Showing posts with label unity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unity. Show all posts

Friday, October 2, 2020

What have we become?

 

Look Away

 

What have we become? How did this happen?

The discontent has  been brewing  for quite some time or maybe it began when Europe thought the solution to solving what was wrong in their country would be to send their condemned  criminals and misfits to live far, far away in the wilds of the new world.



What is happening is as old as time. As government takes over more and more, we become less involved and less invested with one another. We become separated. We see only the differences in one another. And we are afraid.

When we live in fear, we cannot be loving. We lose our perspective that we are all a part of the whole, that we are connected.

When we distrust  the man across the street who doesn’t drive, but rides the bus  --- when we become suspicious of the apartment dwellers across the tracks, and those who reside in the small little town huddled in the woods who keep to themselves   --- when we  compare those who live in the southern part of the state to the northerners, the east coast to the west coast ---  

We see only an endless list of  differences.




In nature, differences abound, but when united they create a rash and intrepid life force!  Every river contributes to the ocean’s mighty tides.  What happens when one tree joins together with the myriad of others and share their space? An eight hundred-billion-acre canopy of shelter and a cornucopia of nourishment is born for the various herds, nests, dens and packs of animals and species.

And what happens when we cease to experience and understand nature’s endless and herculean demonstrations of strength in unity?  We disgrace ourselves; we ignore her message and we look away. We find ourselves  focusing only on the  six inches of blue light of our phones, the seventy-two inches of our TV screen and the print on our Kindles which tell us what  we should want and what we shouldn’t do, what we should love and what we must fear. And because we see nothing else, we believe that is our reality.    

What happens? There is no imagination. No wonder. Nothing left to debate.

 


What remains? Only argument, accusations, denouncing, and denial.  And we are left to believe our safety, our security and our faith are in the hands of only  two blatant and embarrassing examples of our humanity,  vying for control of what is the largest and most powerful economy on the globe.

When we lose our focus, only fear remains which takes of down the path of anger, distrust, and depression. None of those whom we have looked to have restored our confidence or our faith, nor have they have acted as leaders.   None have built trust or hope. The world only saw two fighting dogs in a small ring behind the barn.

When we believe only two can make us strong, when we believe billions of dollars will unite us and create a safe and secure future, we have forgotten or never known that the only  real and lasting power is in unity. Billions of energies coming together.   

It is time to look away, to learn  from the raindrops which formed the endless seas, to learn from the plush and bountiful forests which give, you and me, and all earthly creatures, the air that we  breathe, the food for our families, and shelter from the storms.

 We only need to look away from   our screens – look away from the fake chaos paid and produced to steal our attention from the non-profitable but peaceful and caring reality that still exits -- if only we look away.





 We  need to be accountable for  only our small part in this world’s big picture. Be the raindrop, be the tree. Reach out. Become a part of the whole, like the raindrop is to the ocean, and like the tree is the forest.  And then we can become as the universe is mighty.

What happens  if  you and I  face our obligation to the whole?  What remains when we walk across the proverbial street and shake the hand of a stranger?

 All of us, not just two, but  all of us, and the strangers whom we have not yet met, become a unit of strength mightier than all of the oceans and more nourishing than all of the forests.

United we become like the Almighty.




 Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.





Oh, and don’t forget!! Readers’ reviews  keep writers motivated.

USEFUL LINKS 

Other books by Judy Howard: JUDY’S AMAZON  AUTHOR  PAGE


Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.






Safe travels!



 

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

An Hour? A Mile? What's The Difference?








I find a place like this when  I feel like a misfit. When I doubt who I am and where I am going, I
come here. Not specifically the Shawnee National Forest, but an environment  like this.
I seek out a safe place where there  is no judgement.

 This is the energy of just being.
 Can you feel it?  

                                                                                



Notice how the trees unite as a forest and the minnows swimming in the lake come together as schools, while the birds, with their swooping gracefulness, form flocks that shadow the sky. Each group exists, committed100% to just being what they are.


Unity

The bird does not expect the tree to fly and minnow has no desire to reach it fins up to the sky. Instead, because of just "being," the results of their unison have created a magical  union of beauty, shelter, song and sustenance for one another Did this happen in an hour or within a mile?



What do you see when you look out your window? 

  Unplug. Give yourself back to your beginnings, like the trees,  the waters,  and fowl have done.  
  Go back to a time when you were just striving to be a child, learning to walk, to explore and you enjoyed the wide world that surrounded you.  There were no words in your vocabulary like shouldn’t, couldn’t or wouldn’t.  Lke this scene in all its glory, you were just a beautiful, one-of-a-kind being, curious and accepting of all that the world offered.


What good does it do, you ask?

 Sometimes it is good to remember where we have come from.  
We were once like the saplings in the forest, small and vulnerable, struggling to  become what they are meant to be.   If we slow down, we will notice that the saplings grow taller, wider and better. They strive to reach their purpose, stretching and swaying in the winds, just  as we must learn to do during our strife.

Through the harsh winter the forest donates its leaves to shelter the less hardy vegetation lying at its roots.  With total faith, the trees bare themselves, offering their abundance in a fanfare of rainbow colors, unaware of the lesser plants’ promise to return favor with the kindness of nourishment which the trees will need in spring. 
 Unity.






 The Mississippi River, at its’ widest it is eleven miles wide. Its waters flow over 2300 miles, through 31 states while hundreds of tributaries, including the Ohio and Missouri rivers contribute to the Mississippi’s mightiness.



 Unity. 

Does this historic ever flowing entity with its millions of raindrops realize what its future involves? Does it  understand its potential?  I don’t think so. I believe the river has become supreme because of her unquestioning faith and belief in  its process as each raindrop, each tributary and river contributes to her being --- one hour , one mile and one state at a time. 

Unity.



And yet I walked across this mighty body of water which rages so strongly at times, that its massive power wipes  out cities and towns in its wake.

How is that possible? 

  I went back to the river's beginnings at Lake Itasca, Minnesota.  Here she  is shallow and only twenty feet wide. We all have humble beginnings.



In my journey I want to strive to become like the forests and the mountains and  the Mighty Mississippi. I want to believe and trust that during  this one hour and this one mile  that all the people I encounter and the  places  which offer their  influence --- all a part of  a  beautiful, inspirational picture that is more wonderous than  I can imagine.

One hour? 
One mile? 

Use your time and journey to their fullest!!  

Magic will happen!




Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.





Oh, and don’t forget!! Readers’ reviews  keep writers motivated.

USEFUL LINKS 

Other books by Judy Howard: JUDY’S AMAZON  AUTHOR  PAGE


Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.






Safe travels!