Everyday Is Earth Day ~ Feel the Earth, Feel the Gratitude

Our earth is a spectacular gift … a miracle … a source of constant amazement to me. When I stop to think about its riches and abundant beauty it boggles my mind. Particularly those of us who live on the western hemisphere have so much to be grateful for, far exceeding the wildest imaginations of those sequestered by circumstance to other parts of the world. I need only watch the news one evening to be reminded of the abundance that is ours for the taking. Not only have we been blessed to be at home in a country that affords us some distance from the destruction of war, but the freedom to enjoy what we have. With all freedom comes responsibility. The more freedom we have, the more responsibility we bear for tending to and protecting what is sacred … and the earth is sacred. The earth provides for our very existence.

I whisper a prayer of gratitude in my heart whenever I see, sense or touch a thing of beauty … a reminder to maintain some semblance of humility for the gifts I have been given. Gratitude is a reminder that our ego will never provide for us, or care for us in the way that we think it can. Our mental gymnastics and machinations will not do it for us either. Rather, it is humbling ourselves so that we can surrender to and rest in all that stands outside of reason, logic and ego, and outside of the cultural norm.  This alone keeps us grounded in the awareness that we are a part, not only of the earth itself, but of the universe. What is in one is in all. What is in all is in one.

 

EARTH DAY QUOTES:

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”
― Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder

“Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.”
– Ancient Indian Proverb

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” Thich Nhat Hanh

I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

“The earth has music for those who listen.”
― George Santayana

[tweetthis]]”In the spring at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” Margaret Attwood #quote[/tweetthis]

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”
― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want.”
― Andy Warhol