Generous Reciprocity

Lorquin's Admiral

I've had a few conversations lately about how out of synch I feel with my friends and peers; it's to do with simplicity and convenience, and people's general willingness to bend integrity to make life easier. This is not a new sensation, but as the situation becomes more urgent, the gap feels like it's widening.

 
Life is hard, no doubt about it, and the powers that be keep it that way so we have less time to think about more important things like exploitation of the earth. I'm sure I'm over-simplifying, but the economic attacks on the poor and middle classes seem like a blatant ploy to undermine environmentalists. Who can care about forests and butterflies when their healthcare and children's lunches are at risk? Who has the money or time to reduce plastics and shop organic when they are worried about the losing free speech and reproductive rights?

The urgent issues of the day obfuscate the all-time importance of protecting our planet, but pointing this out is not useful or effective. So how do we create an opening for a deeper commitment to a life lived in unity and integrity with the earth?

Agenda:

1. Love meditation

2. Proaction plans

1. Love meditation:

Every month after the full moon, in the quiet-energy yin time of the waning moon, I practice a love meditation that progresses from receptivity, to gratitude, to generosity:

Day 3: Practice a love meditation, and then journal about generosity with time and attention - start with ideas for being generous with myself, then my family, my neighborhood, community, and the earth. I might decide to give money or a gift, or simple acts of helping and sharing my time.

From my journal: Today I commit to giving myself generous time for writing and drawing, and for making plans for how to teach the steps we can all take to live in integrity and unity with the earth.

2. Proaction plans:

Today I want to make some plans for my role as a teacher and earth activist: I ask myself, What great things do I want to accomplish? How will I serve people? How will I use my talents? How will I stretch myself? How can I become an “island of excellence”? What is essential?

I'm thinking about a way to itemize the small shifts we can make with our buying power, the underlying corporate interest it impacts, and how it brings us into integrity and unity. For example

• Choose to stop buying detergent in plastic jugs, impact the plastics gods (big oil), and unify with the birds.
• Choose to buy organic foods when available, impact big agriculture, and unify with the soil and bugs.
• Choose to use recycled wood for a building project, impact the forest industry, and unify with the trees.

And then something bigger, a bigger action that takes it to the next level of advocacy for the earth: Contact that corporate or political interest to tell them what you are doing and why; educate someone else to create momentum for change; start a business that expands the options for everyone; write a book...