And one step to practicing unconditional love when it is hard is to simply seek a neutral attitude first. You get used to not being negative and then it is easier to move on to love
Thank you, Beth! And isn't that wonderfully heartening news? I am impressed with their vision and dedication to reviving that community. It makes me hopeful for the world, honestly.
Since the election, I have spent considerable time and energy adjusting my attitude and my ability to accept. When you begin the process of moving to unconditional love, you see how many conditions we have in place!
Thx for the seed library link! I founded a seed library in my small village and I am thinking about how it might serve food growers hit by disasters.
Isn't it true, Sue? We think we are so tolerant and broad-minded until we cautiously open our hearts and realize we're carrying around a lot of hurts and biases and scar tissue in general. It's work to become aware of them, but worth the effort.
I knew you had founded a seed library there, and I wonder if there's a way to link up with others. Perhaps that's one useful thing to emerge from the fires--ways to link up our local efforts into a wider net. Thank you for exploring that.
Susan, I love this article! You’re right: practicing terraphilia is easy when you’re looking at a beautiful landscape, but it’s hard to bring your mind around to loving the less-pretty things in this world. Thank you for sharing the tea practice and the news of the seed library to restore devastated places. I’m grateful we met in the Cohort. Blessings on your journey.
I was just thinking of you, Mary, and realized that I hadn't subscribed to your Writer, Interrupted newsletter, so I just did that. I'm looking forward to exploring your posts.
And yes, it's not easy to open your heart to the hard stuff, as you know from your journey as a widow. I find myself wondering sometimes if I'll ever really learn it's okay to be imperfect. I have to accept that in myself before I can fully accept it in this world. It's my ongoing practice....
It was wonderful serendipity to meet you in the Cohort. Blessings to you too!
Your morning ritual sounds great. I wish I could partake. Unfortunately I developed lactose intolerance over the last year, so butter, milk and cream are off limits. Fortunately, I can drink or eat milk products if they have been fermented, so cheese is ok, as is yogurt and kefir. Mainly I have oatmeal, fruit, kefir and pecans in the morning.
As to terraphilia, I think that I had such a feeling since I was about seven or so years old. My lack of playmates forced me into a sort of alliance with the natural world. I often wondered why I seemed to have a different view of animals and plants than most of the grownups around me and so I didn't talk about it in front of them. I knew somehow that they would call me silly.
Dave, I'm very sorry that you have become lactose intolerant. You can still do the hot-drink ritual though--I only said that I have cocoa, and didn't suggest that everyone do that! You can add a hot cup of herbal tea and make your own tea ceremony, or you can make a ceremony of the breakfast you do eat, thanking the oats and the fruit trees, the cows that produced the milk in the kefir, and the trees that grew the pecans. The point is the ritual, not what you eat or drink.
I'm glad you found your way to a close relationship with the natural world as a child, so that you had those more-than-human companions to engage your mind and creativity, and give you company. I think a lot of us felt in tune with the world of more-than-human lives as young kids; only as adults were we told that wasn't appropriate.
I never thought that there was one morning ritual, so that is not a problem. I do miss good biscuits with butter though!
My mother thought that I would get sick if I played with other kids. She had her reasons. I had been in the hospital during part of my my first year and my younger sister died of SIDS before her first birthday. However, she was wrong to continue it into the rest of my life! I really got tired of "David is delicate!" Still, I owe my love of nature to my early observations of plants and animals and my earliest memories include Datura flowers, garter snakes, crayfish, rivercane, Western Tanagers, death angel mushrooms (beautiful, but deadly), Chilean pepper tree. and Mourning Doves. I even remember the tracks of sidewinders on the sand dunes and a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. I loved all of these, but by the standards of the day I was an odd kid, more at home in the desert mountains than with people.
I imagine that having lost one child, your mother was very, very fearful. Especially since you had been in hospital so young. She must have grieved terribly and probably had no one to talk to help her through that loss. And still, as you say, that difficult isolation did give you your love of the community of the land, and that set you on your career path and your research. And you and Lynda raised a wonderful tribe of young women. So that odd upbringing has given a lot to the world, despite all.
Dave, See Jacki's comment about her experience with Lactaid tablets below. If you haven't tried them, it might be worth it so you could eat biscuits with butter again!
If you are intolerant (as opposed to allergic) to milk, maybe Lactaid Tablets can help. I take one before I eat things, and don't have any bad reactions at all. They come in a navy box. Also, there is Lactaid milk as well.
Everything about this essay speaks to my heart. Love of earth and sky; love of life; love of all that is -- a daily, and imperfect practice. In the spirit of your words, I'm thankful for my cup of hot, sweet, black tea and the candle that burns on my desk, reminding me of a million women, in a million other rooms, sipping a morning drink in front of a single flame and beginning the day, with the desire for love in their hearts. Thank you Susan for sharing your practice and your welcoming.
What a beautiful image of women casting a net of love across the world to begin our days! Thank you, Stephanie, for your vision and your words. Blessings!
Hello Susan, what a beautiful essay to wake up to. May not have found you if it wasn’t for Stephanie sharing your post. I have a natural practice of gratitude before going to sleep, and I used to have it for the morning. Most mornings, I have a practice of recording my dreams, sitting and reflecting, and listening for what the dream maker is showing me that I don’t already know that I can integrate into my life.
Leading with the heart makes everything feel lighter.
As we used to say before coming home from her and a beautiful setting where everything is structured neatly and silent, “Retreat begins when you leave and at home.” Thank you so much for this.
Hello, Prajna! I'm glad Stephanie shared this post and brought you here. Your dream-recording practice is a rich one. I think that any way we can slow ourselves and look within brings us the gift of mindfulness and self-awareness, enlarging our hearts and spirits.
That saying, "Retreat begins when you leave and are at home," reminds me of another one: "Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water." The real work is bringing enlightenment to our everyday lives!
Tying Terraphilia with a ribbon of unconditional love leads to thoughts about time beyond our imagination; I.e., the truly long haul, the infinity without loop, a forebearing patience within love and the recognition of ego as a gauze curtain.
Penny, Thanks for those thoughts about terraphilia and unconditional love. I agree: we're diving into that which we can't express well in words, including the eternal cycle of life and what we carry when we leave this particular existence. All fascinating to contemplate, and quite beyond language!
I learned biscochito sugar from Savory Spice Shop in Santa Fe, NM. (They sell it by mail, 505-819-5659.) You can make your own by putting 1 cup of sugar (I use organic cane sugar, not from India where it is harvested with women's forced labor) in a jar with about a two-inch-long length of vanilla bean. Leave it for a couple of weeks, shaking occasionally, until the vanilla flavor infuses the sugar. Then add 2 tsp ground cinnamon and 1 tsp ground anise (I whirl the seeds in a spice grinder), plus 1/4 tsp mace. Stir and enjoy!
Yes love ginger also Chamomile. I worked with the group that owns and produces Yogi teas, a rather amazing community of Sikhs. They have a facility near Espanola, NM where I was one of the leaders for a 3-day retreat for their school in India.
Fascinating! I bet you have stories aplenty. I knew that they were based near Española, because I have a friend who once worked with them, but I've never been to the facility. Española has a very large Sikh community.
Absolutely. But worth practicing, because we learn and grow from the process. I think that practicing terraphilia is a life-long effort, and if it leads us to be more loving humans, all of that work is very much to the good of the world. :)
Sometimes I think that simple kindness is more difficult than unconditional love. Because, let's be honest, we don't always want to be kind. Being human is complicated.
Very much looking forward to your book and the book discussion! How heartwarming that folks have started a seed library! I hope people will put it to use. Unconditional love DOES take great effort at times. Doing so, though, reveals to us more about ourselves and more about whomever/whatever we are practicing unconditional love towards. Somehow, it connects us in stronger ways to life. Maybe because we have to stop and realize what is REALLY important.
Thank you, Jenny. I look forward to your participation in the book discussion. :) The seed library builds on ones that were already in existence in the neighborhood; it's extending those and adding more neighborhood-specific native and edible seeds, plus donations from a few California seed companies. So I think it will be very popular once enough of the toxic burned material is cleared away so that people can replant and rebuild. And thanks for your thoughts on practicing unconditional love: it does help us know ourselves--at the very least, whenever we have resistance, we learn more about our prejudices and our preconceptions! And it gives us deeper insight, as you say, into those whom we are aiming to love without expectation. Life is a learning process, isn't it?
Oooh I want to try this hot chocolate next time I come through Montrose!
I could send you some of the mix, if you like.... xo to you!
And one step to practicing unconditional love when it is hard is to simply seek a neutral attitude first. You get used to not being negative and then it is easier to move on to love
That's excellent advice, Kathryn. Thank you!
I love what you are doing and am so very very glad to hear of that seed library!
Thank you, Beth! And isn't that wonderfully heartening news? I am impressed with their vision and dedication to reviving that community. It makes me hopeful for the world, honestly.
Since the election, I have spent considerable time and energy adjusting my attitude and my ability to accept. When you begin the process of moving to unconditional love, you see how many conditions we have in place!
Thx for the seed library link! I founded a seed library in my small village and I am thinking about how it might serve food growers hit by disasters.
Isn't it true, Sue? We think we are so tolerant and broad-minded until we cautiously open our hearts and realize we're carrying around a lot of hurts and biases and scar tissue in general. It's work to become aware of them, but worth the effort.
I knew you had founded a seed library there, and I wonder if there's a way to link up with others. Perhaps that's one useful thing to emerge from the fires--ways to link up our local efforts into a wider net. Thank you for exploring that.
Susan, I love this article! You’re right: practicing terraphilia is easy when you’re looking at a beautiful landscape, but it’s hard to bring your mind around to loving the less-pretty things in this world. Thank you for sharing the tea practice and the news of the seed library to restore devastated places. I’m grateful we met in the Cohort. Blessings on your journey.
I was just thinking of you, Mary, and realized that I hadn't subscribed to your Writer, Interrupted newsletter, so I just did that. I'm looking forward to exploring your posts.
And yes, it's not easy to open your heart to the hard stuff, as you know from your journey as a widow. I find myself wondering sometimes if I'll ever really learn it's okay to be imperfect. I have to accept that in myself before I can fully accept it in this world. It's my ongoing practice....
It was wonderful serendipity to meet you in the Cohort. Blessings to you too!
Your morning ritual sounds great. I wish I could partake. Unfortunately I developed lactose intolerance over the last year, so butter, milk and cream are off limits. Fortunately, I can drink or eat milk products if they have been fermented, so cheese is ok, as is yogurt and kefir. Mainly I have oatmeal, fruit, kefir and pecans in the morning.
As to terraphilia, I think that I had such a feeling since I was about seven or so years old. My lack of playmates forced me into a sort of alliance with the natural world. I often wondered why I seemed to have a different view of animals and plants than most of the grownups around me and so I didn't talk about it in front of them. I knew somehow that they would call me silly.
Dave, I'm very sorry that you have become lactose intolerant. You can still do the hot-drink ritual though--I only said that I have cocoa, and didn't suggest that everyone do that! You can add a hot cup of herbal tea and make your own tea ceremony, or you can make a ceremony of the breakfast you do eat, thanking the oats and the fruit trees, the cows that produced the milk in the kefir, and the trees that grew the pecans. The point is the ritual, not what you eat or drink.
I'm glad you found your way to a close relationship with the natural world as a child, so that you had those more-than-human companions to engage your mind and creativity, and give you company. I think a lot of us felt in tune with the world of more-than-human lives as young kids; only as adults were we told that wasn't appropriate.
I never thought that there was one morning ritual, so that is not a problem. I do miss good biscuits with butter though!
My mother thought that I would get sick if I played with other kids. She had her reasons. I had been in the hospital during part of my my first year and my younger sister died of SIDS before her first birthday. However, she was wrong to continue it into the rest of my life! I really got tired of "David is delicate!" Still, I owe my love of nature to my early observations of plants and animals and my earliest memories include Datura flowers, garter snakes, crayfish, rivercane, Western Tanagers, death angel mushrooms (beautiful, but deadly), Chilean pepper tree. and Mourning Doves. I even remember the tracks of sidewinders on the sand dunes and a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. I loved all of these, but by the standards of the day I was an odd kid, more at home in the desert mountains than with people.
I imagine that having lost one child, your mother was very, very fearful. Especially since you had been in hospital so young. She must have grieved terribly and probably had no one to talk to help her through that loss. And still, as you say, that difficult isolation did give you your love of the community of the land, and that set you on your career path and your research. And you and Lynda raised a wonderful tribe of young women. So that odd upbringing has given a lot to the world, despite all.
Dave, See Jacki's comment about her experience with Lactaid tablets below. If you haven't tried them, it might be worth it so you could eat biscuits with butter again!
If you are intolerant (as opposed to allergic) to milk, maybe Lactaid Tablets can help. I take one before I eat things, and don't have any bad reactions at all. They come in a navy box. Also, there is Lactaid milk as well.
Jacki, Thanks for the suggestion. Do you drink Lactaid milk too, or do the Lactaid tablets allow you to digest regular milk without issues?
I use them sometimes and I just picked up some lactose free butter, but I can't always tell what they are using in restaurants.
Good point. You could ask for lactose-free butter, and if they don't use it, that would help educate them to the need.
Everything about this essay speaks to my heart. Love of earth and sky; love of life; love of all that is -- a daily, and imperfect practice. In the spirit of your words, I'm thankful for my cup of hot, sweet, black tea and the candle that burns on my desk, reminding me of a million women, in a million other rooms, sipping a morning drink in front of a single flame and beginning the day, with the desire for love in their hearts. Thank you Susan for sharing your practice and your welcoming.
What a beautiful image of women casting a net of love across the world to begin our days! Thank you, Stephanie, for your vision and your words. Blessings!
Hello Susan, what a beautiful essay to wake up to. May not have found you if it wasn’t for Stephanie sharing your post. I have a natural practice of gratitude before going to sleep, and I used to have it for the morning. Most mornings, I have a practice of recording my dreams, sitting and reflecting, and listening for what the dream maker is showing me that I don’t already know that I can integrate into my life.
Leading with the heart makes everything feel lighter.
As we used to say before coming home from her and a beautiful setting where everything is structured neatly and silent, “Retreat begins when you leave and at home.” Thank you so much for this.
Hello, Prajna! I'm glad Stephanie shared this post and brought you here. Your dream-recording practice is a rich one. I think that any way we can slow ourselves and look within brings us the gift of mindfulness and self-awareness, enlarging our hearts and spirits.
That saying, "Retreat begins when you leave and are at home," reminds me of another one: "Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water." The real work is bringing enlightenment to our everyday lives!
You said it! the undeniable reality of what is. Love it.
And on we go into the fog, weaving our scraps of enlightenment as best we can....
Thanks for the idea of “biscochito sugar” !
Tying Terraphilia with a ribbon of unconditional love leads to thoughts about time beyond our imagination; I.e., the truly long haul, the infinity without loop, a forebearing patience within love and the recognition of ego as a gauze curtain.
Penny, Thanks for those thoughts about terraphilia and unconditional love. I agree: we're diving into that which we can't express well in words, including the eternal cycle of life and what we carry when we leave this particular existence. All fascinating to contemplate, and quite beyond language!
I learned biscochito sugar from Savory Spice Shop in Santa Fe, NM. (They sell it by mail, 505-819-5659.) You can make your own by putting 1 cup of sugar (I use organic cane sugar, not from India where it is harvested with women's forced labor) in a jar with about a two-inch-long length of vanilla bean. Leave it for a couple of weeks, shaking occasionally, until the vanilla flavor infuses the sugar. Then add 2 tsp ground cinnamon and 1 tsp ground anise (I whirl the seeds in a spice grinder), plus 1/4 tsp mace. Stir and enjoy!
We be drinking the same tea…….had that very bag last week
Mine go-to is the lemon-ginger Yogi tea. Yours?
Yes love ginger also Chamomile. I worked with the group that owns and produces Yogi teas, a rather amazing community of Sikhs. They have a facility near Espanola, NM where I was one of the leaders for a 3-day retreat for their school in India.
Fascinating! I bet you have stories aplenty. I knew that they were based near Española, because I have a friend who once worked with them, but I've never been to the facility. Española has a very large Sikh community.
Ahh, much harder than it looks:)
Absolutely. But worth practicing, because we learn and grow from the process. I think that practicing terraphilia is a life-long effort, and if it leads us to be more loving humans, all of that work is very much to the good of the world. :)
Yes, very true. It is linked with kindness, something I continue to work on every day.
Sometimes I think that simple kindness is more difficult than unconditional love. Because, let's be honest, we don't always want to be kind. Being human is complicated.
Very much looking forward to your book and the book discussion! How heartwarming that folks have started a seed library! I hope people will put it to use. Unconditional love DOES take great effort at times. Doing so, though, reveals to us more about ourselves and more about whomever/whatever we are practicing unconditional love towards. Somehow, it connects us in stronger ways to life. Maybe because we have to stop and realize what is REALLY important.
Thank you, Jenny. I look forward to your participation in the book discussion. :) The seed library builds on ones that were already in existence in the neighborhood; it's extending those and adding more neighborhood-specific native and edible seeds, plus donations from a few California seed companies. So I think it will be very popular once enough of the toxic burned material is cleared away so that people can replant and rebuild. And thanks for your thoughts on practicing unconditional love: it does help us know ourselves--at the very least, whenever we have resistance, we learn more about our prejudices and our preconceptions! And it gives us deeper insight, as you say, into those whom we are aiming to love without expectation. Life is a learning process, isn't it?
Yes, life is a continuous learning experience!
Even if sometimes we are tired of learning yet one more thing and would prefer to stick our heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich.... :)
Thanking all of it.
Terraphilia practice seed.
Not easy. Worth it.
Thank you for the poetic response, Marisol! Blessings to you.