Tuesday

Tuesday is my day to look at my social and emotional self and make an effort to shift my perspectives around how I view and treat the people in my life. 

Agenda:

1. Generosity practice

2. Read "Intrinsic Hope"
3. New narrative for naming feelings

4. Synergy and hope plans

5. Plant sunflowers!

1. Generosity practice:

On the third day of the waning gibbous moon, I practice a love meditation, and then journal about generosity with time and attention. I 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.

This month's generosity plan:

1. Schedule alone time in the garden nearly every day.
2. Generous allowance of autonomy for boys.
3. Calm strength for worried partner.
4. Abundant effort on Earthcare newsletters, visioning, and communicating.

When I'm motivated by the desire to give, just the intention to offer my help, and my willingness to listen, will begin to lessen suffering in the world.

2. Read "Intrinsic Hope":

I'm just starting this book by Kate Davies (2018), with the subtitle, Living courageously in troubled times. She talks about what she calls the global eco-social crisis, and how everything is interconnected: biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, climate disruption, invasive species, pollution, overpopulation, over harvesting, agricultural and lumber practices, housing and infrastructure, water scarcity, poverty, unemployment, fascism and racism - all the environmental problems and their social, cultural, and economic contexts.

"Hopelessness leads to paralysis and inaction, guaranteeing that things will continue to get worse. To stop this downward spiral, we urgently need to uncover a realistic sense of hope and find ways to nurture it." 

She says the first step is to name our feelings, and so chapter one is Naming Our Feelings about the Global Eco-social Crisis. If we do not name them we cannot do anything about them; name them to tame them. Also, sharing our feelings creates space for discussion.

She invites us to name the feelings (despair, anger, disappointment, worry, grief, overwhelm) and the bodily sensations that go with them (shortness of breathe, tenseness, nausea, inertia). She says inertia is a protection mechanism for overwhelming feelings.

3. New narrative for naming feelings:

One of my weekly Creative Perspective tasks is to define a new narrative to re-frame a mind-set and expand my thinking. Today I'm working on a plan for naming feelings that I would prefer to ignore. Naming how I feel throughout the day will help me to eel more hopeful eventually.

"I will stop and name my feelings and the sensations that accompany them in order to re-connect with my heart."

4. Synergy and hope plans:

Every Tuesday I make a plan for teamwork and synergy, important components for effective action. Specifically, I make a list of tiny ways to engage my family and community in my Nature-Culture work. My ideas:

1. Walks with grandsons trick up plastic and name spring flowers.
2. Discuss composting with W and update my practice.
3. Plan an Earth Week contemplative / action practice to share
4. Plant sunflowers!

5. Plant sunflowers:

Every year I plant lots of sunflowers. Sunflowers are called Helianthus annuus; in Greek, helios means sun and anthos means flower. They are native to North America, and were grown as a crop by indigenous tribes over 4,500 years ago. 

Sunflowers are keystone native plants, because, like the center stone in a stone arch that holds the whole thing together, these plants help to hold an ecosystem together. Keystone native plants are the most important native plants because they support the life of the most numbers of butterflies, moths and bees. 

Sunflowers are hosts for over 66 species of butterflies and moths who lay eggs on them. Some of the caterpillars that emerge and eat the leaves have evolved to only be able to survive on sunflower plants. Caterpillars are the main source of food for baby birds. Sunflowers are packed with pollen, so they are a real feast for pollinators, and in the fall, the birds love the seeds!

They are a great asset for vegetable gardens for a variety of other reasons: They double as natural trellises for climbing vegetables such as beans, and even though sunflowers need a lot of water, they improve soil aggregation, which helps the soil retain moisture through the winter. Also, they can act as a pest trap because they are so attractive to pests; rather than attacking your vegetables, pests such as the leaf-footed bugs will be drawn to the sunflower where they are easy to pick off.

These are a fantastic seed for kids to plant because they are dramatic and easy. This week I will plant 3 six-packs with my grandsons.