Are You Connected to the Environment?

When you wake up in the morning, do you feel the softness of the sheets against your skin and think of the cotton that was grown to provide you with the covering? Do you feel the warmth of the quilt or bedspread, and appreciate the wool or down that went into that cobija? Are you paying attention to the birds chirping outside your window, appreciate where the coffee was grown, and marveling at the wondrous nature the weather (other than to complain about the rain)? Do you turn your face up to the sunshine and bless the rays? Does the wind excite and motivate you, do you smell the freshness of the outdoors, or – if not so fresh – wonder about what we’re putting into the air passages that surround us? When was the last time you walked barefoot across Mother Earth? Can you remember appreciating a plant – a bud or a leaf – just for doing what it does naturally? Are you cognizant that we are dependent on trees all over the planet for the very oxygen we breathe? It’s these little moments that most of us – including me! – miss the opportunity to appreciate every day. Instead of taking the time to “smell the flowers” we rush around our days, taking for granted that we can fill up our gas tanks (or jump on public transportation). We assume we “should” be able to access a wide array of fresh fruits and vegetables. We purchase our textiles and paper products with an eye for price and comfort, as opposed to ease toward the earth… I urge you to re-connect with the items in your environment that truly connect you to the planet. Each and every day, we are graced with the bounty that surrounds us. We have SO MUCH to be grateful for; the earth gives seemingly without end… It’s up to us to appreciate, to pay attention, and to give back. There’s a great quote in the book The Color Purple by Alice Walker in which one of the characters notes that God must be angry at us if we pass a purple flower without stopping to appreciate it. Let’s stop and appreciate all the amazing “purple flowers” that surround us every day, whether they be the food we eat, the bushes blooming, or the raindrops. Whatever it is, it all somehow came from the earth – isn’t that reason enough to be amazed and connected?