Earth Is Our Teacher

A Story Of Mindfulness and Responsibility

“We cannot control the outcome of our actions. Still, we can turn toward the world, plant good seeds, and trust that they will eventually bear fruit”

~Jack Kornfield

I would like to tell a story and muse on what it means to be mindful of the Earth. In my summation, it is no different from being mindful of ourselves; it is a chance to see what gets in the way of us living in our highest expression on this planet and beyond this planet in space and time.

The Earth has no agenda except to support life, so we must assume the same responsibility for ourselves. To that end, we ask the question, what type or experience of life are we supporting?

Because, you see, humans can get confused, befuddled, and sidetracked by what they “think” they want and what they “think” they need, steering them further and further from truly supporting the complex, breathing, feeling, sensing, emotional organism that they have become and start to support with the idea, thought, action, and attitude an abstract bundle of unmet needs from any one of the above-stated aspects of ourselves.

Awareness of and relationship with our own ego will go a long way in developing loving-kindness, respect, and awe for ourselves, which will and has to reverberate to Earth and all of her inhabitants.

“After a traumatic experience, the human system of self-preservation seems to go onto permanent alert, as if the danger might return at any moment.”

~Judith Lewis Herman

EGO AWARENESS

This past November, my husband and I (well, mostly my husband) welcomed into our lives a lively, intriguing, and highly reactive chihuahua mix puppy. We named him Finnigan, or Finn for short. His demeanor is incredibly warm, affectionate, and wiggly. Until he catches sight of someone or something outside of our little pack, he interprets all of these intrusions as a threat to his world as he knows it, thus his survival.

When faced with such a perceived threat, this sweet-natured dog undergoes a remarkable transformation. Suddenly, he becomes alarmingly loud, visibly terrified, and fiercely protective of his beloved humans.

It’s evident that once the “trigger” sets off his petite body and mind, he loses all semblance of control, descending into a state of complete dysregulation. In those moments, his survival instincts take over, and he puffs up to an unrecognizably exaggerated size. It might even be amusing if it weren’t so unsettling for us and sad for him.

The essence of this tale lies in the wisdom imparted by our fantastic trainer, Debbie Demello (who, by the way, is training us, not Finn). She is teaching us the importance of reassuring him that we’ve got everything under control. If he can learn to look to us for strength and trust, understanding that we can take care of both ourselves and him, life will become considerably more enjoyable. Then, he can focus on simply being — like his brother — receiving love, attention, treats, and plenty of belly rubs not just from us but from the world at large.

Now, you might wonder, what does this have to do with Earth? Well, there are many of us (myself included) who occasionally feel compelled to take it upon ourselves to defend our planet from a place of fear, aggression, and dysregulation. We, like Finn, perceive our beautiful Mother Earth as a victim in need of rescue, convinced that aggressive attacks on others’ ways of life are the solution.

However, I’ve come to understand that Earth is resilient, capable, and self-sustaining. She doesn’t need saving — she’s got this! The most effective way to support her, as she supports all life, is to regulate ourselves, find inner calm, and recognize our own sense of security. By refraining from othering and viewing one another as adversaries, we can cultivate ideas, creations, and actions that truly honor her splendor and inspire awe, respect, and gratitude.

PRACTICING REGULATION

What do we do when our central nervous system has hijacked the moment? We practice regulation techniques so that we can recognize that although it may be painful and scary, we are not in imminent danger.

Something to remember here is that we cannot think ourselves into regulation, nor can we find regulation by harming others. Safety is an autonomic experience and not in the brain, and the autonomic nervous system’s job is to tell us how we are, end of the story.

Three practices for regulation are:

• Deep Breathing: Taking a moment or two when we notice that we are being pulled toward reactivity, to take an intentional deep and long breath in, and then taking an even longer exhale will bring awareness back to what is real in the moment and give our energy a place to land. Practice at least 5–10 inhales for four and exhales for eight, feeling the air fill the lungs and the breath across the lip. For added depth, place a hand on the belly and a hand on the chest and experience the body breathing.
• Embodyment Moment: Bringing awareness to bodily sensations is another way to soothe the central nervous system. Feeling the feet on the ground and the hips in a chair and pressing into these sensations immediately brings a sense of calm and balance physically and emotionally.
• Physical Activity: Engaging in physical movement is another way to discharge pent-up and stored energy that is causing dysregulation. Shaking the hands and feet out, standing up and moving the body to music, or taking a walk in nature will all improve one’s sense of regulation.

“Trauma is hell on earth. Trauma resolved is a gift from the gods.”

~ Peter A. Levine

My big invitation today is to bring in awareness like the above and then add in forgiveness, first to ourselves for not knowing better and even for knowing better and hurting ourselves anyway, and then to others.

With this forgiveness comes the ability to open our minds to the ideas that this moment could be different, that we have the ability to change ourselves and hence change the world from where we sit. We need not defend a way of living. We simply want to be aware, to the best of our ability, of how it impacts us and the planet.

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