Heart Reading … Day 19
Tuning up the body and the auto-body
How often does one go to the doctor and the mechanic on the same day? It was an interesting juxtaposition to get myself and my car a tuneup! One resulted in a prescription for an antihistamine and the other resulted in a new cabin air filter — which I didn’t even know my car had. Isn’t it interesting that we both needed attention to our breathing apparatus?
Yesterday I wrote about my brief midday pause I took to do some forest bathing. While sitting in the sunny path like a grasshopper I noticed this curious tree and have been thinking about it since. Today, while walking across mall parking lots to get my dog a few treats instead of waiting in the mechanics oh-so-not-lovely waiting room, I reminded myself to gaze at the trees (mostly locusts) instead of the pavement or the automobiles zipping around me. Doing this left me fortified and feeling as if I’d had conversations with dear friends.
These “pivot moments of choice” are everywhere in life — the options we have to affirm ourselves, our choices, our state of body-mind — if we can believe in our response-ability to navigate the many demands on our time. I believe we all have much more agency than we utilize or give ourselves credit for.
On the radio today I listened to a man talk about his efforts to decarcerate members of the community by helping them to post bail. He helps many people each week to reduce their time from months to weeks; and often the first thing they do is give thanks to the trees. It’s time for me to write my message on my auto-body (because writing, “stop cutting trees and breathe” on my physical body might not be the best tattoo choice!
If we could all tell each other about the big steps we are taking to tune up our planetary body (by consuming as little of everything that we can, and continuously challenging what that “need factor” looks like) we just might be able to give sufficient healing attention to the earth’s breathing apparatus.
This vision and hope is what is always on my heart.
