Some Tree Love and Wisdom

“For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfil themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. And every young farmboy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal trees grow. 

Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life. 

A tree says: A kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, I am life from eternal life. The attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark. I was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail. 

A tree says: My strength is trust. I know nothing about my fathers, I know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. I live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and I care for nothing else. I trust that God is in me. I trust that my labor is holy. Out of this trust I live. 

When we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: Be still! Be still! Look at me! Life is not easy, life is not difficult. Those are childish thoughts. Let God speak within you, and your thoughts will grow silent. You are anxious because your path leads away from mother and home. But every step and every day lead you back again to the mother. Home is neither here nor there. Home is within you, or home is nowhere at all. 

A longing to wander tears my heart when I hear trees rustling in the wind at evening. If one listens to them silently for a long time, this longing reveals its kernel, its meaning. It is not so much a matter of escaping from one’s suffering, though it may seem to be so. It is a longing for home, for a memory of the mother, for new metaphors for life. It leads home. Every path leads homeward, every step is birth, every step is death, every grave is mother. 

So the tree rustles in the evening, when we stand uneasy before our own childish thoughts: Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as long as we do not listen to them. But when we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy. Whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness.” 

— Hermann Hesse


Thank you mo'ghra for sharing this with me! I only thought it proper to spread it around a little more....xx :) 


Namaste 



~Photos of some lovely trees in my backyard as well as a nature excursion with my grandma and little cousin, Lilly.

Green Lake, WI

The yard- garden and orchard.

Wet and dark after the rain. 

Yama and Lilly looking for asparagus and identifying plants and flowers up at the farm. 

-Environmental Education through Art-

Stopping to look and listen. 

Lil pickin' daisies.

Like Avocados and Little Messages....Good Things Do Fall From The Sky....

Copied and pasted from Facebook none the less, how could I not share this? 

Namaste <3

Selena Martin May 1 at 10:19pm Report

Hello my darling,


My friend wrote a wonderful song with one line in it being 'He said, make of yourself a light, make this wonderful world more bright.' The first part is something Buddha said and it brought me to find this little piece of wisdom, the wisdom wanted to be shared with u so here it is for you:


Make of yourself a light. Rely upon yourself. Do not depend on anyone else. Make your enlightenment the path.


Do not indulge in strong desires. Pain and its delight are almost one and the same. Consider the transiency of strong desires.


When you rely on yourself, you do in fact become the light. Others can see that you are in command of yourself.


Being in command of yourself is the key.


Being in command means that you strive to be tranquil. Tranquility is the first step to happiness, and when you are happy, your light shines on your whole being.


There strive to be happy. This is done with relying on yourself, gaining a measure of self control of your thoughts, and then gaining tranquility from that self control.


That is how you make of yourself a light.

<3

A Case of Oz

So it turns out I had a case of Oz....I had to leave home to realize that everything I´ve ever needed or could ever possibly need I already have. Funny how life works. :) My home....or where ever my loved ones happen to be....is my ocean of love and my mountain of peace. And the happiness that finds me in other magical places around the world, while it is wonderful in itself it is nothing compared to the love and happiness that I can find in good ol´ Green Lake. Therefore I am returning home from my adventures early (or right on time..depending how you look at it), only to embark on more adventures with my love and my darling family. I have learned lifetimes in these last four months being away and now it´s time to pull all the strings together and light this place up....

And as my friend J.C. Ford once said, ¨Real love, not bought or sold love....really really REALLY will change all of this.¨

And it´s true!!

And it´s a good thing beacuse I am about to dive head first into the biggest adventure of my life....finally the ball is really rolling and very soon we will have a certified 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. More specifically, I will have a community-based non-profit that will act as a platform for human beings from all walks of life to share/teach/learn about how we can lead a life conscientious sustainability and responsible stewardship- A life of harmony concerning ourselves, our environment, and our neighbors near and far. My little snowflake of a dream has really snowballed into something miraculous that people seem to be calling for. All those happy, positive thoughts are really paying off.... ;)

So now back to Wisconsin to make some magic happen! :)

Peace, love, sunshine, and everything beautiful from Quito, Ecuador

Namaste <3

Jose´s AMAZING Project and the Huao School

I had to take some short and wonderfully ¨me¨ clips out of pure and nervous excitement ...

:)))

Jose explaining the documentary project to the class.....

The project involves introducing themselves and their families and taking a video camera around with them thus documenting their daily lives. The seven project participants will act as  naturalist guides giving both the Huao name and Spanish name for all they encounter. 

Note: we used my little camera to film these clips...should have reminded our lovely cameraman that I´m not technologically advanced enough to rotate the video clips....but here ya go just for proof´s sake. ;)

Talking about where I´m from and working with the Charter kids in the 

GL Global and Environmental Academy.

Discussing our projects concerning stewardship and being a responsible/ethical steward. 

(guardiano = guardian = steward....no literal translation for steward in Spanish)

As we had anticipated the class was quite shy and quiet, however, you could tell their gears were

crankin´ away upstairs....faces illuminating with understanding and comprehension as little lightbulbs went off in their beautiful, jungle brains. And friends, let me tell you....that feeling, that moment....is what it´s all about. Knowledge, learning, awareness.....yes, indeed. :)

Jose stayed two weeks longer and has been back and forth spending the bulk of his time in the community continuing to organize the project and get the guides started with their intro´s and first segments......I got a sneak peak and hands down is some of the most amazing footage I´ve ever seen. 

Hope you´ve enjoyed and are remembering to breathe deeply and play outside!! Namaste :)

Part 2 of Huaorani Happenings: More Amazonian Activities

Gathering chonta with Eloy´s little sister so Ciara and Anita (volunteers/students from the States working on their Fulbright fellowships) can make chicha. Chicha is a fermented beverage that is traditionally made from maize, however,  it is often made from manioc (yucca) in addition to other regional/seasonal fruits.  

After putting the chonta in a huge pot over a fire for a few hours we peeled the skins off

 one by one and put the tasty seeds in a separate bowl to snack on later. 

The final step in making chicha de chonta is to chew, or masticate, the pieces of chonta and spit

 the juice into a communal bucket. It ferments overnight and vuala, you have a tipsy treat. 

I, quite frankly, have always had a sensitive gag reflex and such quantities of spit threatens to press certain buttons....however, if it were offered to me, for example, by any sort of indigenous person....I would have no choice but to gladly accept for it would be an exceptionally profound

 insult if I were to refuse.  

In this case I happened to have to catch a canoe ride back down the Napo and head back 

to civilization....so I guess you could say I was spared for the moment....

-jungle paths to fruit trees-

A new friend that I met along my journey. The wonderful and lovely Kristina from Sacramento, demonstrating an indigenous technique of sorts...how to carry heavy packs of jungle treats. :)

Kristina and Ciara tearing open another kind of tasty jungle treat....

-waba-

-the sweet and fleshy inside that covers every single seed-

-an extraordinarily delicious and refreshing surprise on a hot day in the rainforest-

-naturally skilled climbers with inward-curving feet to prove it-

-carefully harvesting waba for everyone below- 

-heading back to the volunteer buildings to put the chonta on the fire-

-a runway for tiny little airplanes-

-self explanatory- 

-the volunteer and elementary school buildings-

-always on a nature hike-

-just to look at...not to eat-

Hello big, wise tree in the Amazon.....

Teach me what you have to know, 

Let me absorb and feel me grow..... 

See me grow brighter as I sink down my roots,

Pass on to me those secret life truths. 

Ajo Pachamama!

<3

-sweet little gecko hanging out on the tree not 5 feet above where I rested my hand in the above photo- 

-oh how I want to know....

sapo = rana = frog = toad 

one in the same.

-rockin camouflage- 

;) 

- close-up -

- another wee little frog friend -

-as golden as the fallen leaves-

-some other breakfast reading material- 

-for the curious folk....some helpful pronunciations....-

..... 

¨His journey had begun deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, in the homeland of his people, the Huaorani, a small but fearsome nation of hunter-gatherers who have lived in isolation for so long that they speak a language unrelated to any other on earth.¨

.....

¨Savages¨ by Joe Kane

Read it.

-another river ride-

Eloy clearing yet another fallen tree from the river between the lodge and the community.

-steady and sure, hacking away with the machete- 

All in all I saw and learned some pretty spectacular things with the Huao. Or perhaps certain lessons were simply reinforced and further established within me....either way it was an indescribably and intensely real set of experiences that I won´t soon forget. I hope you give a minute to quietly study my pictures and let them do the majority of the talking for me. And don´t hesitate to ask questions!! Enjoy and Namaste! <3

What You Run Into With The Huao: Typical Encounters With Jungle Life

A quite soccer field on a sunny day.

Eloy, keeper of the lodge, and his pet...can´t remember what the Spanish or

 English name is but this little critter is called ¨kuba¨ in Hauorani. 

Peculiar little creature, no?

This is just a baby kuba but apparently they get to be about twice the size.

Lady and her little jungle pet. 

Johel warming up to the camera.....

Sibling love. Amor de hermanos. Lo máximo- the best. :)

Playin´ in the grass. 

All sorts of smiley. :)

All warmed up to the camera. :)

Precious little Hauo babe. 

Attentive. 

Eloy, Beatriz, Lady, and mysterious jungle

 pet headed back to the lodge. 

Good camouflage, eh? 

A jungle toad that cleverly mimics a viper for protection. 

Jose, the snake charmer. :)

Luckily we had my ¨Reptiles and Amphibians of the Amazon¨ field guide 

and were able to identify this pretty little fella. 

Snake terrarium. 

Reptile balancing act. Baby caiman in each hand

 and a baby boa between the toes. 

They make the cutest little chirping sound!

Charming baby boa.

This shot makes the snake appear much larger than it really was....

My favorite kind of diamonds. 

Just a little guy compared to Jose.

Snakes are awesome when they cooperate. :) 

Indigenous kids have the coolest pets! Me with a baby monkey, 

 one of four species of tamarin, genus Leontopithecus.

Based on the color pattern and other characteristics I have narrowed down this little 

guy to a Saddleback Tamarin, Saguinus fusicollis.

Known for their spastic and squirley behavior....but see for yourself! 

I would like to add that all of the animals were handled under the supervision of professional guides and natives, which needless to say, includes a great deal of care, respect, and understanding for the animal and it´s habitat.

Hope ya´ll enjoyed the post and pics! Mucho amor and namaste! :)