We are walking ecosystems with more non-human than human cells in and on the body we call self. Interbeing is not a concept, it describes the relational matrix of health in which we take our being and live our lives while co-creating the very process we emerged from.
~Daniel Christian Wahl
Big Kaverzinsky Falls, North Caucasus – photo by apogee_krd, bigstockphoto.com
In the human spirit, as in the universe, nothing is higher or lower; everything has equal rights to a common center which manifests its hidden existence precisely through this harmonic relationship between every part and itself.
~ Goethe
Yosemite National Park – photo by Pung Pung, bigstockphoto.com
What other species now require of us is our attention. Otherwise, we are entering a narrative of disappearing intelligences.
~ Terry Tempest Williams
Wood Stork, Everglades National Park – photo by photogallet1976,bigstockphoto.com
All around us, life bursts forth with miracles—a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere…
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Sunset, Iceland – photo by Ragnhildur Jonsdottir
…every act we make, every word we speak, every thought we think is not only affected by the other elements in the vast web of being in which all things take part, but also has results so far-reaching that we cannot see or imagine them.
~ Joanna Macy
Yulong River. Guilin, China – photo by Jason YU, bigstockphoto.com
Your family is all of humanity, all the animals, all beings on earth. Include them all in your heart. Live with gratitude. What the times ask is a change of consciousness—a shift from the fearful, separate consciousness, the consciousness of us versus them, to the consciousness of connection and interdependence.
~ Jack Kornfield
Full Moon, Wilderness, and A Wolf – photo by Virrage Images, bigstockphoto.com
Grateful eyes look at each thing as if they had never seen it before and caress it as if they would never see it again.
~ Br. David Steindl-Rast
El Capitan, Yosemite Valley – photo by jeffbanke, bigstockphoto.com
May the stars carry your sadness away,
May the flowers fill your heart with beauty,
May hope forever wipe away your tears,
And, above all, may silence make you strong.
~ Chief Dan George
Monument Valley, Navajo Nation, AZ – photo by tobkatrina, bigstockphoto.com
When our mind is not partnering with our heart, it often favors our ego’s choices in decisions, more than supporting the highest outcome for all concerned.
~ Doc Childre
Lotus – photo by Ange DiBennedetto
We are all connected with the deep ecology of the universe and each of us has the ability to extend our consciousness far beyond the range of our physical senses.
~ Duane Elgin
Tree and Starry Night – photo by Narathip, bigstockphoto.com
You may consider yourself an individual but, as a cell biologist, I can tell you that you are in truth a cooperative community of approximately fifty trillion single-celled citizens.
~ Bruce Lipton
Stars – Hubble – photo by NASA
For some of us, the change of seasons from summer to fall means watching the beauty of green leaves on the trees disappear as the leaves change color and eventually fall to the ground. Even with the captivating beauty of Fall colors, there can be a sense of losing something precious as the green disappears. Some of us have found that the shift from lush leaves of summer to bare branches and trunks of trees offers an often unexpected opportunity to see the unique shapes of trees. We discover that there are no two trees exactly alike and that under all those leaves branches and trunks were “dancing”, creating previously hidden and intricate patterns.
This practice invites us to discover the beauty in what is around us, even when we may feel that the beauty we love is being lost. For this practice, offer yourself an opportunity to seek out what fills you up in a way that nourishes your eyes, your heart, your soul. This might be a visual discovery, maybe a building you had never noticed before that you somehow see in a new way, perhaps being drawn to the artistry of the architect. Maybe it is the sound of something that you haven’t paid attention to until now. Many people have felt the experience of discovering the silence that comes after a snowfall–the “sound” of silence.
Whatever it is, orient your awareness to discovering beauty in some of the everyday things you encounter all the time. Look for something new, something previously unrecognized. Discover or enhance your experience of the fact that our intention to find beauty orients our perceptions and awareness to do just that.
Here’s an audio version of the written information below, if you prefer to listen to it.
All living things are individual instruments through which the Mind of the Universe thinks, speaks and acts. We are all interrelated in a common accord, a common purpose, and a common good. We are members of a vast cosmic orchestra, in which each living instrument is essential to the complementary and harmonious playing of the whole.
~ J. Allen Boone
Snow Monkeys, Onsen Hot Springs, Nagano, Japan – photo by BlueOrange Studio, bigstockphoto.com
When we think in terms of relationships, we realise that we need to develop good relationships with the other persons in our ecosystem—prosperous, mutually beneficial relationships. A relational worldview makes us aware of our own interconnected and interdependent relationship with the world around us. So, even if we don’t believe that the tree in our garden is a person, or the river in our village, or the sky above our heads, we can still behave as if they are—our actions can be informed by a relational ecocentric perspective, rather than a purely anthropocentric one.
~Jack Hunter
Trees and Waterfall, Yosemite National Park – photo by alpenart, bigtockphoto.com
To perceive the soul of the Earth requires a sense of what Taoists call the way of life, the fact that everything in our world is in relationship to everything else, that nothing is itself without everything else, and that anything that seems to be a distinct thing is actually an element or strand in a larger pattern.
~ Geneen Marie Haugen
Snowy Yosemite – photo by Andy777, bigstockphoto.com .
