The Path of Love...Interconnectedness

Our soul's purpose in every lifetime is to embrace our growth experiences, resolve our old karma that is based on fear, distrust, and separation, create new karma based on love, and deepen our relationship with Source. As we live in a way that takes the ever-increasing love that flows from our joyful 'dance with Source' out into the world, we see with wide-open eyes that everything is interconnected.

Each of us is deeply and profoundly connected to one another, to the earth, and all of life. We need each other. As we come to realize that at the core level of our being, we understand how important it is to act with love in every moment. When we act out of love, we take the highest action that can be taken. Our judgment of ourselves and one another drops away and we feel our deep connection. As that happens, we find we can breathe, our heart opens - and we can allow love in to parts of ourselves that may have been shielded for a long, long time.

Some of the people who have taught this to me most deeply are the 'street people'. I have had some of the most loving interactions with individuals who did not have a home at the time, had not recently had a bath, and did not know where their next bite of food -- or that of their children -- was coming from. Yet, from that place of apparent deprivation, when I gave them my love in the form of money and respectful, loving contact, some have burst into tears, taken my hand, grabbed me into a bear hug, and asked for God to bless me. I have felt deeply moved by each very special human being, in such deprivation in a material sense, who asked that I be blessed. That is love, gratitude, and interconnectedness.

Long ago in a very difficult situation, I had the experience of needing to ask strangers for money. When I was 17 years old, I was stranded in a bus station in Texas while trying to get to my grandmother's home. I was 25 cents short of the bus fare. I asked the ticket seller if I could borrow a quarter and mail it to the bus station the next day. I was told no. I experienced some fear, but overcame it quickly and resourcefully. I began asking people who looked kind in the bus station for a quarter, explaining that I needed to get to my grandmother's home. I promised to mail the quarter to them the next day. I was shocked that every single adult said no to me. Further, the way they said no was as if I was wrong for asking for their help - even in such a small way.

I went to the pay phone (this was in 1967) and placed a collect call to my grandmother. In tears, I explained the situation. She asked me to put the bus station manager on the phone. I did so. He immediately chipped in the quarter and gave me a ticket. I thanked him, got his mailing address, and assured him that I would mail him the quarter the next day. He acted like he did not believe me. I made sure that I mailed him the quarter with a thank you note first thing the following morning.

I have always remembered that experience of needing help and being rejected at every turn by nice people who simply didn't understand. I promised myself to behave in a different way. I do not ever want to evoke in another person the feelings of fear and desperation that I experienced that day. I much prefer to share whatever I have at the time that someone asks for my help - with my love, respect, and gratitude that they gave me the opportunity to be of assistance. And, also, with my trust that they will use whatever I share with them for their highest good. That is between them and Source.

Similarly, each time I choose to buy organic foods, to put my fruits & vegetables in the cart without a plastic bag, to purchase only what I will actually use, I feel my interconnectedness with the entire food chain that Source has given us. When I ask for the blessing of Source on every being who participated in bringing this food to me including the sun, the water, the soil, and the microbes, I feel our interconnectedness.

Each time that I allow myself to feel love for another being - whether another person, a hummingbird, a honey bee, a tree, or a mountain stream - I feel our interconnectedness.

By the same token, each time I do not choose to love perhaps by speaking with a sharp tone, drawing back from a stranger in fear or judgment, criticizing something rather than remaining open to understanding, I feel our interconnectedness -- and the harm I have done to it.

It is my choice to consciously engage in the journey of love in every moment. My commitment is to notice the feelings I experience in my physical body and, if they are not feelings of love, to step into the adjacent possibility of love. It is always available.

Please join me there.

Think Globally - Eat Consciously

It's Monday morning. With your alarm clock still ringing in your ears, you stumble into the kitchen, pour some corn flakes into a bowl, and douse them with soy milk. The last thing on your mind is clear-cutting in the Brazilian rainforest or the effect of interstate transportation on global warming. Yet there's a very real connection between the foods you eat and the health of the planet.

From a shopper's perspective, the local supermarket is a modern-day Aladdin's lamp, effortlessly conjuring up an endless variety of foods. When food seems to just magically appear, it's easy to ignore the social, ethical, and environmental implications of our dietary choices. In reality, however, food production only seems effortless. There's a lot of work going on behind the scenes, and the price we pay at the checkout stand isn't necessarily the biggest or most important cost.

To understand how our food choices affect the environment, we need to begin back at the farm. For many of us, the word "farm" still brings to mind images of red barns and roosters perched on picket fences. But today's farm is a big, high-tech business. If you're like most Americans, your humble breakfast was grown with the aid of synthetic chemicals used to boost crop yields and fend off pests. Farmers use a lot of chemicals. In fact, the U.S. Geological Survey reports that American farms use 700 to 800 million pounds of pesticides per year, accounting for up to 80 percent of total pesticide use in the United States.

Then there are chemical fertilizers, which American farmers use by the millions of tons. These fertilizers are rich in nitrogen, which makes for bigger plants and richer harvests. But when nitrogen washes into rivers, lakes, and oceans, it can lead to the overgrowth of algae and bacteria. These tiny organisms then deplete the water of oxygen, resulting in an underwater wasteland devoid of fish and other life.

Even if your corn flakes and soy milk were conventionally growth, they at least have one thing going for them: They're plant-based, and therefore much less resource-intensive than animal-based foods. If you had opted for bacon, eggs, and a dollop of cream cheese on your bagel, your breakfast's environmental impact would have been dramatically higher. It takes up to ten times as many natural resources to raise livestock as it does to grow plant foods.

If your corn flakes and soy milk were grown organically, give yourself another gold star. But you're still not home free. Although it takes plenty of petroleum to manufacture pesticides and keep tractors running, food production accounts for only 10 to 20 percent of the energy that went into your breakfast. The other 80 to 90 percent was used to process the food, package it, ship it to your supermarket, and keep it cool until you brought it home. According to the USDA, food travels an average of 1,500 miles before it reaches your kitchen table. And while it's nice to have a year-round supply of Chilean grapes, Mexican tomatoes, Argentinean beef, and New Zealand lamb, this convenience comes with a hefty environmental price tag. When you add up the fuel used by tractors, big-rig trucks, cargo ships, and all the rest, the food industry accounts for one-fifth of U.S. petroleum consumption.

If these facts have left you feeling discouraged, the good news is that changing the way you eat is one of the simplest and least expensive steps you can take to help the environment. Although you can't eliminate your environmental footprint altogether, you can significantly reduce it. Eating sustainably means choosing organic foods whenever possible. It means eating more fresh, locally-grown fruits and vegetables. It means eating lower on the food chain by going vegetarian or using meat as a condiment rather than the main course. It means buying foods in bulk or in recyclable packaging. A good place to start is by shopping regularly for fresh produce at your grocery store or farmer's market. Bring a grocery list, but be flexible. Look for recipes that incorporate seasonal ingredients, and adapt your favorite dishes to include whatever foods are in season at the moment.

By making these changes, you'll not only be helping the environment, you'll be doing your health a favor as well. A diet that emphasizes whole grains and legumes along with fresh fruits and vegetables can reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, Type II diabetes, and many other chronic diseases.

A sustainable diet also has its unexpected pleasures. A fresh, organic, locally-grown peach or tomato is a luscious treat--entirely different from its out-of-season counterpart, which was picked green and shipped for hundreds of miles. Eating locally can help increase our awareness of the natural world and of the changing seasons. It's also an invitation to expand our culinary horizons. Creatures of habit, many of us go on eating the same half-dozen foods, day in and day out. But when you eat locally, your menu is always changing. Spring brings an abundance of fresh greens. Salads and fresh fruit help us cool down during the balmy summer months. Then comes the autumn harvest of nuts, squash, and root vegetables, which provide hearty nourishment through the winter.

If you're serious about living sustainably, it's important to think about the way you eat. Fortunately, eating sustainably is good for you as well as for the environment. And even if there isn't room enough in your budget for a solar water heater or a new Prius, you can start eating more sustainably the next time you go to the supermarket.

This article was originally published in the April 2009 issue of Vision Magazine.

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