Dear Ones,
Hi radical hearts. Citizens of troubled winters. What blistering storms!
Ours are Elderless times. Where is village-mindedness?
This AA program for humanity is intense.
I am detoxing so much, aren’t you? Learning and unlearning.
What is up with so many circulating winter infections? Infectious. Non-infectious. Circulating is the key word. Oh the vertigo.
SALT ON OUR LIPS
Parched. Desertification of the California seashore is a wild thing to experience. The seashore is a tonic. This shoregirl went from Caspian sea to Pacific sea. Crossed the shore East to West.
Call me an opacarophile- a lover of sunsets. Shore sunsets.
We were made for these times. We were made for these times because we were made for these times.
I feel for our beat-up immune systems. Little punching bags. Good thing our bodies are getting stronger by the minute. Lesson after lesson.
Spring is near. Seeds sprout. What succeeds depends on what we plant, water, and tend to. How cool is that?
May I recommend fresh lavender, lemon balm, epsom salt, and baking soda spiritual soaks in hot baths. To restore salt imbalance. For elemental detoxification.
PEACE DETECTOR
Attention is a temple.
To protect my attention, everything and everyone goes through a peace detector now. My peace detector is expert at evaluating ins/outs. At reading rooms for emotional tone. Razor-sharp life skills. It even comes equipped with a built-in bullsh*tometer.
PLANT MEDICINE has broad applications.
Lived experience is recommended. It helps when being with plants, tending to plants, studying plants, growing (with) plants, and ingesting plants. The interplay of human-plant interactions is incredible and accessible.
FIRES OF ATTENTION
What is your attention on these days anyway? Let me guess. Something in the digital world? Those brutal pixelations.
I’ll share what has my attention:
the study of food and mood. By food I mean all of our ins and outs (I’s and O’s digital or otherwise). Keep track of I’s and O’s using all sense organs: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind.
the mysterious healing powers of nature through our lived daily experience. Wood wide web has unique connecting properties.
the intersections of multi-tradition sage/monk/prophet philosophy, spiritual awareness, creativity, and living organism physiology.
the plight of Elderhood. Slowly absorbing the book Come of Age by elder Stephen Jenkinson.
SENSE ORGANS
Think of the human body as a very complex sense organ. The brain, too. Our 6 sense organs include eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. When all the senses work together in unison, it is powerful and mysterious.
No one’s experience is the same. Ever. Read that again.
We humans process sensory information based on our life experiences, brain-body interactions, and developmental patterns. Unique lived experiences instruct our brain-wiring patterns and body physiology.
***NESSA TIP*** BREATHING CALIBRATION
Lungs can act as grounding guideposts. Practice physiologic breath anytime you need an instant calming tool. In my experience, such tools are more effective when nondigital and/or nature-based.
Huberman demos physiological breathing here.
FERTILIZER PREP
Ahh amnesia and anesthesia. Departing comrads.
May we be better houseguests? Please don’t put your dogsh*t bag in my empty trash bin. It is always immediately after trash collection. Why disperse sh*t?
Is this the metaphor of the century or what?
It’s all moot now. This talk of sh*t. At this juncture, there is no differentiating your sh*t from mine. It is one big pile for us to compost. Separate but together.
We may drown in the act of labeling all the different types of sh*t. Any outcome is possible.
ON ELDERHOOD
We are in a sea of rapidly aging and fearful beings. Goddess help us all.
What does it mean to exist in a well society? Who even knows anymore. Everything is a blur. At this point, I turn to starting to process the pile of collective sh*t.
What does it even mean to be an elder?
Where did all the modern human grey wisdoms go?
Are these truly elder-free times or did we forget how to inspire elders (human/non-human) in our midst?
Can we explore the plight of elderhood with accountability, curiosity, and compassion?
Can we grow up and show up differently? Yoohoo elders…
***NESSA TIP*** TWO CIRCLES
Ask yourself the following: What is your circle of concern? What is your circle of influence? Is there even any overlap? When I was in the sick-care human hospital industry, the two circles did not align. May it be time for recalibration?
A poem by Pablo Neruda Keeping still
Now we will count to twelve / and let’s keep quiet. / For once on earth / let’s not talk in any language; / let’s stop for one second, / and not move our arms so much.
A moment like that would smell sweet, / no hurry, no engines, / all of us at the same time / in need of rest.
Fishermen in the cold sea / would stop harming whales / and the gatherer of salt / would look at his hurt hands.
Those who prepare green wars, / wars with gas, wars with fire, / victories with no survivors, / would put on clean clothes / and go for a walk with their brothers / out in the shade, doing nothing.
Just don’t confuse what I want / with total inaction; / it’s life and life only; / I’m not talking about death.
If we weren’t so single-minded / about keeping our lives moving / and could maybe do nothing for once / a huge silence might interrupt this sadness / of never understanding ourselves, / of threatening ourselves with death; / perhaps the earth could teach us; / everything would seem dead / and then be alive.
Now I will count up to twelve / and you keep quiet / and I will go.
IN SPANISH
A callarse
Ahora contaremos doce / y nos quedamos todos quietos. / Por una vez sobre la tierra / no hablemos en ningún idioma, / por un segundo detengámonos, / no movamos tanto los brazos.
Sería un minuto fragante, / sin prisa, sin locomotoras, / todos estaríamos juntos / en una inquietud instantánea.
Los pescadores del mar frío / no harían daño a las ballenas / y el trabajador de la sal / miraría sus manos rotas.
Los que preparan guerras verdes, / guerras de gas, guerras de fuego, / victorias sin sobrevivientes, / se pondrían un traje puro / y andarían con sus hermanos / por la sombra, sin hacer nada.
No se confunda lo que quiero / con la inacción definitiva: / la vida es sólo lo que se hace, / no quiero nada con la muerte.
Si no pudimos ser unánimes / moviendo tanto nuestras vidas, / tal vez no hacer nada una vez, / tal vez un gran silencio pueda / interrumpir esta tristeza, / este no entendernos jamás / y amenazarnos con la muerte, / tal vez la tierra nos enseñe / cuando todo parece muerto / y luego todo estaba vivo.
Ahora contaré hasta doce / y tú te callas y me voy.
Thank you for experiencing this labor of love with me. Sharing, commenting, liking, connecting, and subscribing = loving.
May All Beings Find Peace.
Click on calendar link here or reply to this email if you want to connect.
Nessa (born at 333 ppm)
SCARS OF MY HAPPINESS:
I felt like someone is speaking for me when I’m still moving too much in the sick care system
Thx my lovely fellow MD.
Thank you for these gifts today. Loved the Neruda poem and this is a new one for me
"an opacarophile- a lover of sunsets. Shore sunsets." I am more of an "aurophile" and both terms fit me just fine. We live in the interstices, between then and now, between now and then. And this moment the most precious. So glad you and Kert connected.