Sensitivity is Our Salvation
In last week's Plant Wisdom Circle, 16 of us gathered together to connect with the spirit of Cottonwood. As we journeyed with the spirit, each one of us silently gathered experiential wisdom and embodied knowing from this plant.
Afterwards, as we listened to one another’s stories, realizations, healing words, and generous hearts, we were mended. We left more whole than when we arrived, more woven into the wider sense of belonging to one another and the land.
There were so many powerful things spoken through the vessels of the participants, and I feel and see a more full picture of Cottonwood than I did before, even with 15 years of having relationship with them.
Because we each have a line of the poem. Every one of us receives but a fraction of the image that we can then braid together. This is the power of coming together in this work.
Each of us has a specific frequency that receives and transmits certain information.
Each of us is an important part of the listening, an important part of the weaving.
One thing that Cottonwood wanted me to share with the group was that it really does matter when we slow down to make that moment of connection with a tree, a waterway, a mountain, or any other aspect of the living world.
Cottonwood showed me that while it’s nice that we are appreciating these nature spirits as we walk or drive by them, there’s a special healing and engagement of medicine that happens between us and the land, us and a plant or tree, when we presence ourselves in a moment of pause.
This may sound obvious but it felt very consequential to Cottonwood, and worth distinguishing between a quick passing appreciation and an intentional pause.
I noticed myself on this morning on my walk with my dog, smiling up at the Cottonwoods and beaming my gratitude to them as we walked passed them in the park.
And then I remembered.
I veered off the path and brought my full awareness to the tree. I placed my hand and my forehead there on the textured bark, and made a moment of connection and appreciation. I could feel the gratitude coming back from Cottonwood.
I could feel how it strengthened my connection to both Cottonwood and the entire landscape around me. I could feel how that brief moment was hugely important to mending humanity's relationship with Earth.
So slow down and make time to be with these nature spirits. It really does matter.
Something else I heard from the participants at the end of our Plant Wisdom Circle was how good it felt to be able to be themselves, amongst other “plant people” and sensitives.
The ones who understand the language of the land. The ones who don’t make a strange face when you tell them you talk with plants, or that plants have spirits, needs, desires, and rights too.
It is so important that us sensitive ones support one another.
Encourage one another's gifts, cheer each other on for crying to a river, or singing for the moon, or moving a stone to another location because you could sense it was unhappy and you listened to where it wanted to go (this just happened to someone in the Golden Stone Immersion).
It is us, the sensitive ones, who can hear the voices of the Earth. It is us who can advocate for them and their needs. One of their needs being to have intimate moments of connection with us.
It's time for us sensitives to come together.
Whether I know you personally or not, I truly hope you know and trust your sensitivity matters, and that I'm here rooting for you and your gifts.
