I hope you that are taking time to nourish and rest, that you are feeling your breath and cultivating kindness for yourself and others. I believe these simple things become very important in times such as these.

My viewpoint is that we are alive in a catalytic moment in a long-term movement of restoration of dynamic balance and wholeness as humanity on this living Earth. These tragic, unjust, human-made systems based in oppression, violation, and abuse of people and landscapes are intolerable and unsustainable. Powerful forces are colliding and catalyzing inevitable transformation: This Pandemic, these long-overdue Global Uprisings for Black Lives, veils removed from economical and political dysfunction ….

It’s my belief that what fuels these uprisings for transformation is this wise, ancient force within us (as part of the Earth’s body) necessarily shedding old structural forms, so we can re-imagine ourselves as Humanity. And in this quaking, I feel the vulnerability of these thresholds through the toll they take – the fury, the loss, the grief, the fear, the fear, the groundlessness of uncertainty. I breathe. I feel my feet on the ground. I hold someone’s hand. I let myself feel and be changed. I cry and scream. I plant seeds. I water and weed them. I give thanks whenever possible for what is simultaneously life-giving in my world.

Tandem with these coursing movements, I feel the pulsing invitation to orient towards liberation, wholeness, and collective thriving. I attune to the pulse.That there exists inside of me and you – a place and a knowing that is not of these systems, but exists in communion with a larger story! I experience this as a North Star helping me navigate the fury of these seas at night. That there is more to us than what we can conceive of whilst bewitched by those systems, and this incorruptable part of us is contactable. It is present. It is wildly creative and kind, generous and bold. It knows that my truest joy is woven with the fabric of you in yours.

My experience with transformation is that it embodies the destructive, imaginative and creative forces of Nature. It’s always uncomfortable and shattering, if it is genuine. Strong containers and midwives offer Grace to the process. Amidst the shattering , protect and nourish the seeds of creative vision, and new life is ensured. If we persevere and stay with the process, these seeds can emerge and blossom as life reorganizes itself. And, it feels like a miracle, every time.

I am lucky enough to have met cultural midwives, container holders, and visionaries who have been holding the space and planting these seeds for humanity’s liberation and transformation for a long time. And I am continually grateful for their courageous example. They embody a resilience through the quaking and embrace this moment with empowered choice. We are a supremely creative species, and there is a responsibility in that.

Thank you for all that each one of you are doing to disrupt oppressive patterns in yourself, in your relationships, in our community, and beyond. Thank you for all you do to care for yourselves and one another through this time. Every act of kindness matters.

Holding my scythe and my seeds beside you,
Nicole

Nicole Manieri lives close to Earth near Yellow Springs, Ohio where she and her family anchor a 501.c.3 organization and organic community garden called Heartbeat Gardens. These wise words come from her ‘Musings from the Garden’ in their June newsletter.