Connecting and finding harmony with our planet is like finding it with anyone or anything else, it requires first the intention to do so. Check out our last blog “Live with intention“ to learn more. Below we have listed a few simple practices you can do to help create that harmony within your own life.
1. The shower meditation:
Be grateful for the water that will purify you. When you take a shower, be conscious of the incredible power of water. It has the power to wash and free us from more than just the dirt we can see. Visualize any negative energy, stress, anxiety, anger, fear, regrets, addictions, etc.. being lathered up and washed away to disappear down the drain with the water. Focus on the sensations of cleanliness and freedom that the water creates on your skin. Use affirmations: “the water washes my worries away”, “I flow in life like the water flows over my skin”, “the water cleans me of yesterday and prepares me for today”, “may I exhibit the flow and power of water in my actions today”, etc. The love and gratitude you have for the water will increase its own power.
2. Food benediction before meals:
Whether a person is religious, spiritual, agnostic, or atheistic, a pre-meal practice of gratitude is powerful. It provides the opportunity to appreciate the time, energy, and effort that was invested in bringing the food from farm to table. Beginning your meals with a simple, grounding ritual of gratitude honors the precious gift—the food on your plate—that has been provided for you. It honors the life-sustaining resources of Mother Earth and those who have done the work to make it available for you to eat. Our very lives are dependent on the nutritious abundance of Mother Earth.
Be mindful in your eating. Take time to smell the aromas and savor the flavor of what you are eating. Send your gratitude to the farmers, the cooks, and transports that made this food available for you to eat. Enjoy your meals in loving companionship with friends and family. Interestingly one NIH research project found that eating in a loving environment with your heart open is actually very good for your heart health.
3. Keeping things green
Help our earth stay green by planting trees, taking care of the green spaces around us and by watering them regularly. Try to do the things that help to grow a luscious green space all around you. Take up gardening and start a vegetable garden or grow some fruit trees. Don’t be fooled by the “Big Green movement” but think things through –big corporations trying to sell you products and ideas that sound good for the planet but in truth are not all that. (For example: electric car batteries require strip mining for raw materials and the batteries are not recyclable and wind turbines become landfill when they wear out after 20 years.) We are fans of gardening for both food and pleasure and find space around our home to do it. For those who live in cities check out where your closest community garden is located and get involved.
Take care of your physical body with natural products that respect the planet and don’t damage it. We are happy to have found Surfscripts products. Surfscripts is an outstanding, eco-friendly body care line created from sustainably sourced, organic materials. Surfscripts understands the adverse effects of pollutants in our environment for everyone’s health. They encourage conscious buying to reduce the chemicals and toxins that destroy our oceans and pollutes our land & water systems.
4. Spend time with a pet
Lots of life lessons about living in harmony can be learned from our pets. They teach us to love unconditionally, empathy, to stay excited about life, to accept what is, to take pleasure in the little things and the bond that we share is good for our health. Studies have repeatedly shown that being around pets can lower your blood pressure, reduce stress and protect against heart disease. Your pet will love you unconditionally and you will have a best friend for life, which will help you be more in harmony with yourself.
Be sure to comment below with practices that you use so that we can all have practices that help us create harmony with our planet.