Greetings, dear Sunny Optimist buddies,
Yesterday a reader told me that when The Sunny Optimist arrives, she likes to get a cup of tea and sit down with it in the garden. She said it is easy reading and helps her feel good about her life. Mmmmmm, I so appreciated this encouragement. Each Friday is such a delight as I settle into my happy little writing bubble.
So on this fine spring day with the sun beaming brightly, I imagine you sitting in a quiet space with a cuppa in your hand, celebrating the gift of being alive on our beautiful planet.
Thank you for being with me.
Celebration Earth Day
Today is Earth Day 2022!
Below are the Earth Day website words that are wonderfully inclusive, evocative, and powerful. May these words resonate within each of us and encourage us to step forward to make a difference in our unique way.
This is the moment to change it all — the business climate, the political climate, and how we take action on climate. Now is the time for the unstoppable courage to preserve and protect our health, our families, and our livelihoods.For Earth Day 2022, we need to act (boldly), innovate (broadly), and implement (equitably). It’s going to take all of us. All in. Businesses, governments, and citizens — everyone accounted for, and everyone accountable. A partnership for the planet.
For my small part, I have recently been attending The Great Turning programme being hosted by the Findhorn Foundation. Last week the guest presenter was social visionary Duane Elgin. In his most recent book called Choosing Earth, he sets out powerfully the challenges facing us at this time. It is not an easy read. Nevertheless, Duane presents with such insight, clarity, and incisiveness on the profound crisis in this time of the Earth’s history.
And he calls for us not to be paralysed by the enormity of what faces us but rather to follow what he calls our ‘aliveness’. Our aliveness is that primordial calling of our Soul that fuels our passions, dreams, goals, and intentions. This feels like an important message for us. Following our aliveness will guide us to actions and activities that enable us to each play our part.
In Praise of Earth
I wondered what would open our hearts to celebrating the Earth today, and I remember one of my favourite poems. It is called 'In Praise of Earth' by John O'Donohue.
This poem is a most beautiful and evocative appreciation of the evolutionary creation story. It weaves together the miracles of life that arise from the seeds of all potential. John's words open our hearts to the colours and nuances of our aliveness. It asks for the Earth's forgiveness for the harm we do. Then John calls us into a deeper relationship and responsibility for our legacy and lineage with Earth. I just love his word. I feel my heart opening to a sense of trust that we can come back from the edge of extinction that faces us.
Below is my recording of the poem for you. I invite you to listen in a meditative space along with your cup of tea. I hope John's words and imagery enliven your optimism today. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in praise and celebration of Mother Earth.
Click here or on the photo to listen to the recording
In Praise of the Earth
by John O’Donohue
Let us bless
The imagination of the Earth,
That knew early the patience
To harness the mind of time,
Waited for the seas to warm,
Ready to welcome the emergence
Of things dreaming of voyaging
Among the stillness of land.
And how light knew to nurse
The growth until the face of the Earth
Brightened beneath a vision of color.
When the ages of ice came
And sealed the Earth inside
An endless coma of cold,
The heart of the Earth held hope,
Storing fragments of memory,
Ready for the return of the sun.
Let us thank the Earth
That offers ground for home
And holds our feet firm
To walk in space open
To infinite galaxies.
Let us salute the silence
And certainty of mountains:
Their sublime stillness,
Their dream-filled hearts.
The wonder of a garden
Trusting the first warmth of spring
Until its black infinity of cells
Becomes charged with dream;
Then the silent, slow nurture
Of the seed’s self, coaxing it
To trust the act of death.
The humility of the Earth
That transfigures all
That has fallen
Of outlived growth.
The kindness of the Earth,
Opening to receive
Our worn forms
Into the final stillness.
Let us ask forgiveness of the Earth
For all our sins against her:
For our violence and poisonings
Of her beauty.
Let us remember within us
The ancient clay,
Holding the memory of seasons,
The passion of the wind,
The fluency of water,
The warmth of fire,
The quiver-touch of the sun
And shadowed sureness of the moon.
That we may awaken,
To live to the full
The dream of the Earth
Who chose us to emerge
And incarnate its hidden night
In mind, spirit, and light.
Your love of family, friends and Mother Earth radiates throughout this post. Happy Birthday to your beautiful daughter. Blessings to Mother Earth may she guide us to continue to awaken, to dare to dream and image a home where we are all conscious of our and her mind, spirit, and light. Thank you for the poetry reading. Your voice to the poem was my first unexpected pleasure to my day. Cheers!
A beautiful video. I’ve been reading some of John O Donohue’s poems in his book. They’re absolutely amazing. Often covering difficult topics but the more I read certainly the more I admire
Earth is an amazing planet. Could any placer in the universe be so beautiful. I doubt it. If ever there was a place in the cosmos that could be most described as heaven it must be our world. And the tragedy is human beings haven’t always looked after it. I think if only we could all start again with our planet. Like a new page in a book with the appreciation most have now. Like at the end of HG Wells’s incredibly moving short story “ A vision of judgment. “. Even in little pockets of nature what wonders there can be. And as I walked through the local park yesterday taking photographs of the blossom I felt I was with the very heart of Spring. Sending heartfelt best wishes Richard x