Author: Sylvie Rokab

ARE YOU GOING WILD?

You might have read my August newsletter when I shared I grew up terrified of the dictators who ruled my home country of Brazil. The jitters I felt then are back, as I witness another wannabe tyrant “neck-and-neck” with democracy – this time here in the US. Whoa! Is that driving you wild too?

FEELING THE TWITCHES?

• Do you feel twitches just thinking about the election?
• Do you find yourself itching for political news?
• Too much chocolate lately? or Tequila?
• Is your “to do” list getting longer than a roll of toilet paper?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you and I share the same diagnosis: Campaign Crazies!

TOP TIPS TO SANITY!

I thought I’d share with you some tips on how to stay sane for the next 10 days (even if barely) and take the loving actions that will most likely cure your condition:

1. Meditate on Your Roots: as soon as your mind gets flooded with those “sticky thoughts”, don’t try to fight them (they will knock you down!). Bring your attention to their “roots” instead – the felt sense in your body. Sending your breath there might even disentangle those roots and loosen up your sticky thoughts.

2. Take a Whiff of Some Oils: When your digits are reaching for another news fix, put your nostrils into action instead: ask your sage, mint, or rosemary plant permission to pluck a few leaves, crush them with your fingertips and inhale the oils deeply. Repeat a few times and notice what happens with your nervous system!

Caveat: Don’t do this in front of your neighbors’ kids, you might freak them out. (forget Halloween!).

Want more? Keep essential oils handy.

3. Vent with Friends: preferably, those who are onboard with saving our democracy, freedom, and planet – that way, you won’t have to face the temptation of chopping their heads off.

4. Practice R.A.I.N. to Ease Election Stress:

Recognize that Campaign Crazies are arising. You might name them gently. Crazies, crazies…

Allow them to be fully there – with twitches and all.

Investigate: where do you most feel the Crazies in your body? Fire in your throat? Bloat in your belly? Fists clenched (in tyrant-punching-position)? What vulnerable emotions are beneath these sensations? Fear? Helplessness? Despair?

Nurture: Imagine receiving all the loving you can get: from Buddha, Jesus, Quan Yin, Mohammed, Moses, Mother Mary, Mother Gaia, and the Universe. Let yourself bask in that loving!

5. Talk to Voters

Now that you’re filled up with that loving kindness energy, it’s time to practice “Power With” – instead of “Power Over” – by connecting warmly with voters!

CURING CAMPAIGN CRAZIES

I spent 90 mins calling about 20+ voters… nothing made me feel more empowered about the election than to have kind, helpful, and motivating conversations with folks about their voting plans.

Check out my tips on how to make this work, helping you fall in love with the person on the call and inspiring them not only to vote but also to commit to enrolling others too.

Let’s cure our Campaign Crazies by turning off campaign news and instead focusing on self-care, democracy-rescue, unity-building, freedom-rising and planetary-healing.

TAKING LOVING ACTION

Join us in generating a sea of freedom votes across the US!

TIPS ON CALLING VOTERS:

1. You can get brief training on How to Call Anytime for Harris / Walz

2. Once you feel ready to make calls, check out the Call Crew Guide

3. Watch this amazing video from Mitch Meyers , with 16 years experience phone banking.

4. The emphasis now is just Getting Out The Vote (GOTV), which means talking to Harris’ supporters, asking them for a commitment to vote, helping them make a voting plan, and inviting them to ask 3 friends or relatives to commit to vote (also with a voting plan).

5. While the calling system will guide you to follow a script, I advise to do so loosely , as people yearn for real connection and not just someone who is reading to them.

SAMPLE CHAT WITH A VOTER:

Here is how a typical conversation with a Harris-leaning voter might go. The most important points? Be yourself, be warm, kind, and practice mindful deep listening.

– Hi, can I please talk to Michael?

– Who is calling?

– I’m Sylvie and I’m volunteering for the Kamala Harris campaign. Are you Michael?

– Yes

– Will you vote for her, Michael?

– Yes.

– Fabulous!! It’s easier if you vote early… and early voting in ____ (his state) ends on _____(ex. Fri)! Do you have a plan to vote yet?

– No, I’m not sure…

– No worries! I’m here to help you, do you happen to have any questions I might try to answer for you?

– Is there a website to find out early voting polls locations?

– Absolutely. Here is the link _____. You can also call at (—)___- ____

– Thanks.

– Thank YOU!! Can I ask you a small favor from you that will have a BIG impact?

– What?

– I’d like you to ask 2 to 3 people close to you (that you’re not sure will vote) and have them commit to vote for Kamala Harris, can you do that?

– I think so, yes.

– Great, here is the deal. Don’t just have them say… “ok, I’ll vote”. Actually ask them to text or call you once they DID vote . Just keep nudging them. You’d be making a huge difference.

– Sure, I’ll try that.

– Awesome! It was SUCH a pleasure connecting with you! Thank you for being a voter! Warmest wishes to you and your folks!

KEY POINTS WITH UNDECIDED VOTERS:

With the same kindness, warmth, and respect, bringing up these points can bring needed perspective:

– Do you remember Trump’s refusal to accept defeat and then instigating Jan 6th violence ?

– He’s much more dangerous now, after the Supreme Court ruling that he has criminal immunity . Does that concern you?

– He’s been now saying that he’ll use the military to arrest his political opponents and journalists. How do you feel about that?

– His former Chief of Staff John Kelly – a conservative Republican – just revealed that Trump said he liked Hitler multiple times. How does that land for you?

PS1. If that doesn’t make you leap on your chocolate or tequila, I don’t know what will!

PS2: Deep bow of gratitude to Carol Blaney who has generously shared many of these tips with me and others!

Let’s now focus on inspired vision and goodness!

JUST A FEW DAYS LEFT!

To Save Democracy, Freedom, and our Planet

In this remaining time, let us:

• volunteer
• make calls
• donate
• energize friends
• share videos
• do something, anything!

Together, let’s go wild and save our future!

Wishing you nature, love, and freedom!

Sylvie Rokab
Nature-Mindfulness Mentor / Emmy-Nominated Filmmaker

After watching the riveting Democratic National Convention (DNC) officializing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as president and vice-president nominees for the US Democratic party, I feel compelled to briefly share with you my story as an immigrant who pulled through a dictatorship, its relevance to us all here in the US today (and abroad), and offer key tips to help defend our democracy during this critical time in our American and planetary story!

Born in Brazil on the year a coup overturned the presidency of João Goulart (1964), I grew up terrified of government. We heard secret stories of college kids enduring torture or vanishing for committing the “crime” of speaking out against the regime. My parents urged me to stay close – and quiet!

But as a young woman, I dreamed of freedom, justice, and the right to vote, so in hiding from my parents, I mustered the courage to join the pro-democracy movement “Direct Elections, Now!” (“Diretas Já!”), and at a rally in Rio, cheered on a young “Lula” (Luis Ignácio da Silva) as he took the stage with passionate cries, demanding direct elections.

Three years later and despite extremists’ terrorist attacks, people power brought down the 21-year Brazilian dictatorship. We took to the polls with joy, pride, and exhilaration!

As fate would have it, Lula is the current elected president of Brazil – aiming to bring about a new level of social and ecological justice – including the protection and restoration of the Amazon rainforest and its Indigenous Nations!

I moved to the US in the late 80’s, inspired by the American values that matched my own – freedom, justice, and democracy and was elated when I got my citizenship so I could vote in America (though still outraged by the harmful US foreign policy with its history of backing dictators for “good business” – including the Brazilian coup d’état of my birthyear).

Today, my fear of tyranny grips me once again, but this time here in the US – as an unfit politician and his allies lay the groundwork for totalitarianism using the same playbook historically employed by oppressive regimes:

1. erosion of the judiciary’s integrity
2. alliances with the uber-wealthy
3. fear-mongering propaganda
4. voter suppression
5. insurrection violence
6. divide-and-conquer tactics

My early experiences taught me that democracy is fragile. It only takes one aspiring autocrat backed by allies to reverse decades, even centuries of freedom.

We cannot let this happen here in the US!

I also learned that when people get fired up together, not only can we stop tyrants, we can also take our country to a whole new level of unity, compassion, social evolution, and planetary transformation – restoring our wounded habitats and ecosystems.

Watching the impassioned speeches at the DNC – including those from Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, Oprah, and Kamala Harris – not only gave me an exhilarating sense of vision and hope, it also reminded me that when we engage in the political process – in whatever small or big way – a sense of pride and joy fills our spirit as we help craft an empowered, compassionate, and restored future.

Regardless of your belief system or party affiliation, I invite you to join me in this unified, hopeful, life-affirming vision for the US – and the world – by choosing opportunities to “do something” in whatever way resonates and inspires you.

Only 10 weeks left to take action!

You might consider dipping into meditative silence, free-form writing, and connecting with your sangha (community) to explore ways to be of service that excite you and bring you joy. If you’re like me, you might want to set times in your calendar for political involvement and a strategy for donations (in whatever amount you can afford) – for these last 10 weeks leading to the US elections.

If you’re in the United States, find below opportunities to help elect democracy-leaning and life-affirming public servants. If you’re outside the US, may this note inspire you to defend democracy in your country of citizenship. After all, we’re all in this together inhabiting the same fragile blue marble orbiting the sun.

In these 10 weeks, let us:

• volunteer
• make calls
• donate
• energize friends
• share videos
• do something

Wishing you Nature. Love. And freedom!

Sylvie Rokab
Nature-Mindfulness Mentor / Emmy-Nominated Filmmaker

Ways to Engage

Kamala Harris | Tim Walz

If you haven’t yet watched their DNC speeches, you can watch Kamala’s here and Tim’s here.

“On January 20, 2025, if we all do our part, she will once again make history — and she will make sure the doors of opportunity are wide open for all to follow.”

I urge you to join me in:
Taking action
Donating
Sharing with friends
as if our democracy depended on it. It does!

Jane Fonda | Climate PAC

The Jane Fonda Climate PAC helps elect leaders who will rise to the urgency of this moment and stand up to the fossil fuel industry. Jane Fonda Climate PAC will leverage the donations of those who are climate-concerned to counter the outsized influence the fossil fuel industry has on our government. We make sure politicians who support oil and gas are as afraid for their jobs as we are about the impending climate disaster.

Learn more here.

Environmental Voters Project

Environmental Voters Project (EVP) identifies inactive environmentalists and transform them into consistent voters to build the power of the environmental movement.

Join EVP’s team of nearly 6,000 dedicated volunteers from across the country, all focused on getting environmentalists to vote year-round in local, state, and federal elections.

Learn more here.

Spark the Vote!

STUDENTS, FILMMAKERS, MUSICIANS, INFLUENCERS, ARTISTS, ACTIVISTS, DANCERS, ETC.

Whether you’re an amateur or seasoned professional our country needs you to unleash your creative power!

You have the power to inspire voter turnout!

Simply create, post and submit a SHORT video about WHY YOU VOTE.

Whether you are passionate about climate, equality, voting or democracy – this Challenge is for YOU!

The SPARK THE VOTE Social Media and Film Challenge selfie videos or films are due by September 15th – Democracy Day – and just before National Voter Registration Day to have the most impact.

$50,000 in cash prizes for best videos.

Learn more about #SparkChallenge here.

The Challenge is sponsored by Money Out Voters In – a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan organization.

I was already writing to you about transitions when I got the tragic news that a dear colleague, Dr. Wallace J. Nichols (aka “J”) – the beloved scientist who championed the healing power of water and creator of the Blue Mind Movement – has passed away suddenly. With a tender heart, my reflections feel even more poignant.

Whether you’re grieving J’s (or another) loss or facing any other transition – be it moving, a career change, financial struggles, health issues, heartbreak, aging etc. – surrendering to life’s changes and your own vulnerability can ease your suffering.

The serenity prayer reminds us: “grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

While the only constant in life is change itself, modern culture conditions us to resist it, control circumstances, stay busy, and numb our emotions. But our issues are in our tissues, so if we deny, repress, or ignore our feelings, there is no chance for healing. Instead, they manifest as tension, dis-ease, conflict, and the dimming of your life force and spirit.

Resisting transitions is like damming a river: it leads to stagnation. Joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, gain and loss are the certain cycles of life – letting ourselves experience them as well as witnessing with kindness the passing waves of emotions strengthen our spirit, promote resilience, and grow empathy and compassion.

Being fully present with life’s transitions with an open heart reveals the wonders of each moment: the smile of a child, the bite of a sweet strawberry, and the beings who shower you with love everyday – from the friendly cashier at the store to an adoring pet, a beloved friend / partner, or the sun – who brings vitality to your spirit and nourishes life on Earth.

When transitions are deeply painful and switching gears from heartache to wonder isn’t possible, it’s important to find grounding through embodied experiences, such as gentle movement (i.e. Qi Gong), opening the senses with Mother Nature, and seeking support from loved ones, groups, and spiritual community.

Just like the seasons and cycles of nature, transitions are a fact of life, so learning to flow with them can be a profound practice in compassion, acceptance, and resilience. And just like the darkest hour gives rise to dawn and Winter nurtures seeds for growth in the Spring and Summer, the stormy clouds of our existence – from personal to global – inevitably pass for new clouds to emerge and perhaps even a sunny day as we celebrate another solstice.

J’s passion for the ocean and our blue planet was / is inspirational and contagious. He revealed the magic of flow in our nervous system and the power of gratitude by sharing millions of recycled blue marbles around the world, a practice I’ve embraced with glee since learning it from J in 2014 when he gifted us with his presence at a Love Thy Nature Film screening. J bathed all those who knew him with kindness, brilliance, and a fierce heart – determined to make our world a better place. And that, he did.

J, you might have had a short life, but your essence has touched our world with a depth only comparable to the sea itself. May your teachings and oceanic love continue to transform our world.

Sending love and healing to J’s wife Dana, and daughters Grayce and Julia.

Using J’s words, “I wish you water.”

To help continue Dr. Wallace J. Nichols’s work and legacy, consider contributing to his memorial fund here.

Wishing you Nature. And Love.
Sylvie Rokab
Nature-mindfulness mentor / Emmy nominated director

Dear Mother Earth,

When growing up in Rio, I relished your mountains , forests, and waterfalls – playing with your rocks, tendrils, and monkeys. I would lie down on grass and marvel at your wild cloud formations. Your sunset rays dancing with my eyelashes felt like golden kisses. You were my wonderland, my playground, my healer, and my home.

As a teenager, seeing on TV the burning of your ancient Amazon trees and the animals who couldn’t escape broke my heart into a million pieces, as if a part of me was dying in those fires too.

At 19 years old, I drove to Maua, your untouched wilderness outside of Rio, where your creeks washed away my teenage angst, cleansed my spirit, and filled me with wonder and awe.

The symphonies of streams, birds, and crickets, the smells of moist soil, and the sights of entwined tree trunks – all conspired to jolt my body and spirit into the realm of the mystical. In this infinity, my heart softened, brimming with wild love for the beings of your Maua land.

That day, two profound realizations emerged through me: 1. You, Mother Earth, are pure medicine. 2. If all human beings took your medicine, they would both heal their own spirit and hold you sacred – never destroy you, mine you, rape you, and burn you as if you were just… nothing. Their / our relationship with you would be one of deep reverence, love, and reciprocity.

I’m so so sorry, Mother Earth, that my species lost its way, that it lost itself into the mad stories of radical religions, oppressive colonialism, war-hungry patriarchy, digital compulsion, and the most destructive addiction of all: greed.

Many say it’s too late. Perhaps your fever is just too high to regulate in time to prevent the demise of our civilization. Scientists say that the “heart of the world” – the Amazon – has passed its tipping point by 6% and to prevent further transformation into a savanna, we must completely halt deforestation and fully restore those 6% in just 5 years. Many of your other forests are already gone, the poles are melting, the seas are rising, your corals are bleaching, and the 6th mass extinction of species is well underway.

No matter how sick you are, I – and many others – will not turn our backs on you. Ever.

We are joining in community to feel the grief of losing you – so that this vulnerability, authenticity, and sense of belonging help us feel empowered. We are supporting each other in strengthening our resolve to take action every day – no matter how small or big.

We will keep deepening our love for you until it’s radically contagious. We will write, film, speak up, rally, donate, and vote for officials who put life and ecology at the center of all decisions, we will keep learning from you so we can transform our technologies and economies, we will listen to the sages from Wisdom Traditions and humbly ask our Indigenous friends – whom we’ve tortured, raped, and nearly decimated – for forgiveness and assistance in re-membering our true nature.

Mother, it hurts me to admit that this path isn’t easy. But there is no other sensible path other than choosing life – choosing you!

I humbly ask that you help us, teach us, forgive us, and love us, into becoming a wise, peaceful, connected, down-to-earth, and life-affirming species. Please help us evolve, heal, and transform. Show us how to transmute our hatred, fear, and greed into unity, compassion, and gratitude.

As you have so many times before, I know you will heal, given a few million years – just a blink of an eye in your lifetime. But our human civilization is facing  unprecedented upheavals that will worsen exponentially. We may not survive them. If that’s our destiny, then please help us alleviate our suffering with your gifts of wonder, medicine, and mystery.

But please, dear mother, awaken us from our trance now and give us the wisdom, compassion, strength, and fierceness to change the human course before your wounds are far too deep for us to bear. 

Whatever the outcome, there is nothing else for us to do but to keep tending you – remembering that you still are and will always be our home, our wonderland, our playground, our healer, and our mother.

Thank you for giving us life every second of every day.

I love you,

Yours. Truly.

Sylvie

Related Resources

• Why We Need Indigenous Wisdom, by Dr. Yuria Celidwen (Mind & Life Institute)
• One Earth Action (One Earth Sangha)

The arrival of a new year can be a meaningful rite of passage – the sparks of fireworks being wished upon as stars for transformation – and wishes ranging from new romance to world peace, new purpose to social caring, good health to healing the wounds of nature.

What seeks to emerge in and through you?

Across time, cultures, and spiritual traditions, the way to encounter the truths within the soul has been to distance oneself from culture – with its norms, expectations, and limitations – and visit the world in its raw, unspoiled, and most authentic form – the wilderness.

The good news is that you don’t have to travel to distant lands to access the wild. Just being with nature (a local park, a backyard, or a dandelion) whether solo or with others who are open to journeys of discoveries – is all that’s needed for a beautiful ritual.

Dipping into silence, awakening the senses, and softening the heart are essential. A campfire, gentle drum or flute, sharing circle, and plant medicine can allow for a deeper dive.

What must die for the new to be born?

Just like a seed self-destructs in the soil so that the plant can emerge, it is important to acknowledge the sorrow and grief that might arise from hard-to-die habits, patterns, and beliefs. Like a death doula, hold those challenges with love and tenderness.

Here are a few questions to ponder:

• What am I passionate about?
• What in the world breaks my heart?
• Am I true to myself and my deepest callings?
• What is my vision for the world?
• How can I best be of service?
• What yearns to birth through me?

One of the rituals I’ve been doing with friends and/or spiritual communities for years is to write down on a sheet the patterns or beliefs we’re each ready to let go of. The page is torn into pieces and everyone takes turns offering them to the fire. After the fire ceremony is over, each of us writes or draws the patterns, beliefs, and visions we seek to invite into our lives.

Vision boards, created with magazine cuttings, and drawings, can also be a powerful way to anchor new aspirations and visions – by hanging them in a visible place, one can revisit that “picture” and etch its realness in one’s mind and heart – for the new year and beyond.

Wishing you a year filled with soul, joy, wisdom, compassion, and alchemy to the manifestation of your deepest soul callings.

Sylvie Rokab, M.A.. she/ela/elle/ella
Nature Mindfulness Mentor / Emmy Nominated Filmmaker

Related Resources

• A Guided Meditation to Set Your Intentions for the New Year, by Mark Bertin (mindful.org)
• Soulcraft, book by Bill Plotkin

In a world that teases you with virtually all you ever want, Fear Of Missing Out is so pervasive that the word FOMO was added to all major dictionaries!

How do you deal with this nagging anxiety that you should do, be and belong more? If unattended, it can turn into a wild weather system in your mind, leading to confusion, overwhelm, and a sense of isolation.

Here are some practices to help ease FOMO:

Wake Up to Mystery

Starting your day with a contemplation practice is a powerful way to ground yourself and in turn helps you clarify your priorities. Meditation, affirmations, visualizations, movement and nature connection give rise to what you hold dear – awakening you to what’s authentic, precious, and worthy of your time.

Practice the Pause

It’s been said that the busier you are, the more you need mindfulness. Just 1 minute of deep breathing can calm your weather system and help you put things in perspective. Need a reminder? Set your timer for every 2 hours. Are you really stressed? Make it every hour, stretching your body and exhaling with sound. Aaaahhhhh…

Prioritize with Purpose

Next time you feel FOMO, ponder what activities are the most aligned with your values, passions, and purpose. Let nature open up your inner weather. Try sky gazing at a park and see if any insights come out of the blue. Consider a plunge on your day off – in the ocean, a pond, or a city pool. Water can reset your neuro circuitry, liquefy your sticky thoughts and set you in the flow.

Fulfill your Core Needs

The modern MO to “power through it,” ignores the callings of your body, heart and spirit, and creates suffering. Slowing down, being real with what emerges and honoring your deeper voice, all lead to the antidote to FOMO: true fulfillment – which ripples out to those around you, your community and the more than human world.

Never Miss Out on:

Spending meaningful time with the life that yearns to live through you, your purpose-filled journey, your heart’s deepest longings, the significant people in your life and your spellbinding natural world. That’s the magic of being alive!!

For a Deeper Dive:

See our full lineup of nature-centered events, workshops, retreats and more. Together we can access the heart, wisdom, and soul that can only be found in relationship with nature.

Wishing you Nature. And Love.

Related Resources

• FOMO Got You Down? Try Sympathetic Joy, by Hilary Herdman (Samye Institute)
• How I Healed My FOMO and Started Saying No, by Myrite Rotstein (tiny buddha)
• A Buddhability Guide to Overcoming FOMO (Buddhability)

Has the pandemic dimmed your motivation? Is your sense of purpose lacking juice?

You’re not alone. Not only has our health crisis created a tsunami of grief from lost lives, livelihood, and human touch, but also the social, ecological, and ideological crises we face today can feel overwhelming – casting doubt on whether one person’s purpose really matters.

What modern science and wisdom traditions reveal is that our longing, aspirations, and visions don’t just ignite from our individual minds – they actually spring from our “larger mind” – that includes our bodies as well as the relational field that we share with the more-than-human world. Our own being – with its unique abilities, coding, and desires – captures information from that relational field, converts, magnifies, and expresses it as our own creation.

In essence, your purpose is the dream of the world seeking manifestation through and as you! So, being in relationship with the living world is the rich juicy soil from which your sense of purpose and passion can fully blossom.

How do you bring about your purpose in full bloom?

1. Slow down and connect

The answers to our deepest questions can only flourish with spaciousness, embodiment, and connection: taking your shoes off and walking on grass, soil, or sand; squeezing a sage branch to inhale its fragrance; adopting a mindfulness practice to lift you from your confining daily culture and reconnect you with life’s larger picture.

2. Lick your wounds

When you slow down, any unresolved business of the heart will surface. Welcome it with kindness. Nature gave us emotions to get our attention, open our hearts, and feel empathy. Starting with yourself restores you and makes you more apt to help heal the world’s wounds.

3. Seek the wild

It is said that “the human spirit needs places that have not been rearranged by human hands.” Arriving in nature with vulnerability and a lightly held intention can open you up to receiving the mystery’s symbols, mirrors, and insights that will shed light on your path.

4. Invite love

When I teach Vipassana meditation, I often invite students to bring a half smile to their faces – not as a way to mask authenticity, but as an invitation to bathe one’s spirit with kindness, love, and gratitude. Because neurons that fire together wire together, the result of such a practice is that one becomes more inclined to open their hearts for themselves, others, and the world around them. And an open heart attracts connections, partnerships, and possibilities.

If you include slowing down, licking your wounds, seeking the wild and inviting love in your daily or weekly practice, you would be visiting this relational field of full potentiality that can reveal the wisdom you need to express your gifts, talents, and passion – which the more-than-human world so desperately needs from you today!

May your purpose joyfully spring to life!

Sylvie Rokab
Filmmaker, Certified Nature Therapy guide & Mindfulness Teacher

Related Resources

• Living a Committed Life, book by Lynne Twist (Pachamama Alliance)
• The Work that Reconnects, with Joanna Macy

Gratitude for the first Earth Day in 1970 which mobilized 20 million Americans (at the time, 10% of the population) to take to the streets, parks, and universities to protest against the destructive power of the industrial system. Today, nearly 200 countries and over 1 billion people engage in Earth Day events. We might also envision the disappearance of Earth Day – when our nature-consciousness is so vast and intimate that “Earth Day” as we know it will no longer be needed.

Gratitude for world leaders gathering today at the Virtual Summit with the intent to take bold action against Climate Change – and the US administration committing to slashing US emissions by half by the end of this decade (and funding poor countries to follow suit).

Gratitude to nature for healing broken hearts during this devastating pandemic. Here in the US, national parks had record numbers of visitors and people all around the world renewed their appreciation for the beauty, healing power, and wonders of nature. What a breath of fresh air! (pun intended!)

That which is untouched is unloved.
—Emma Marris

The future of environmentalism lies on reawakening our innate reverence for nature. That which is untouched is indeed unloved. And quoting Rumi, “Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth.” I like to add “there are a million ways to be kissed by the earth.”

This Earth Day (and everyday), may you kiss as well as be kissed.

Happy Earth Day!

Sylvie Rokab
Filmmaker and Certified Nature Therapy guide

Related Resources

• Every Day Is Earth Day, by Kristin Barker (One Earth Sangha)
• Walking Meditation, poem by Thich Nhat Hanh (Plum Village)
• Walter Cronkite’s 1970 Earth Day Broadcast (YouTube)

If I had told you just a few months ago that we would live through a pandemic that brings doctors to their knees, creates mass unemployment, and has us shelter in place for months – you would have said I lost my mind. But here we are.

You might have lost a major life event, your job, or a loved one. You might live alone, and wonder who will be there for you should you get that cough; or you live with your cluster 24/7 and those previously mild familial annoyances now make want to scream out your window – and horrify your masked neighbors.

Wherever your pain lies, Covid-19 offers a profound invitation: to take time to grieve our losses, heal our relationships through authenticity, vulnerability and kindness – care for our physical, mental, and emotional health at a whole new level, re-examine our life purpose, and rediscover the sacredness in simplicity.

If stuck indoors, delight your senses with the colorful sights, sensual textures, and sweet aromas of your veggie or fruit salad. Gaze at a tree or the sky out your window to slow your breathing and heart rate. If you’re lucky to have access outdoors, jog on tree lined streets, find a sit spot to meditate, plant a garden with a family member – all of which are proven practices that improve health and lift our spirits.

What has most sickened us in recent times is living stressful lives, with endless tasks, oppressive traffic, the distancing from nature and each other, the poisoning of our lands, bodies and brains – all of which take a huge toll on our ecosystems and immune systems alike (are they different anyway?).

A shift from being on overdrive to practicing being in the present moment is this pandemic’s ultimate invitation.

While our human world has been turned “outside in”, Nature continues her glorious dance: the sun still rises and sets in golden hues, squirrels still chase each other around trees, and here in the Northern hemisphere, flowers spring with exuberance, offering themselves to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds with total abandon.

And with a break from the human engine, skies are bluer, waterways cleaner, wildlife more abundant in the cities and bays around the world. Whether you watch them outdoors or on YouTube, these “events” are a breath of fresh air. Pun intended!

Join me in taking comfort in Nature’s rhythms and drinking up her delicious elixir. And when life goes back to “normal”, we might remember this time of physical distancing (the term “social distancing” deserves a misnomer award!) as one of profound reconnection with our own lives, our loved ones (even if online), and nature around and within us – the extraordinary ecosystems that resides within our own bodies.

Wishing you Nature. And good health.
Sylvie Rokab
Filmmaker, speaker, and Nature Therapy guide

The most visceral fear we carry within us is the fear of death, so most of us rarely – if at all – spend time contemplating it. This week, I’ve received two invitations to sit with death: one by sending loving thoughts to my elderly friend Rhea whose joyful soul is making her transition, the other by having been in an accident myself – and if it weren’t for the fierce response from a loving stranger, I might not have been here to write you this letter today.

Death teaches us lessons that can be profound and sacred. A simple walk in a forest shows us how a fallen tree becomes the fertile home for moss, mushrooms, and colonies of insects – and highlights the role that death plays in the health of the ecosystem. And for us humans, it also plays a critical role in our psyche. For one thing, realizing the fragility of our short lives invites us to open our hearts to what is most precious and wondrous to our spirit. With our hearts cracked open, that soft green moss on the fallen trunk looks magical, the touch of a newborn baby feels sublime, the voice of a caring friend resonates like a love song, and the touch of our own skin awakens a sense of gratitude for this body of ours that is the temple of our soul.

Just like nature, this incredible system that carries our spirit works in such brilliant ways that it stills puzzles the most knowledgeable of healers. This body has us experience an explosion of events, sensations, and emotions that we often take for granted, and yet, if fully embraced, it brings the essence of our soul’s yearning to know itself and in relationship to other “beings” – human and beyond.

I encourage you not to wait for a close encounter with death to contemplate the preciousness and vulnerability of your earth bound existence. This contemplation has brought me to a state of profound gratitude for all that I am, the amazing people in my life and this wondrous world that reveals itself to me even just by looking outside my window.

May you too kiss the bliss of life and let your heart’s intelligence lead your way through your ephemeral and beautiful lifetime.

Wishing you Nature, and Love.
Sylvie