Life is all we have

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What really matters?

Tiny new plants claim hairline cracks in stone to spread their roots. Small mammals survive on discarded crumbs. Insects hatch in a dribble of water. They choose life. They cling tenaciously to life. They do what is needed to survive and thrive. They apologize to no-one for living!

Grasshopper on purple coneflower

Life will find a way.

When you have passion for life you will find a way to live fully. You are stubborn, a survivor. Even if others wish to impede your right to life, to instill fear, to diminish you, you will find ways to carry out your life purpose and be who you are meant to be.

Your dreams desires and plans all depend on you being here now in your body. On your taking your rightful place at the table, partaking of nature’s gifts, breathing deeply of Earth’s fresh air, walking freely upon our beloved planet.

You belong here in this vast teeming web of life. I repeat. You belong here. You are meant to be here. There is no mistake!

New grass shoots after a fire

Life is the spirit’s way of experiencing what it is to be in a body– plant, animal, insect, or human, and receiving an education like no other. Life imposes limited conditions on the body while teaching perseverance, endurance, and making the most of what you’ve been given.

Make your life count. Live in your body. Open your heart to those you trust, sit in the sun, breathe deeply and give thanks for your gift of life in this body at this time.

Life is not easy, your days are not guaranteed. You may suffer, you may hurt you may grieve. Yet, even still, life is the most precious gift of all.

Live fully within the conditions of the life and environment your spirit has chosen for you.

Which Earth will you choose?

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The health and life of our planet depends on the collective choices of human beings. You have the agency, the free will, two hands arms and legs, the capabilities and brain power to make or break, create or destroy, build or demolish, weave or tear.

All life on Earth now depends on you and your species to take responsibility for the health and life of our planet! Each and every person, every living being, from the humblest human being to the richest person on Earth, from lowly ants nesting in the soil to the mighty elephants of Africa and Asia from tunneling worms to magnificent soaring birds all depend on the interconnected web of life.

Grandmother Cottonwood

Humans now in this age with the stroke of a pen, the detonation of a bomb, the clear cutting of a mountainside, the gratuitous use of violence, the misuse of words and images have the power to damage or even destroy our web.

By God we need better from you! I speak for our Earth for the web of life, for all living beings.

You have been endowed with the stewardship of our planet and given the care of billions of your kind. All deserve to live in peace and plenty without fear.

Will you see those different than you as expendable as “other” as unworthy of your care or will you recognize your shared humanity? Will you see yourself in the mirror of their eyes?

Put down your weapons, your divisive actions words and thoughts and look inside yourselves. Find wholeness within your hearts. If you can’t find it, ask for help to know yourself!

Search your souls. Access your higher selves. Your spirits and hearts are larger and more expansive than you know. When you discover this you become one with the great wave of human consciousness shifting toward the light.

Cottonwoods at sunset

Dear humans, we spirits of nature have had enough of your drama and trauma! Our patience is growing thin.

Please step up and learn to live together in harmony. Use your power to restore the web of life.

Trees and Presence

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Trees can teach presence. We stand tall in our light, rooted and strong, mighty, magnificent, stretching tall and wide.

We have no need to call attention to ourselves, brag or boast, to advertise or hire publicity. We simply own who we are, each according to the pattern of our ancestors encoded in our seeds.

Grandmother Cottonwood

We stand in the light of our true natures, quietly spreading our branches and fronds. If you notice us and pay attention, you will be amazed by our strong powerful presence, our upright nature, our interweaving branches and powerful anchoring roots.

Do not take us for granted! We are your allies, your friends, your silent companions. We endure, living our lives with dignity and grace. We shelter your world.

Dear ones, when you want to learn to be present in your body, present to the fullness of life, to fully inhabit yourself, the trees will show you how.

We are fully present here and now in this vast carnival of life on Earth.

Trees and perseverance

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From a minuscule seed to a towering giant many decades later, we trees have an enduring will to live to survive and thrive. We know how to persevere.

We develop strong roots and sturdy branches and thick bark to survive. In our tender days and weeks, we must survive hungry insects and gnawing mammals looking for a tender bite, a succulent treat, floods that would undercut our roots, drown on suffocate us, mowers and grazers, weeders, weed killers, cultivators.

Tiny seedlings and concrete

We must live with the prospect of being overshadowed by larger plants, storms, wind that might uproot us or break our branches, lightening strikes that kill our friends and neighbors, the dreaded chainsaw; winter chills frost upheavals, summer heat that could fry an egg.

Yet we endure! Every spring we wake and choose life once again, sending out new shoots and leaves, increasing our roots, growing taller, wider, stretching to the light.

Grandmother Cottonwood summer light

We persevere for what choice do we have? We choose life.

Separation or oneness?

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Dear ones, I feel the vibrations of pain and suffering emanating from millions of humans right now. I feel the flaming red vibrations of anger and rage boiling over into the energetic shock waves of violence rippling through our land.

In the web of life, in spiritual law, violence done to one is violence done to all, including the self.

I sense the sound waves from so many voices lifted up together imploring for justice and deep change. The frequencies of fear and despair in the atmosphere vibrate in my roots and branches.

Prairie grasses, heavy clouds

Those who believe in separation cannot know that all living beings are connected in the vast web of creation. They are blind to this fact.

They can cause great damage to the web of life, giving even more power and energy to the illusion of separateness – the dualities of black- white, good- bad, us-them. This old order thinking will keep humankind stuck in the battles, curses, and grudges of the past without end.

Dear ones, with your help this dualistic thinking and low level operating can give way to a more expansive and evolved world view in which humans feel and live from the level of spirit, a higher wiser always just universal view, unencumbered by limited vision, ego fears, and skewed beliefs.

Spring tree

Those who put spirit at the center of their lives begin to know the oneness of all beings. They will find a way to live without judging or harming others and transcend the frightened ego to bring true justice to our land.

They will see others through the eyes of source, will see their true hearts, will know the humanity and kinship with all who walk this Earth.

In the web, acts of mercy, unconditional love, justice, and kindness are reflected to all beings including the self.

Up your game!

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There is no need to reinvent your particular wheel. Build on what you know, your successes, your creative spirit, your inventiveness. Own your skills, your talents, your gifts.

As a young person you aspired to develop and learn and hone your talents. You did so with focus practice, flow, after much study and work .

This is the foundation your build upon now as you go to the next level of creativity, wisdom, and action. If you are still young, you are building your foundation, brick by brick with your focus, your curiosity, your sense of discovery, your passion, your interests.

Grandmother Cottonwood

Because of conditions on this Earth right now, the next phase of your life requires you to up your game, be fully present, build on everything you know.

You are asked to work in partnership with source, to open up never before thought of ideas, insights, inspirations, innovations to solve the challenges of your place and time in your particular area of knowledge and interest.

When you work in partnership with spirit, your human talents intelligence and intuition combined with the vast wisdom of Source create an amazing synergy – a better safer healthier more peaceful planet for all beings.

It is time to up your game, to gather your courage, to step into the light.

More about power animals

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Dear friends, your power animal is a spirit helper who comes to you in a familiar form you can relate to and understand, one that will inspire and advise you.

Your logical mind may scoff at this idea. Your logical mind or your logical friends may call you crazy or state that you are living in a fantasy world divorced from reality.

I’m here to tell you, there is a spiritual reality you can access when you allow your mind to release doubts, worries, shoulds and oughts. When you release your ego for a time and let your brain slow down and relax, you are better able to connect with the vast and rich spirit world that underpins all measurable, scientifically agreed upon reality.

Pair of Canada geese swimming at dusk

For those of you who are able to access the spirit realms, spend time face to face with your living and compassionate spirit helper. When you get to know them, when you’ve built up trust, you can merge with your power animal. They will let you know when you’re ready.

Invite them in, allow yourself to dissolve into pure energy and let your energy become one with your creature. You will know what is it to fly and soar on warm updrafts or to pop into a cool earthen burrow, to smell the rich soil, to gallop at top speed for miles without tiring, to build a tiny nest in a tall tree…

…to feel your wings spread wide on hot sunlight, to weave a beautiful web in a forest, to allow your body and being to transform in a cozy cocoon, to sip nectar from wildflowers, to see the Earth spread out below you in its wild beauty, the rivers, mountains, plains, the valleys and lakes.

Amazing spider web

Use these powers for good, for the healing of your life, for the gaining of compassion and empathy, for increasing your wisdom, for inspiration, for comfort, for the betterment of our Earth.

Your power animal will help you experience new insights and expand your definition of reality.

Who is Your Power Animal?

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Your power animal (or spirit animal) may take the form of insect, mammal, reptile, fish, sea creature, amphibian, bird, arachnid. Even extinct or legendary animals may come to you in spirit form.

They may be tiny, shy, sleek, flashy, magnificent, meek, camouflaged, strong and powerful, a hunter, a grazing animal, a nest builder, or burrower, a deep sea diver…

Grasshopper on purple coneflower

To meet your spirit animal, close your eyes and let them come to you. They may not be who you expect! They will choose you, for spirits know what powers you require in your life, what messages what healing energies for your growth and wholeness. They are attuned to you and your spiritual mental, physical and emotional needs.

Be open to whatever creature comes to you. Set aside your logical mind and allow yourself to be curious, without judgment. All creatures have powers and wisdom to share!

Power animals, also called spirit animals or totems have access to spiritual information that humans do not. Human vision and knowledge are limited and Earthbound.

Your spirit animal can help expand your awareness and bring hidden knowledge and wisdom to your life. Ask your power animal how they will work with you, what you can do for them, how to honor and thank them for their service to you.

When you meet your spirit helper in animal form, use your senses to get to know them. Imagine feeling the texture of their coat, their scales or feathers… imagine smelling their scent, hearing their voice. Picture them running, flying, sliding, gliding, crawling, swimming. Imagine the feel of their body heat, or the dry coolness of the skin or scales, the delicacy and fragility of their tiny wings, the sharp claws, the wet nose, the soft fur…

Red winged blackbird
Red wing blackbird

Get to know them. Create a relationship with them by meeting often. You can do this by learning to do shamanic journeys, by writing and asking them questions, by going out in nature, leaning against a tree and tuning in to the wavelength of spirit and asking for their presence.

You must call them in each time you wish to visit and have a question or intention for your meeting. Pay attention to the messages you receive.

Build up your trust in them by meeting often. When you know them well, your power animal will be with you during times of trial, they will be with you when you are sick, they will be with you when you sleep, when you travel.

Orange butterfly on elderberry bush

Your part is to ask for their presence, ask for their advice, ask for their protection…ask for what you need from them. Then use your senses, including your sense of intuition to discern the messages they bring.

A power animal will expand your awareness of what is possible in your life.

Simple Steps

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Dear ones, you are needed on this planet now living up to your full light and power, owning and practicing your skills and sharing your talents, at your best in body mind and spirit.

If you feel dull, diminished, small, take one step toward your health and well-being today. Don’t overthink or complicate things. Start small. Start at the beginning.

Message from GCW

Change one thought. Consciously bring in a new thought that is in harmony with you and your desires in life. Little by little, day by day, new more hopeful thoughts will begin to create a lighter and more positive background to your life.

Do one physical stretch or movement or short walk that will remind your body that you are alive. Let your body move in ways that feel good to you. There is no need to break a sweat or call it a workout.

Take one mindful breath. Inhale and exhale. Pay attention to what you are feeling in your body during this breath. If you want to, take a second mindful breath.

When you are alone, let yourself feel an emotion. Name it. Notice where it shows up in your body, how it changes and moves as you pay attention to it. Let it go on an out-breath by doing safe physical movements, making sounds or vocalizing words in your private space.

Do one simple thing each day to strengthen yourself, to feel better.

Balance in the Web of Life

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Can you widen your perspective for a moment? Imagine rising up above our Earth like a soaring bird and viewing the beauty of our land from above…

…the woodlands, streams and rivers, the grazing deer, flocks of birds flying below, fields of green, shady and pleasant neighborhoods, the gardens and parks, lakes and ponds, farms and ranches, the quiet cemeteries, the playing fields…

…Vast oceans and seas, waves breaking on beaches and rocks, mountain peaks and deserts… clouds of butterflies migrating…

Flying bird, summer landscape

From this birds eye perspective you may begin to discern the magnificence and complexity of the web of life on this planet. Can you feel the peace and calm that seem to be generated in some areas?

Do you feel a kinship, a deep connection with all that you see?

But dear ones, as you soar above the Earth you may also see the devastation created by human alterations of our ecosystems, over-development and pollution. You may see some dying and diseased landscapes.

You may sense the anger and suffering inequitable policies have engendered. You might feel the widespread fear of disease for those with no safety net. You may feel the grief of those who have lost loved ones in the pandemic.

The web of life weakens when those with too much power believe the accumulation of massive wealth is the only thing that matters. When this grasping for wealth is valued over the equitable balance and distribution of resources, when health care is doled out for profit and those who cannot pay are left behind, the health and well being of all life on this planet suffer.

When kindness empathy and mutual benefit are seen as weak, when living together in harmony is scoffed at, when co-existing in peace doesn’t manufacture enough money to fill the bottomless pit of greed, the web of life weakens.

Do not allow the precious and complex beauty of our world to become damaged beyond repair under the weight of such stupidity greed and negligence.

Choose leaders who seek to assuage suffering, who do not turn their backs when others are hurting. Choose leaders who are rooted in reality, who make decisions based on the best advice available, who use their power for the good of all humans, all beings, the web of life.

When there is balance within the great web of life on Earth, all her beings can thrive.