Taking Care of the Earth
I just had another birthday on Sunday. While I didn’t make any particular plan to celebrate this one (while the last one was a big milestone), things came together last minute in a delightful series of celebrations. By far my favorite way to spend my birthday is to hike to Mt. Pinos, which is considered the center of the world by the Chumash Tribe and where they often do sacred ceremonies. Although I hike this mountain often, I like to go there for my birthday to acknowledge that I’ve gone around the sun one more time. This time, I was able to enlist a few local friends to do a “peak-to-peak” hike going from Cerro Noroeste (8,300 ft) to Mt. Pinos (8,847 ft) with a couple of other peaks in between totaling more than 7 miles in distance. It was by far the longest hike I’ve done in a while, and I’m happy that I am still in good enough shape to do it.
This is just another reason I love about living here in the middle of a national forest. Basically, I’m forest bathing 24/7 as long as I’m not gone off the hill. These days having access to the nature is so important and valuable so that we get to understand we, human beings, are simply a part of it. When I am deep in the forest looking up at those trees that must be a few hundred years old, I get to feel that I am only a tiny particle flowing through on this planet called, Earth. In a book by Thich Nhat Hanh, Love Letter to The Earth, he says, “When you realize the Earth is so much more than simply the environment, you will be moved to protect her as you would yourself.” That’s why I spend a lot of time in the woods asking myself, “What can I do to take care of this Earth?”
All the while I’m aware how I cannot take this privilege of living here for granted. We all know too well this community can get swept away by a fire any day. The intensity of the disasters caused by the extreme climate conditions are terrifying. While I keep telling my husband to stop watching the news, I believe we do have a responsibility for the sake of our own future to be aware of this crisis. It is not by any means a political issue, but an issue that would impact the future let alone the present. I certainly feel powerless as an individual, who still live a lifestyle of modern conventions using fossil fuel to cook and heat home, consuming products packaged in plastics, etc. That I drive an electric car and carry reusable bags and utensils doesn’t even feel like anywhere enough to offset my damage I cause to the environment. My green real estate business is growing but not fast enough, which frustrates me. Yet, the mindfulness practice guides me to first be kind to myself. While I feel the urgency, I would like to strive to have equanimity so that my actions are not driven by fear but out of compassion for myself, fellow humans, and for the Mother Earth.
#YouCanSitWithUs