Dear First name / Friend

 

Redwoods depend on fog for 30% of their water needs. Through their thick, burly bark they absorb a source of life that drifts off the ocean and envelopes them with support. Let the intelligence of our ecosystem buoy you through these times. You are drinking from the rivers, breathing with the trees, and each step you are held up by a hidden underworld teeming with life. How can we lean into, and trust, the tides of change?

 

Our collective stress and fear is humbling me. I have had to increase my self-care practices-- and that's in addition to no social media and reading minimal news! My sensitive nervous system needs co-regulation beyond my human kin. One obvious choice are the trees.

 

 

Let the support of the trees ground you in the midst of everything, and then from that rooted place you can move towards what you most care about and what you are here to do in this time. Cause we need each other.

 

When I was in my 20's, my apartment looked out on Lake Washington. Every day at dawn the renowned University of Washington rowing team swiftly crossed the water. On the occasions I was up that early, I watched, inspired, as they worked for every inch. No individual rower stood out, yet each mattered, offering their strength and rhythm to collectively carry the boat. I have been having visions of that as we navigate this chaotic time. Each of us must row with all our might, devoting ourselves to love, and collectively we will carry ourselves through chaos into a new world. A new paradigm. Where interdependence, deep listening, and cooperation are the foundations of humanity. 

 

Thanks for sharing the boat with me.