark caught and left to die on the beach. I asked the fisherman why he allowed the shark to die...'because they are dangerous' he said. — *Shark caught and left to die on the beach. I asked the fisherman why he allowed the shark to die…’because they are dangerous’ he said.*

As a species on the planet, we appear to be more at war with it than stewards of it. This is evidenced by the conflicts we wage on each other in our neighborhoods, in oil fields, in mountains hiding gold and other valuable metals, in our oceans. Exploitation is still the collective mindset of our species.

*Machinery at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge trying to remove a large, sunken mat of oil during the BP Oil Spill*

Billions of dollars are spent on cancer research yet we haven’t understood and acted on the realization that what we are doing to the water, air, food sources are all contributing to the increase of cancer. The toxins we dump onto and into our planet are killing us and all life. But we, as a whole, stick to the mindset that more is better and profit at any cost is acceptable. The disconnect is clearly destroying us.

We have tried to conquer, control, manipulate our oceans, soil, energy resources and have failed with this mindset. Only when we apply principles of cooperation and respect toward each other, the planet, animals, plants, air, water do we create opportunity for balance and plenty for all.

*Our group from a week with Joanna Macy, our mentor who teaches how to stay sane while working to help the planet*

My hope is that before we discover marvelous, new, wondrous places, resources and animals to exploit that we step back, take many breaths and allow our sense of ethics and conscience to catch up with technology that we use daily to destroy the very thing that gives us physical life. It is time for us to learn a heart-centered approach to living and allow the blossoming of love within us to guide us rather than our ego-driven and self-centered desires.

When we collectively can reach across the self-created constructs that divide us related to race, religion, politics, and more then perhaps we will be ready to care for new and marvelous discoveries on our planet. Until then, let us cultivate responsible stewardship and unconditional love.

Welcome Home Sweetheart

By Simone Lipscomb | May 20, 2013

She drew the story of her dance of love and left it for us to witness the beauty–of life and birth. She is a wild artist, with a flair for the dramatic, this siren of the deep, this lovely mother.

In the dark of night, with starlight lighting her way, she heaved herself out of the water and crawled ashore. Dragging her body, filled with eggs–with hope, did she pull her way up the beach.

Digging with her back flippers, she made a nest where 131 moist, fat eggs were slowly dropped, then covered.

Off she slid, down the steep, sand bank and crawled along the water’s edge creating a lovely portrait of her journey, left behind for those lucky enough to witness it and see.

This southern sweetheart is welcomed home to the beach where she was born over twenty years ago. Join with me in celebrating our first sea turtle nest of the year in Alabama.