A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post on my love affair with chokecherries. Everywhere I turn I see superfoods. I feel hyper-nourished, and more than deeply abundant. It wasn’t always so with me. I used to look for my savior and salvation in an herbal concoction. I used to spend money on supplements.
I can pick a pound of chokecherries in about 15 minutes. Most of my neighbors and friends here in the Tetons are surrounded by chokecherries and other superfoods that haven’t yet landed in the media as superfoods. They go unnoticed, unharvested – except for by me, the birds and the bears, and uncherished.
A cherry uncherished. What a melancholy thought. It’s way worse than when chickweed or thistle goes unnoticed.
The more I explore my ecosystem for blatant abundance the more I find. It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead of looking for something that isn’t here (like maca or ashwagandha, or goldenseal), I’ve trained my eye to spot thrive. Right now, it’s chokecherries and rosehips. These colorful seedbearing mamas are ripe for the picking in autumn.
I harvest them off quiet roadsides or deep in the woods. I blend them in water with local honey, drink it as a morning and evening elixir, and replant their seeds in my yard. I dry them for tea later. I throw a handful in my pocket to share and educate throughout the day.
Thrive begets thrive. The plants take care of you you take care of the plants. As you feel nourished, cared for, connected, your field of care expands. Ah, the beautiful human call to reciprocity.
Train your Eye to Spot Thrive
One of the values we established at Yogahealer is “Orient towards thrive.” We have a choice on what to perceive and what to do with what we perceive. I’m going with thrive. I want to notice thrive, aim for thrive, celebrate thrive, and steer directly towards thrive. The plants help me with this. When I walk out my door I see the mushrooms are going off. We’ve had a week of rain following 12 weeks of drought.
When I open my greenhouse door I love the seeds that sprouted into plants as much as the weeds that fill in every crevice imaginable. I love the goji weeds that we can’t seem to get rid of. They have micronutrients different from our invasive weeds. I love how untame Nature is her seemingly reckless abandon to nourish us.
When we train our eye to spot that which is thriving our perspective shifts. For example as a parent, let’s say I notice the kids are loud and unruly and making a huge mess. This is an easy example as it was my Sunday afternoon experience. It’s pouring outside. The clouds are thriving. The kids are full of energy. The suggestion? Pick up your mess. After, as a reward, put on bathing suits and water shirts and go jump on the tramp, slide down the slide and jump in the hot tub.
When we see what is abundant and work with the abundance we are in cooperation.
When we see the plants in the grocery store that are in their glory – and we select those to come home with us and jump in our bodies, we are on the right track.
How much do you share?
When you’re in thrive, in abundance you share. You always have too much so you give it away. It’s a thoughtless process. If you’ve had the thought, “I should share,” you’re not there yet. Keep training your eyes to spot thrive.
Sharing happens. It’s a more evolved bumper sticker: sharing happens.” Sharing happens naturally when you have no personal need. You have no need because you’re rooted in thrive, rooted in abundance.
I started to notice this through seasonal eating. When we’re attuned to what is thriving we notice it’s inexpensive and grossly excessive. We can’t keep up. It’s like sipping from a rushing stream – more just keeps coming.
If you need support… If you feel depleted…
I hear all the time – “I need more support.”
And I do believe it. We can run ourselves right out of time. We can spend ourselves right out of energy. Heck, we can even spend ourselves right out of money.
We can forget to sit. We can override the desire for quiet, for contentment, even for sleep. That one truly is the most bizarre: wired and tired. And if this is you, the first and often painful step, is seeing how you dug your own pit.
Once you see how you got in there, you can undo the pattern and start climbing out. One breathe at a time. One minute of meditation at a time. Bed one minute earlier at a time. Our nourishing bite of food you made for yourself at a time.
This is what the under-supported, exhausted, needing-a-breathers – will be doing right alongside you in the October Yogidetox.
