Returning
A few days ago, I went to sleep hearing the mysterious clucking sounds of sandhill cranes. Over the next 3 days, their chorus filled the air, joined by blue herons, trumpeter swans, canada geese and others. I even saw 3 robins yesterday. According to the migration patterns of these incredible birds, spring is returning (although the white that still covers the ground slightly counters that thought – but it is melting :).
I walk down our dirt road, breathing in the peace of nature’s return with my need to feel my feet on the ground. I consciously clear from my head the headlines, images and macro challenges that too often fill our news feeds and in boxes. In these few minutes of conscious shift, science is demonstrating that we can also shift our own hormone secretion, bringing in more oxytocin (a connector hormone) and reducing cortisol (our secondary flight or flight hormone). This is good for our brains and even better for our organs as cortisol further exhausts our systems (no wonder auto immune disorders are spiking. Our systems are depleted).
I’ve also begun to read the Good News Channel and have its alerts bring a smile when they pop up on my phone (had to laugh yesterday at the moose that walked into an Alaska hospital). Yes, there are incredible challenges in our world AND there are many incredible, powerful, innovative, heart-soaring things happening every day too. How we choose to see (from spring’s return to our news feed changes how we show up).
For example, violent crime in the United States is half of what it was when my children were born, yet coverage is up multi-fold in our 24/7 news cycle (even outside of the horrific epidemic of mass shootings). And studies continue to show that this increased coverage and consumption is not good for our mental, emotional or physical health – and doesn’t help us develop better solutions. It can both polarize and shut us down, making us feel almost catatonic.
And the great thing is that we have the power to take back our ability to build our creative, inspiring, oxytocin-based, good energy fueled mindset. Walk in the woods this week-end, buy a plant, kindly look into someone’s eyes with appreciation, watch the returning birds, find inspiring things to read, be discretionary in what comes into your purview. Breathe deeply from your feet to your crown and again and again. We are powerful. We are whole. We are love. And together, from a place of creativity and connection (with self, others and nature) we will find our path forward with strength, courage and compassion. We are community.
Happy Spring and wishing you a beautiful week-end,
Sandy
