Constant Gardener

Birds And Sirens

Patagonia. Nessa © 2017 Chile.

Dear Ones,

Hi lionhearts. How about those Southern Lights? Wild solar storms affect all living beings. Stars shine brighter in darkness. Humans come packaged with built-in lights. Our hearts know the way.

Thank you, readers, for being with the feelings behind these words. Your presence = your love. Thank you for being the you beyond the mind. Get out from under the trappings of outdated thoughts. I dare you.

Spring has been busier than desired. Modern humans agitate my peace. Vacant and coagulated boundary hoppers. I limit peopling. Redraw lines.

“Clearly, nature calls to something very deep in us. Biophilia, the love of nature and living things, is an essential part of the human condition. Hortophilia, the desire to interact with, manage and tend nature, is also deeply instilled in us.“-Dr. Oliver Sacks. Red bird and coffee beans. Nessa Rwanda © 2006.

BIRDS AND SIRENS

Yoohoo, departed souls. The modern world suffers from spiritual deprivation with a touch of moral injury and kindred sorrow. All I hear now are birds and sirens. Shore pelicans are dying of starvation. Cells deep in my marrow ache.

My hospital circus exit plans are unclear (72 days)! I renounce the tyranny of urgency. The tyranny of plans. How counterculture of me. You squirm at my showdown with uncertainty. At my discomfort zones. I squirm at your coagulated ways. At your grippings of normalization of harm.

When I am around humans, sometimes I feel like this character from The Elephant Man: “I am not an animal (or a machine). I am a human being.”

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." -Rumi. Nessa Uganda © 2006.

THERE IS NO PLANET B

In September 2022, Yvon Chouinard, the founder of the company Patagonia, made a historic decision. He donated his entire company valued at $3 billion to our beloved planet Earth. Earth is now their “only shareholder.” Standup human.

I just met the inspiring Kris Tomkins, an American conservationist who fiercely protects wild lands of Patagonia, South America. All I could say to her was: from the bottom of my heart, thank you for protecting the sacred. She said rewilding is intense. She said hope lies in action. I let that marinate.

There is no planet B, sapiens. Understand and unpack this sobering truth with me. Or don’t.

Golden sunrise of the temple of Torres del Paine, Patagonia W trek. Nessa © Chile 2017.

DEEP ECOLOGY OR ECOSOPHY (ECOLOGY + PHILOSOPHY my new favorite word). Deep ecology is an environmental philosophy founded by the late Arne Naess, a Norwegian (of course) philosopher and staunch Earth guardian.

• emphasizes the interconnectedness of all living things (laws of nature).

• calls for a shift of human consciousness from anthropocentric (aka destructive) to an ecocentric worldview.

• honors clear scientific connections between human well-being and ecosystem health.

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter. -Rachel Carson Nessa My garden refrains heal. May 2024.

HABIT ENERGY

My thoughts can sicken me. My body contains poison. My thoughts can heal me. My body contains medicine. There can be more than one conflicting truth at the same moment. How inconvenient. We come with innate self-healing wisdom.

• Does my inner world rule my outer world? Yes, steady awareness calms and changes my inner world. This calms and changes my outer world. Literally mind-blowing.

• Is self-sabotage a curable brain sickness? Yes, pay close attention to how you lead with self-sabotage habit energy. It is a disempowering, tyrannical, and conditioned wound. Self-mastery involves mindfulness, compassionate curiosity, and radical acceptance.

• Is ego taming and dissolution possible? Yes, I reprogrammed and stopped succumbing to raging bull ego tricks. I witness ego pathetically rule kingdoms.

***NESSA TIP*** For practice of present moment awareness, visual and felt sense anchors help. On an awe walk, tune into breath and heartbeat like a metronome during piano practice. I self-explore with nature, cooking, photography, movement etc etc for daily awareness maintenance.

ODE TO HANDS

For the past few weeks, I wake up with a new sensation of tender hands. I went from what now, body to what can I help you with now, body? I am at your service. My lush Spring garden is a result of my hand labor. Fruitful pain. Growing pain.

For more information, I observe behavior of both hands with zero judgment.

• I wonder how my day would be if I did not have hands (gratitude).

• I wonder how often my hands are clenched versus relaxed (attention).

Mere awareness of body language effortlessly improves tension. My grip loosens.

Snack Drop. Train hands to nourish body. Mind your consumption! Healthy spring garden stirfry and kiwi, lemon, lemonbalm, mint anti-inflammatory tea. Proud fava bean.

***NESSA TIP*** If you are experiencing pain or dis-ease in your body, make body-mind acquaintance with the specific body part that ails you. Offer compassionate attention to body tension. Only you know how to tune in to you. To self-explore. The way out is in. Stop changing the static-y channel in hopes of a quick external fix. Enough of the shenanigans.

May All Beings Find Peace.

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Nessa (born at 333 ppm)

WEEK IN PHOTOS. AKA SCARS OF MY HAPPINESS

Snail mail from substacker- Thanks to my new penpal/friend! Japanese garden in SF, airport bookstores, babies and books, For the Wild Love, BFF Winston reunions, Queen Iris makes her appearance, please just let me read.