What is our responsibility to the thoughts we think? Let the plants tell us their feelings on the matter.

Plants have stories to tell. They are ancient orators, engaging and charismatic storytellers of a vast interconnected ecosystem, an infinite cycling of birth, abundance, decay, death, rebirth. On repeat throughout the ages. Within this cycle there is much to know and learn. We only have to slow down and listen deeply to receive the knowledge and wisdom they yearn to share. Their language simultaneously subtle and profound, and the power they wield heals the body, delights the senses, and elevates the mind.

They - flora - resolutely and productively contribute to the life cycle over and over again, expressions of consciousness and beauty we often take for granted. They remind us to recognize the movements and rhythms of the cycles of life - everything begins and ends, and begins again once more. A continuous loop that keeps life in flow- dynamic and wondrous. These cycles are an important process; vital for us to understand what it means to be alive. In slower times, when our attention was not so preoccupied with technology, we were enchanted by the cycles of the world around us, by nature and its multitudinous dimensionality. A slower pace of life allowed us time for noticing the world around us, and an unspoken and innately known and felt permission for reflection and appreciation of this beauty. Beyond their astounding beauty, plants are here to teach us lessons and invite us in to their enriching and fluid curriculum. We, of the 24/7 consumptive world, have become so utterly distracted from their wisdom - there they are, all around us, as they always have been, naturally partaking in their disciplined process and unwavering commitment to the cycle. We rarely stop to smell them, speak with them, know or understand them, or behold their essence of hope and optimism. There is hope, there is always hope. We only need to slow down long enough to notice, and then, by letting in the natural world, your world becomes more dynamic, more expanded, more alive.

THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS INSPIRE HEALTHY THINKING.

In the book The Secret Life of Plants written by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird published in 1973 and later made into a Documentary in 1978 (with a transcendent soundtrack by Stevie Wonder by the same name), we are shown through a series of experiments how deeply conscious and connected the plants are to their environment and to us humans. The experiments were able to isolate the plants responding to human beings in the same room and also at more remote distances. Our moods, our thoughts, and even our actions while in their presence made the plants either expand or contract. We share space with plants and it is our responsibility to act with awareness and take responsibility for the way in which we take up space, how we are present, including the thoughts we think and the emotions we feel. Just seeing these experiments on plants and how they respond to our innermost thoughts either positively or negatively makes us realize what our responsibility is when we have thoughts and feelings in the presence of our fellow human beings. What are the quality of those thoughts?

What is our responsibility to the thoughts we think?

Each day we must make a concerted effort to be a generator of healthy thinking and renewing thoughts. We can do this in a variety of ways - through exercise, which produces the neuropeptide endorphins known to help alleviate pain and reduce stress and deliver overall feelings of well-being. Breath work, which rebalances homeostasis calming racing and spiral-inducing thoughts helping to relieve anxiety, and meditation is another most effective way helping you to understand that thoughts come and go and to let them. This simple idea helps to calm an overactive mind and reduce stress.

OF MYTHIC PROPORTION.

Plants contain mythic content reaching far back and far forward into infinity, taking up residence in what Carl Jung has termed the collective unconscious, and bursting forth onto the scene of our consciousness, in an ever patient, ever reliable, ever giving presence. The tales spun around plants, are diverse, multi-cultural and global. They have provided healing medicinal benefits, meaning, and stories to humans throughout the ages.

Power is a responsibility, yet those who have it do not always use it responsibly or respectfully. If we learn anything from plants, let us value the peaceful manner in which they powerfully heal, help, nurture, nourish, renew and delight. Plants balance their powerful nature with their natural and effortless poetry. It is the poetry that helps us be powerful responsibly and to connect with our power in collaboration instead of in dominance in control.

Can you imagine a world without the natural world? Of course not! Let’s not take it for granted. Although flora and fauna may live relatively silent around us, they are vocal in their consistent, expansive, cyclical, and powerful way they care for us with their healing and therapeutic remedies, and their sheer presence.

I am asked often what I recommend to help us care better for planet earth. My answer is to spend more time in nature, and nurture an authentic relationship with the natural world. Take time to understand her and her ways. Not only being in nature but also reading about her mysterious and beautiful processes. Read the prose and poetry of the great ecologists, botanists, herbalists, poets and environmentalists. Their thoughts, musings, words are sure to engage you in the awe and beauty of the abundant gifts of nature. When you understand nature more you will inevitably seek out ways to protect her.

For a recommended bibliotherapy reading list to expand your experience and love of nature read more here.