“We give thanks for all those who are moved, in their lives, to heal and protect the earth, in small ways and in large. Blessings on the composters, the gardeners, the breeders of worms and mushrooms, the soil-builders, those who cleanse the waters and purify the air, all those who clean up the messes others have made. Blessings on those who defend trees and who plant trees, who guard the forests and who renew the forests. Blessings on those who learn to heal the grasslands and renew the streams, on those who prevent erosion, who restore the salmon and the fisheries, who guard the healing herbs and who know the lore of the wild plants. Blessings on those who heal the cities and bring them alive again with excitement and creativity and love. Gratitude and blessings to all who stand against greed, who risk themselves, to those who have bled and been wounded, and to those who have given their lives in service of the earth. May all the healers of the earth find their own healing. May they be fueled by passionate love for the earth. May they know their fear but not be stopped by fear. May they feel their anger and yet not be ruled by rage. May they honor their grief but not be paralyzed by sorrow. May they transform fear, rage, and grief into compassion and the inspiration to act in service of what they love. May they find the help, the resources, the courage, the luck, the strength, the love, the health, the joy that they need to do the work. May they be in the right place, at the right time, in the right way. May they bring alive a great awakening, open a listening ear to hear the earth’s voice, transform imbalance to balance, hate and greed to love. Blessed be the healers of the earth.” ~Starhawk
Art by Fanny Aishaa
Portrait of Amanda Polshies, photo credit – Ossie Michelin
Portrait of Amanda Polshies, photo credit – Ossie Michelin
Thanks to Shamantube for this post.
The White Helmets – or the Syrian Civil Defense – are volunteer rescue workers in the most dangerous place on earth. As the conflict in Syria worsens, ordinary people are paying the highest price. More than 50 bombs and mortars a day land on some neighborhoods in Syria. Many are rusty barrels filled with nails and explosives, rolled out the back of government helicopters onto homes, schools and hospitals. When this happens The White Helmets rush in to search for life in the rubble – fully aware that more bombs may fall on the same site. These volunteers have saved 2,514 lives in the past year alone – and this number is growing daily. I highly recommend watching this 2 minute video about a rescue they did. Deeply moved by these guys. Just wow.
You can also check out their site here:
https://www.whitehelmets.org/
So thankful to Nahko for all the sweet medicine he has provided me and countless others on this journey. “Don’t waste your hate, rather gather and create. Find your medicine and use it.”
“Society cannot tolerate individuality, because individuality will not follow like a sheep. The sheep are always in the crowd because it feels more protected, secure. Only lions move alone — and every one of you is born a lion, but the society goes on conditioning you, programming your mind to be a sheep.” ~Osho
“Know that one day you will look back at the ‘bad’ things and realize they were neither ‘bad’ nor ‘good’ – they were invitations to deeper healing. Unexpected turnings. Strange gifts from a vast intelligence.” ~ Jeff Foster
“When you go out into the woods, and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying ‘You are too this, or I’m too this.’ That judgment mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.” ~ Ram Dass
Art by Rob Schouten
“A poet’s work . . . to name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world and stop it from going to sleep.” ~ Salman Rushdie
“The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it’s real because that’s how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it’s very brightly colored, and it’s very loud, and it’s fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, “Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?” And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, “Hey, don’t worry; don’t be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride.” And we … kill those people. “Shut him up! I’ve got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real.” It’s just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok … But it doesn’t matter, because it’s just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here’s what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.” ~ Bill Hicks
Phyllis Sues started her own own fashion label at 50, became a musician and learned Italian and French in her 70s, took tango and trapeze at 80 and walked into her first yoga class at 85. “If you don’t train the body every day it withers. If you don’t train the mind everyday, you lose it. Yoga is a wakeup call to every cell in your body. I live to do yoga and I do it to live.” At 91, Phyllis has a CD on itunes, writes for the Huffington Post, dances and performs regularly and jumps rope and practices Yoga daily. What a serious badass!
It’s never too late!!
Thanks to Growing Bolder for this post.
Under The Blue Door 