Monday, Dec 14. Mary will facilitate.
Last week during sangha, we shared what elements of our mindfulness practices have personally nourished us during the current pandemic. The collective wisdom, peace, and understanding were deep and comforting. Despite the enormous hardships and great suffering that so many have experienced, there have been surprising gifts. These gifts include new ways of living, working, and appreciating our family and friends. These gifts extend to new ways of taking care of the Earth, the Great Mother to each of us and everyone and everything under our Sun. These are extraordinary times that call on each of us to awaken and make creative choices as we transition in 2021 to a ‘new normal’.
Tonight, I would like to invite you to reflect on what gifts you have experienced that you would like to take into your future. We will begin our time together with a guided meditation, so please come prepared to find a cozy and comfortable place to rest.
Reflections:
What positive changes in how you go about your daily life have you experienced during the past year that you would like to bring into your ‘new normal’?
What might assist you to make this vision possible?
How could our sangha support us to co-create a ‘new normal’ that is kinder, gentler and more compassionate and loving to all beings everywhere and to Mother Earth?
Below is an excerpt from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, Love Letter to the Earth:
Dear Mother Earth,
I bow my head before you as I look deeply and recognize that you are present in me and that I’m a part of you. I was born from you and you are always present, offering me everything I need for my nourishment and growth. My mother, my father, and all my ancestors are also your children. We breathe your fresh air. We drink your clear water. We eat your nourishing food. Your herbs heal us when we’re sick.
You are the mother of all beings. I call you by the human name Mother and yet I know your mothering nature is more vast and ancient than humankind. We are just one young species of your many children. All the millions of other species who live—or have lived—on Earth are also your children. You aren’t a person, but I know you are not less than a person either. You are a living breathing being in the form of a planet.
Each species has its own language, yet as our Mother you can understand us all. That is why you can hear me today as I open my heart to you and offer you my prayer.
Dear Mother, wherever there is soil, water, rock or air, you are there, nourishing me and giving me life. You are present in every cell of my body. My physical body is your physical body, and just as the sun and stars are present in you, they are also present in me. You are not outside of me and I am not outside of you. You are more than just my environment. You are nothing less than myself.
I promise to keep the awareness alive that you are always in me, and I am always in you. I promise to be aware that your health and well-being is my own health and well-being. I know I need to keep this awareness alive in me for us both to be peaceful, happy, healthy, and strong.
Sometimes I forget. Lost in the confusions and worries of daily life, I forget that my body is your body, and sometimes even forget that I have a body at all. Unaware of the presence of my body and the beautiful planet around me and within me, I’m unable to cherish and celebrate the precious gift of life you have given me. Dear Mother, my deep wish is to wake up to the miracle of life. I promise to train myself to be present for myself, my life, and for you in every moment. I know that my true presence is the best gift I can offer to you, the one I love.
FOR US TO SURVIVE, both as individuals and as a species, we need a revolution in consciousness. It can start with our collective awakening. Looking deeply, with mindfulness and concentration, we can see that we are the Earth and, with this insight, love and understanding will be born.
There’s no limit to where or how any one of us can have an intimate conversation with the Earth. You may even like to write your own love letter to Mother Earth.”
I look forward to being with you Monday night and learning from your great wisdom.
A bow and bell to you all in gratitude,
Mary