Connecting to our Roots
There is an emergent need to go back to the Earth and awaken ourselves to reconnect to our roots. The world is shifting, the climate is rising and We are part of this unbalanced ecosystem. What can we do as a collective to survive and strive?
In this article, I am writing to acknowledge the wisdom from nature and indigenous peoples because the sustainability of our future is relying on our ability to adapt to a new world, connect with a larger community, and practice gratitude.
Did you ever feel calm and serene when you walked in a beautiful forest, a meadow covered with wildflowers, or by walking along the bank of a clear river? For me, being in nature it’s my way to meditate and re-energize myself. When I was 4 years old, my parents moved to a small rural region in the province of Quebec. They’ve decided to join a group of like-minded people to create, what became, an ecovillage, and a place-based or nature-based school. As a kid, I spent hours following the creeks in the woods and observing life and pattern in nature. Whenever I felt conflicted, nature was my refuge, my place of comfort, and nature had, and always will be my sanctuary.
Wisdom from Indigenous People
I recently stumbled upon the term “Sacred Reciprocity” and realized that what I experienced as a kid helped me learn this important concept.
The natives are showing us that if we acknowledge this connection with gratitude, we will feel supported, empowered, and resilient spiritually, physically, and mentally.
What’s Sacred Reciprocity? The indigenous nation believes that we must give and receive in equal measurement meaning that we cannot take more from nature than we give. Lissa Rankin, MD wrote a blog about the subject and described diseases to be a result of an imbalance in that reciprocity and highlight some Indigenous practices “Sacred Reciprocity: The Indigenous Spiritual Principle of Giving & Receiving”
I see three important values to achieve that.
Adaptation-Strength-Gratitude
Adaptation to our New Reality
Now why it is so important to put energy toward recreating this bridge between nature and what can we learn from it.
The actual health crisis along with climate change makes us revisit our habits of how we navigate our lives. As a human species, we are surfing on waves of emotions, anxiety, anger, hope… We wonder how we should act or react in a way we feel in control. But does being in control mean forcing outside elements to follow a different trajectory just to have the illusion that we have the control? In permaculture, the 12th principle says that in order to be sustainable and resilient we need to add to our design or life design in creative ways to use and respond to changes.
We can also take evolution adaptation in nature as an example. In order to survive, we need those environmental shifts to open up and seek many different options. If you observe trees, or plants in nature. If, by the time they grow, there’s an obstacle that happens to be in their way they will grow their roots around it or bend their branches to reach the sunlight needed. They are adapting to challenges. The mycelium with its networks is not dying over a drastic environmental disaster this living element knows better. He has created allies and he knows how to find support.
Building up our Strength by Networking and Collaboration
The belief that all life on Earth is interconnected is for many cultures not just spiritual practices but it is an integral part of themselve. Our society tends to compartiment everything and put everything in boxes with labels; what we should do or be but the reality is that we are all breathing air, drinking water , eating food, we are relying on a collective deep down in ourselves and that connection makes us stronger and resilient. From the historic era, human, animals plants have demonstrated that the way to survive and sustain themselves is to unite their strength.
Joanna Macy, a renowned author, quote: “The world is not a problem to be solved; it is a living being to which we belong. The world is part of our own self and we are a part of its suffering wholeness. Until we go to the root of our image of separateness, there can be no healing. And the deepest part of our separateness from creation lies in our forgetfulness of its sacred nature, which is also our own sacred nature. — Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee”
See more at Joanna Macy, Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work that Reconnects
Bringing Happiness in your Life with Gratitude
Gratitude is by far the value that brings so much in our life and the life of others. Is the value that makes everyone around feel empowered? It’s also a way to show that we acknowledge and respect the work that has been done before us or things that exist. Gratitude will boost your happiness and your overall sense of well-being, according to one of many research on positivepsychology.com *It helps explain why Thanksgiving scores so high among American holidays.
That’s also why in many cultures offering ritual has part of their daily practice. Adopting a grateful attitude will also most likely attract good outcomes in your life. It goes into the philosophy of the law of attraction. “You reap what you sow”
Now I hope you enjoy reading about this and that you feel encouraged to think outside the box and see the positive side of what this era has to offer.
About the Author:
Leonie Brien – President of Whole Systems Network
Growing up in Cite Ecologique, a 35 year old ecovillage, she has learned and supported many successful ecologic, economic, social, and educational models that have made her community thrive. Her ecovillage has created [and currently supports] many eco-businesses and home to 130 people of all ages (100 people in Quebec and 30 people in New Hampshire).