Healing for the Earth, Day 11: Everyone is a Hero for Going Through This, Have Compassion

Hello dear fellow Earthlings,

Wow, so many emotions coming out now. Do you feel that? It's an Earthling thing.

Every little word feels likes it's charged with so much emotion. The world is a bundle of emotions right now. We are ALL processing so much.

I'm grateful for each and every one of you. ALL of you are heroes just for going through this. From the doctors and nurses who are on the front lines, to the people all alone in quarantine with no family around, to the person who has a loved one in the hospital, to the person who has just lost their job or home, to the people who are sick and struggling for their lives.


ALL OF US ARE IN THIS TOGETHER.

If you are feeling lots of emotions today or feeling alone, this little video I made today may help:

You might think only a few people are affected by this. I don't believe that. We are all affected in one way or another by what's going on. Life will never be the same after this.

Today, I was feeling rather emotional. I've been pretty grounded, but I got caught up in a swirl of emotion. It was a feeling of unsettledness. I envied people in quarantine with their lover or their family. How lucky you are to have your lover or family with you. How lucky! Hold them close.

I'm out here without my boyfriend and who knows how long I'll be out here without him. It's not easy to be alone when things are so uncertain. That's also the heroes journey. We come into this world alone and we die alone. If you can learn to be alone in the midst of all of this, you are my hero and I SEE you!

Actually, each one of us is on the hero's path for just being alive on the EARTH! It is not easy to be a human being. We go through sooo much in one lifetime. There are deaths and divorces and losses and pain and disease and uncertainty and natural disasters and war and...the list goes on. Every one of us has been touched by some kind of trauma. Every single one of us.

So if you think one person's got it easy and another's got it hard, think again! You are looking from the outside at a person. You are NOT that person and you have no idea what they are going through.

So have some COMPASSION for each and every Earthling. Especially NOW when we are all going through this.

Today I realized that I had to just GET OUTSIDE again. It's what grounds me and brings me back into connection with the planet and what it means to be here and connected to all things.

The streets out here where I live were deserted. It was like a ghost town. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere came a car driving at 40 miles an hour down the residential street I had just turned down. She was driving so close to my bumper that I thought she might hit me. Her face looked angry. I thought about pulling over, but I was almost to one of two parking spots in front of the beach, so I just kept driving and rolled into a spot. She took the other spot and got out of her car and gave me a death glare. If looks could kill I'd be dead.

I stayed in my car as she got out. I watched her walk with a bit of a limp. It seemed like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. At first I felt angry that she had spewed her anger out on a stranger. What was wrong with her? I came to the beach to be in peace and I felt upset.

As I walked down the beach,  one of the few places we are still allowed to walk, I was able to release some of that anger. I had no idea what this woman was carrying. What if her husband had the Coronavirus? What if she was alone and couldn't take it anymore (I could relate to that somewhat)? What if she had just had a fight? What if she had just found out she lost her job? What if she didn't know how she was going to make ends meet?

Suddenly I began to feel compassion. I began to forgive myself too for being upset. I let it all wash off me. I let the waves come and take those emotions and thoughts out to sea. I then filled that empty space with compassion for myself first and then for this woman.

It was a stormy day on the beach. It was dark and cloudy and cold and a bit ominous. There was a thickness in the air. It was hard to see far out in the distance, like driving through a fog. It's that feeling of not seeing where you're going but trusting you'll eventually get there, wherever there is.

It was starting to get darker and I looked out across the water and could see the light house at the end of Dungeness Spit. The Spit is closed to the public, but the light at the end was still blinking. I stared at it through the dark clouds and at that one little spot of light and it brought me hope.

Wherever there is darkness, there is also light. Have compassion for each person out there. You have no idea about what they are going through. Have compassion for yourself  for all the emotions you may be feeling. We WILL get through this and be stronger for it. You are all heroes just for going through this.

Much love,
Katherine

Healing for the Earth, Day 10: Feeling Grateful

Hellooooooo out there fellow Earthlings!

How y'all doing on this big blue marble of ours? Let's keep it BLUE!

This is DAY 10. I'm a third of the way done, but this Healing for the Earth business is really helping me tune into the vibration of love and........

GRATITUDE!

Today I woke up late at like 11AM and ate mint Milanos for breakfast. Hey, I'm not perfect! There's no one checking in on me, so why not?

But then I thought, geez, it's gorgeous outside. I just want to get OUTSIDE.

Humans, like plants, can wither without enough natural sunlight, fresh air and clean water. Luckily there's lots of space out here and I was able to walk to the beach without bumping into hardly anyone.

On my walk, I talked to my mom on the phone who was in the process of creating face masks from her old bras, I kid you not. She needed to go to the doctor for a check up and didn't have a mask. We've gotta do what we've gotta do in times like these.

When I hung up with her, I smiled. I love my family. They are funny, nuts, generous and kind. They are probably like any family. You can't live with them, but you can't live without them either. Anyway, I'm grateful to have all of them in my life.

And I then thought about my lovely partner Scott. Wow, what a blessing to have such a sweet, kind, insightful, spiritual, FUNNY, loving man in my life. Blessed beyond words.

Then I started thinking about all my friends. Wow, so many friends that make me laugh or friends who have helped me in a time of need or friends who have encouraged me. I began to recall memories of many friends as I briskly walked to the beach in the sun.

Then I started to think about the sun, cherry blossoms, my comfortable shoes, the fact that I CAN WALK. So much gratitude. Have I taken it all for granted?

On the beach, I found that the medicine wheel Scott and I made three days ago was still there untouched. I stood in front of it with my shadow in the middle.

 As I stood there listening to the waves on the shore, an eagle flew over my head and landed in the pine tree behind me and began to sing. "I hear you!" I said to it. GRATITUDE for the eagle who came to visit too! Here's that eagle SINGING!

And then I walked back in the sunshine to the lovely home that my family is so graciously letting me stay at while they are in Arizona and I felt enormous gratitude.

And then I opened the fridge to find that it was full of food. FULL of FOOD. There is plenty to choose from. I have a choice. I can CHOOSE!

And then I had a 1 hour training to be a faculty tech support person at my college. It's a new job for me and I'll also be teaching. I don't consider myself a techie, but I'm willing to learn more. I have a job. I will have enough money.

Food √
Shelter √
Water √

Immense gratitude for having those three things covered. The rest is icing on the cake. Yes, things have changed. It's not like it used to be and everything is uncertain. But the truth is:

IT'S ALWAYS BEEN UNCERTAIN!

We think we have it all figured out and we know what will happen, but we don't. We have no idea what will happen in any given moment and these strange times are proof of that.

When I operate from a place of gratitude, I realize I have everything I need (more than I need in fact) in this moment and it helps me to then reach out and help others. I'm excited that I get to support my college in an area of need. I feel grateful for the opportunity to help. I am also grateful for the opportunity to do 30 days of healing for the Earth on this blog. It's connected me deeply to the Earth and so many like-minded people. It's been a powerful experience. And WOW am I ever grateful to MOTHER EARTH! Where would we be without her?

 Stay tuned for many guest speakers here. I'm not the only one who has something to share.

What are you grateful for?

Healing for the Earth Day 9, Every Word You Say Creates. What Are You Creating?

Dear Earthlings,

How you all doing out there on the big blue marble? It's still spinning isn't it?  And it's beautiful!

It's Day 9 of Healing for the Earth. I ended my evening tonight with a meditation in silence with 8 people on Zoom and then a drumming session with my amazing Hawaiian healer friend Kau'i Auwae and her son Elijah. Kau'i played the deer drum, I played the elk drum and Elijah played the singing bowl. We played online for about an hour.

We didn't use words, we used instruments to speak for us. Instruments carry a vibration, just as words do. The vibration of music or chanting is so powerful. It can lift the spirit. That's what we were doing tonight. We were lifting the Spirit.

There are so many words flying around these days. Not all of them carry a high vibration. Many of the collective words these days carry a low tone or low vibration. There is an atmosphere of fear and fear for the whole is not helpful and can be very destructive to a person and the world. Fear has its place, but unless you are running from wolves in this very moment, it's not helpful.

Today, after our drumming session, Kau'i drew a card from her Hawaiian card deck and shared it with me. Here's what it said in both Hawaiian and English:

Aia i ka 'olelo no ke ola,
Aia i ka 'olelo no ka make.

In the word there is life,
In the word there is death.

And here is the message from the card deck:

"This is an ancient Hawaiian saying. It encompasses the understanding that we are powerful creators. As spirit beings living here in the material plane, we bring the creative energy of Spirit to life in the linear world. And we do that through words.

Every word you say, everything you think—creates. The thoughts you hold inside, and the words you put out, are life giving or death dealing.There's no in between. All your words either feed the pono and create a life of connection, or they feed the pilikia and create disconnection from Spirit."

So with all that's swirling around out there in the world, what are you choosing to collectively create? Love or Fear?

With each word, feel how it vibrates in your body. When you speak, do you feel anxious, nervous, judgmental or scared? How can you tune into the vibration of love?

Today, connecting to my body and spirit helped me tune into the vibration of love. I have been staying away from the news. I'm aware of it, but I can feel that it has the tone of fear. I'm consciously choosing to tune into a different vibration.

Every word creates. What your read, what you think, what you hear. It creates. What are you choosing to tune into? What are you choosing to create?

Mahalo Kau'i and Elijah for your gifts today. They are very precious, just like both of you!

Healing for The Earth, Day 8: An Offering of Healing for the Earth and All Beings

Hello fellow Earthlings,

How are you all doing out there??

Have you been able to take any moments to connect inward today?

Out here, the land speaks to me. It called me and my boyfriend Scott to the shores of Jamestown Beach where we made a medicine wheel in the sand out of shells, crabs, pine branches, sticks, seaweed, and other items that we found on the beach. We worked in silence creating this wheel. It was an offering of healing for the planet. It was an offering of healing for all beings.

We both took out our elk drums and began to play. Immediately I felt a Native American presence. We drummed for peace and healing. An eagle flew overhead and a passerby stopped to listen to us. He asked to record us and take pictures for his daughter. He told us that she would find peace in knowing that we were doing this.

To me, it felt natural. The Earth and the people on the planet are ailing. What happens to one of us happens to all of us.

We are all doing our best out there. Some are working on the front lines and some are grounding and holding space and offering peace. There are people praying, chanting, drumming, meditating, playing gongs, and making offerings for healing all over the planet. You can't see them all, but they are out there. Maybe you are one of them. There are thousands of them. It may seem that one person can't make a difference. It may seem that one offering of peace and healing can't help, but it is so far from the truth.

We can come together in fear or we can come together in love and offer blessings to ourselves, all beings, the Earth and even the Universe and beyond. This is medicine for the planet. It is also medicine for the people.

One pebble dropped in the lake creates hundreds of rings that spread out beyond what we can even see. No offering of goodwill goes to waste.

Thank you, each one of you, for your offerings, whatever they may be. Thank you for being here in goodwill. Thank you for choosing love over fear.

Healing for the Earth, Day Seven: Love Yourself

How are you all doing fellow Earthlings?

Are you a bit overwhelmed yet? I'm a little teched out, to be honest. I'm helping my college with tech support as things move online and it's a rather big job, but I'm still finding time to get a walk in each day, breathe, and show up here.

Today's post is about loving yourself. My boyfriend gave me the desk calendar by Jen Sincero called YOU ARE A BADASS for Christmas.

Are you familiar with any of her books? They are hilarious and enlightening at the same time. I like things that are both hilarious and enlightening.

For today, on my YOU ARE A BADASS desk calendar, the message is:

"Love yourself. Like you are the only one there is."

How appropriate because after being alone out here I was starting to believe there was no one else out there until my boyfriend showed up to save me from crossing over the line and believing everyone else had disappeared.

But back to that message. It sounds cheesy, I know, but loving yourself is so important. I've felt bombarded with all the Facebook messages of what's been going on and what's okay and not okay and where is the line and who is enforcing it.

Yes, it's important to take measures and social distance, but I'm announcing it right here, I AM GOING TO GO OUTSIDE and I AM GOING TO HUG (etc.) MY BOYFRIEND and it's okay.
I'm also going to LOVE MYSELF and know that it's okay.

And you get to make your own decisions on what you are going to do in these very different times. I can't tell you what to do, I can only follow what intuitively feels right to me.

Fortunately, out here in Sequim, there are less people and I'm able to practice social distancing without too much difficulty, but I will be quite honest! It felt good to give my boyfriend a hug and go on little bike ride around the neighborhood before I had to get on a Zoom call and offer tech support to my colleagues.

Today I'm going to treat myself to some relaxation after a long day. Maybe a little Netflix even or a bath.

What are you doing to LOVE YOURSELF?

Here's a little video I made on loving yourself. Enjoy.

Peace + Love + Light,
Katherine

Healing for the Earth, Day 6: Go Outside

Hello fellow Earthlings,

How are you doing today? Today marks 6 days of writing here everyday. That's almost a week. I still wonder how I did TWO full years of writing a blog post every single day. Whoa! Sometimes I feel like abandoning this plan to write for a month. It's hard to keep going sometimes. I don't always feel wonderful. Sometimes I also feel lonely, sad, overwhelmed. lazy, worthless, etc. But when I get outside, I am able to release many heavy things that I'm feeling. Here's a little video for all y'all about my time outside and some messages for you too!

Today, at around 2pm, I really felt like I needed to JUST GET OUTSIDE and everything would change. When I'm outside, I feel this expansiveness that seems to give space to all these emotions that I'm feeling. The fresh air, sun, smell of pine, butterflies, bees, waves, sand between my toes, etc. really helps. All of these things in nature nurture me so much. They give me a place to rest the restlessness and unease that I sometimes feel. If I can just get myself outside, I feel better.

Today, while walking down to the beach, I saw many families and couples. Lots of couples were holding hands, so happy to be together in the sun. During this time on social distancing, I really miss physical touch. I REALLY miss my boyfriend out here, but he hasn't been able to come out all week and possibly not this coming weekend either because he's working a lot, which is good.

Being in community is so important. Man (or woman) is not an island. It's important for us Earthlings to be in community and help each other. We are all in this together, yet it's easy to feel lonely. I felt that today. I felt like I could really use some social interaction that did not involve a computer or a phone. Do you know what I mean???

Being outside felt as close as I could get to really feeling connected. If I couldn't connect with friends, family or my boyfriend, at least I could connect with nature and celebrate the other people down on the beach with their loved ones enjoying!

After walking down the beach a bit, I found a place to hunker down in the sand between logs near the bird sanctuary. I actually took off my boots and socks and felt the sand between my toes. I lay down with my head on a log and let the sun beat down on my face bringing me back to days when I use to sunbathe in Florida with friends. I love that feeling. I could have stayed on the beach today forever, it felt so good, but I put my boots back on and made my way down the beach a bit further before turning around.

The sun was high and children were running around chasing waves in their bare feet, screaming with excitement. Lovers kissed on beach blankets. It was hard to believe we were in a crisis. It was hard to believe that our world is going through something big right now because people seemed happy and joyful for the moment.

On the way back home, I drove along the beach and saw an eagle high up in a pine tree. All the cherry blossoms are out. It's definitely spring. I'm glad I went outside today.

Healing for the Earth, Day 5: Creature Comforts and Whatever You Need to Get You Through the Day!

Hello fellow Earthlings,

It's strange out there, isn't it? What an interesting time to be an Earthling. Today's little video is about saying OKAY to creature comforts and whatever gets you through the day! Yay!

Today was a day of paperwork and getting things done, so I didn't get a chance to be out in nature much, except to see the last rays of sunlight as I drove to Safeway to pick up provisions. You can be sure that the entire aisle of toilet paper was empty and there was no hand sanitizer in sight. In fact, there were signs up limiting these items to two per person. Earthlings are so interesting, aren't we? Not a single animal uses these things. We wear clothes, use hand sanitizer and toilet paper and drive cars and go to store houses that hold all of our food. This is what we do, many of us. While I was looking for Epsom salt, an announcement came on at the store that said, "Be sure to get your flu shot because you never know if it will be wild or mild out there." I swear that's what it said.

Today I decided, after feeling anxious about work and my future housing situation, that I was going to give myself some comfort and it is OKAY! I stocked up on snacks, which included a little chocolate. I put on my favorite cozy socks which have stars and moons on them. I turned on the gas fireplace for a bit to warm up. I took a long shower and washed my hair. I gave myself comfort today because it's what my body and spirit wanted. I will probably curl up in the bedroom and watch Netflix. I haven't watched anything in a long time, but today I'm cutting myself some SLACK.

I love you all for being here and doing your best! You are doing GREAT!

Peace, love and light,
Katherine