2023 Lent Calendar, Week One

My theme for Lent this year is Being Rooted in Creation: Being rooted means I have a secure sense of who I am and where I belong; I am firmly planted, sunk in, feet on the ground, and the earth is steady. Roots are our connection to the deeper places in our souls, to the past, and to the land we live on.

To be rooted means I belong here, strong and grounded in Love, Truth, and Creation, solidly living in the Now, connected to the Divine Whole, and radiant in peace, in health and resilience. It means I belong in my home, my family, and in my community, I'm integrated and whole.

At Lent I allow myself to be slow, simple, and thoughtful. I spend time each day in focused study and prayer. This Lent, I plan to study nature like I would prepare to visit a foreign country - learn the language of my bird and plant neighbors, and continue to explore my relationship to the natural world, the cycles of the seasons, and the history, culture, and ecosystem of my valley.

And I also observe Lent as a time of creative action, acting on my leading to become more rooted in Creation with small and large actions at home and in my community, and by sharing Medicine Art projects with my grandson and others.

My intentions this year are to:

• Read and Journal: I intend to learn more about the nature in my own backyard, starting with a dive into various web sites, and will also keep a daily nature journal with notes about the weather and things I notice.
• Explore resilience practices: I'm also reading from the book, "101 Mindful Ways to Build Resilience," by Donald Altman, which offers simple ideas for being more rooted in my body and mind.
• Take creative action: In the weeks of Lent, I intend to act on my leading to become more rooted in Creation by
• Tending my garden (and letting it tend me)
• Building habitat for plant and animal people
• Supporting and working directly on campaigns to defend the environment
• Witnessing to others with writing, talking, and artwork.
• Fast: This year, like last year, I intend to fast from all new single-use plastic, and continue to experiment with plastic alternatives. I'm also going to witness to why plastic production is so dangerous, and why we need to slow it down.

Robin at Chavez School

February 22, Ash Wednesday- 

1. Read Nature Mentor: One of my intentions for Lent this year is to dive into various web sites that offer information about nature, starting with Nature Mentor. The writer, Brian Mertins, offers a practical approach to awakening naturalist instincts by building skills with plants and birds.

I'm starting today with his 8 Bird Watching Tips For Winter. This is a great time of year for bird watching because most the trees are bare, and food sources are more concentrated, causing many birds to spend a lot of time in the same areas repeatedly. Some of his tips-

• Watch fewer birds, but focus on deeper observation. Get to know the most common birds and watch their behavior more carefully than you normally would. 
• Use a bird feeder; pay attention to how birds feed.
• Practice watching birds for longer periods of time; use binoculars to get a close view, but also watch for overall movement patterns.
• Use warm & sunny breaks to your advantage - all the birds will get active then.

I've also begun to keep a tiny nature journal, with notes about the day's weather and things I observe. I hope this will become a habit!

2. Resilience practice: The first section from the book, "101 Mindful Ways to Build Resilience," is on how to cultivate calm, because resilience is nearly impossible if we are irritated and upset whenever something uncomfortable happens.

Practice #1 is simply to remember to take a few long, slow breaths to bring your brain back to calm, and relax your muscles.

3. Creative Action: Today is Pea Planting Day, so we planted some peas! Planting is such a basic act of life, and we will plant maybe a hundred seeds this year. Today we plant peas with attention, and we plant together. We plant peas as an offering to the earth, and an offering to our relationship. We also drink a little wine, and spill some on the ground, to bless the soil.

February 23-

1. Read Nature Mentor: Today I watched the first 2 videos in the Nature Mentor's Bird Language video series. The intro says you'll learn- 

Tips for using bird alarms to get closer to wildlife

Secrets for improving your landscape awareness skills

How to detect the hidden movements of wild animals

The 5 step blueprint for learning bird language

 

My hope is that I will feel like I'm living as a part of nature if I can become aware of the language being spoken around me.

The first tip is to try to figure out whether a bird's call is an alarm or not, because it will open your eyes to what is going on that you can't necessarily see: Is there a cat stalking? Are crows looking for nests? 

Start by going outside and taking time to notice birds "doing everyday, normal bird stuff." These are some signs of birds that are not alarmed:

• Look for feeding activity. Birds don't feed when they think they are in danger.
• Notice territorial aggression - loud calling and chasing another bird away is not a sign of alarm.
• Look for courtship or nesting behavior; this won't happen if birds are alarmed.
• Look for preening, resting, singing, and bathing activity - more signs that birds are at peace.

2. Resilience practice: Practice #2 is palm pressing, a simple technique for returning to the present moment when you get stressed out or lost in negative thought: 

• Bring your hands up in front of your chest and slowly bring them together so the fingertips touch.
• Push gently until your palms come together, and take notice of how your fingers straighten.
• Press firmly for the count of five. 
• Release the tension, lower your hands, and relax your shoulders. Take a deep breathe, and send any remaining tension down into the earth.

3. Plastic fast: We all know to take our own reusable cloth bags when shopping, but how can we replace those low-density polyethylene plastic bags we use for produce? (A single-use plastic bag takes 100 years to break down into micro-plastics.)

One solution: I add a handful of small paper bags to my cloth shopping bag, as part of a zero-waste kit. I also carry a reusable cloth or mesh produce bag. You can order a set today, or make your own drawstring cloth bags. Make sure you know their tare weight (ask the clerk to write it on your bag).

February 24-

1. Nature Mentor: Today I watched the 3rd video in the Nature Mentor's Bird Language video series, called The Four Bird Alarm Cues That Let You Know When There’s A Sneaking Predator Nearby! 

He first reminded me that bird language is emotional, like reading a person's mood with body language. If you are trying to sort out alarm behavior, you are looking and listening for agitation, fear, and anger.

• The first cue is that the behavior will continue for a good long time, 5-to 30-minutes.
• The second cue is that the alarm might stop in one place and pick up in another nearby place, with different birds, as the predator moves through the landscape.
• The third cue is the number of birds getting involved in the alarm - more birds means it's more likely an alarm.
• The third cue is a trend of increasing intensity.

When you take the time to watch bird behavior, learn to interpret a bird alarm, and follow the alarm to its source, you will experience a sense of being a part of nature in a new way.

2. Resilience practice: Practice #3 is to notice one soothing thing. Use this practice when you are dwelling in a negative thought, or whenever you transition to a new space.

• Broaden your gaze and sensitivity, and take one minute to tune in to all the details of color, sound, shape, texture, temperature, smells, people, and objects around you.
• Locate one soothing thing: A favorite color or object, a bird song, a sense of safety you feel, the comfortable warmth of the room, or a familiar face.
• Allow yourself to savor this soothing thing in great detail for one minute. (You can also take a photo to save in a "soothing things" file.)

3. Plastic fast: Read from some of these sites - Plastic Oceans, Earth Day.org, NPR.org.

February 25 -

1. Resilience practice: Practice #4 is to name and tame your emotions. Use this practice when you feel overwhelmed or reactive, when you first sense emotions boiling up. The goal is to pause just long enough to use your thinking brain, and break a pattern of reaction.

• Go to a neutral corner if possible, away from the source of stress, just for a minute or two. Take 3 calming breathes.
• Name the primary emotion you are feeling: frustration, anger, sadness, etc. (I like to touch my head when I do this, because the goal is to use your brain.)
• Go on thinking, and name any other emotions, such as loneliness, hurt, or disappointment. 
• Consider for one minute any new ways to respond to the situation that triggered these emotions.

2. Plastic fast: Talk to your friends and community members; ask them how they’re reducing their use of plastic. Ask people in your workplace and social media groups how they’re dealing with plastics. Are they receptive to hearing about some of the things you’re doing or planning to do? In combatting the plastic crisis, our collective action is far more effective than changes in our individual lives.