WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP LIKE WITH MOTHER EARTH?
“We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth, gifts we have neither earned nor paid for: air to breathe, nurturing rain, black soil, berries and honeybees…a bag of rice, and the exuberance of a field of goldenrod and asters at full bloom.”
- Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Summer Solstice is approaching soon and is a day among many others that celebrates and honours Mother Earth & Nature. These days offer us a chance to acknowledge the greatness of Nature and our place in the marvellous web of creation.
They are also a chance to contemplate our personal relationship with the planet and the level of reciprocity we invest in this relationship. Reciprocity can be easily understood between 2 humans. If one person is always giving and investing in a relationship and the other person is always taking and receiving without reciprocating back, the relationship will very quickly become strained, unbalanced and may not survive.
Take a moment to consider reciprocity with your human relationships....
What relationships do you have with friends, family or partners that feel reciprocal and balanced? How do they feel to you?
Nurturing, appreciated, enjoyable, safe, trustworthy, supportive, easy-going?
What relationships do you have that don't feel reciprocated? How do they make you feel?
Rejected, unsafe, unworthy, exhausting, confusing, angry, insecure?
Reciprocity with the Earth
Cultivating reciprocity with the Earth may feel like a strange concept to some but when you begin to think of everything the Earth gifts us with in comparison to what we give back, it's clear there is a huge imbalance and the planet is suffering because of this.
Of course, we cant give back to the Earth the exact same things we are gifted with, but we can absolutely increase reciprocity in many other ways that help to restore her and build a positive connection and relationship that grows our sense of respect, appreciation and awareness of just how precious our home really is.
Here are just a few ways to consider:
1. Gratitude Practice
This may seem silly or irrelevant, but the more gratitude you can cultivate for the Earth and for everything we receive, the greater your awareness will be of just how fortunate we are to be living here in this time and space. To be a species on Earth experiencing an unending amount of beauty, sustenance, support and joy. Thank the earth for the food you eat, for the clothes you wear, for the house you live in. Thank the trees for the oxygen they supply and the bees for their honey and immense hard work with pollination. Thank the insects for holding our whole natural infrastructure together (if insects did not exist, humans would be extinct within 50 years!). The list goes on and on! Gratitude can be life-changing and can open doorways in your heart that allow it to expand more than you ever imagined. Direct some of your gratitude to Mother Earth and notice how it grows and energises your connection and relationship with her.
2. Be sustainable
I love that quote 'we don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly, we need millions of people doing it imperfectly'. I am definitely not 100% zero waste and can often feel guilty when I know I am creating waste...BUT I continue to try and learn and grow and create new habits. See what changes you can make in your life to create less waste and become more sustainable. Don't try to change too much at once, go for 1 thing a month. Be careful not to get sucked into buying lots of expensive new things. Try to find cheap easy ways to be more sustainable. One big way I am sustainable is that I always try to buy second-hand and only buy brand new things when I need to. My wardrobe is full of second-hand clothes and I just recently bought a second-hand bell tent that is in perfect condition.
3. Nurture the land
If someone you loved was poorly you would want to take care of them right? Looking after the Earth can be as simple as going on a litter pick-up walk or joining a community re-wilding project. The National Trust are always looking for volunteers to help them look after their properties and nurture their spaces.
4.Restore and Protect
Most people donate to charities but do you have a nature-based charity on your list? Reforestation charities, Green Peace, and Community charities that restore natural spaces. There are a huge amount out there and they all work tirelessly to restore and protect our precious home. I can highly recommend www.treesisters.org as a fantastic reforestation charity. I have a monthly donation set up that pays for at least 20 trees to be planted every month.
5.Giving time and attention
Similar to the first one this may seem a little weak, but choosing to spend time in Nature and placing it as a priority will grow your sense of connection and appreciation and cultivate a wonderful sense of reciprocity. Offering your attention to Nature, noticing the beauty in the simplest things that we take for granted. Slowing down enough so that you can be fully present with Nature in a way you would love to feel that another human is present with you. Nature senses our presence when we are there. WE ARE NATURE so we are so much more connected than we realise. The woods, fields and mountains are your natural home so taking time to rest into these spaces with love, gratitude and attentiveness will grow your reciprocity in magical ways.
I hope this has helped you consider your relationship to Mother Earth and think of ways to make it more reciprocal. We basically owe our lives to Earth, we would not be here without her so giving back should be something we build in naturally to our lives. Just imagine what the planet would be like if this was a natural and imprinted way of life for all human beings?.....(sigh!)
If you would like to grow your connection and reciprocity with Nature through Nature Connection practices then come join me on one of my UPCOMING EVENTS or book a PRIVATE FOREST BATHING EXPERIENCE with friends and family.