It's comfortable and familiar to express gratitude for all the traditional things of family, work, health, friends, the material goods we own and the food we eat, but do we remember to sincerely thank the Earth for sustaining us, supporting us, giving us form, and life?
Tribute to Gaia
Thank you
for every breath we draw.
Thank you
for our bodies. Your elements give our bones strength, muscles elasticity, and
our brain the electrical energy that sparks our thoughts.
Thank you
for your Divine life force that moves us forward, our souls ever evolving.
Thank you
for your intelligence. Everything we need to know is encoded in Nature.
Thank you
for the silent guidance we feel echoing within our bodies.
Thank you
for the flying ones, crawling ones, four -legged and swimming ones.
Thank you
for the grains that grow in your rich valleys and plains.
Thank you
for the fertile farms and bountiful orchards that produce our vegetables and fruit.
Thank you
for still nourishing us as our population growth continues on a devastating path.
Thank you
for showing us your power in hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and cyclones.
Thank you
for famine and epidemics to help us remember how frail our bodies are, how
interdependent we are on each other.
Thank you
for the purple mountains splendor and the deep viridian forests that breathe oxygen into our atmosphere.
Thank you
for the rumbling blue oceans that hold the world's greatest treasure.
Thank you
for the clear rivers and streams, the very arteries and veins of your body that
provide us with the water we need to live.
Thank you
for the rains that feed our gardens and flowers.
Thank you
for multi-hued rainbows that make us wonder.
Thank you
for sunsets and sunrises that inspire our spirits and bookend our days.
Thank you
for your atmosphere, the very breath we draw in this moment.
What can we do for you?
How do we express our gratitude for all that you teach and bestow upon us? We recycle our bottles, cans, newspapers. We buy in bulk. We recycle our clothing, buy green, and grow organic. We learn to tread lightly, and not leave carbon footprints wherever we go. We clean up trash wherever we see it. We use alternative fuel sources for our light fixtures, and our homes. We drive electric cars. We try to live simply, in reverence for each day.
What else can we do for you?
We can fight off-shore drilling. We can push for stronger emission controls for cars and factories. We can give up our one person, one car mentality. We can get involved with local environmental issues and truly become part of a community. We can even give up our attitudes of entitlement to all your resources, and all the material goods we want. We can stop reproducing like rabbits, and adopt the world's orphans instead. We can say thank you to you often, and listen to your guidance in each moment. We can ask how we can help you as part of our daily meditations. We can learn to live simply in appreciation for each day.
Sarah Ban Breathnach:
"Every time we remember to say 'thank you', we experience nothing less than heaven on earth."
This week's exercise is to practice giving thanks wherever and whenever you can. Before you begin this practice, what does your heaven on earth look like today? Write down all the ways you are willing to thank the Earth and those around you. Practice saying thank you regularly. After doing this practice for a day, a week, or a month how different is your heaven on earth now?
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