Here’s a guest post by Christine Barnes. Thanks, Christine.
Meditation exasperates me; I really want to do it, but each time I assume the position, my thoughts predictably hike down one of two paths:
Chattering Monkey Mind where a steady stream of self-talk incessantly questions me, my thoughts, and my life.
or
Galloping Horse Mind where my free flow of thoughts takes me outward to all kinds of possibilities.
In either case, I inevitably sigh quietly, stand, stretch and think, “I’m just not cut out for this.”
And then I take a giant stride or a backward roll, into the ocean.
I breathe in and out. Steady. Gentle. Breathing. There’s nothing to think of. And everything to notice, as life goes on around me, past me, above and below me. A universe unto itself. It is my Heaven on Earth.
While the ocean hosts a world of sounds (grunts, pops, squeaks, songs, bubbles, to name a few) it cannot speak for itself. It falls to those of us who love it to speak for it, be responsible for it, and commit to do what it takes to protect it.
Sylvia Earle and Mission Blue, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Ocean Elders, and Monterey Bay Research Institute are a few examples of people and organizations dedicated to protecting and preserving the ocean. Leonardo DiCaprio has taken a stand too. “But those are famous people, or big organizations” you think, “They have the platform and the resources to speak out…but what can I, one insignificant person, possibly do to help the ocean?
Actually, you can make a huge difference each day: say no to using a plastic drinking straw in your beverage. In the United States alone, we use 500 million straws on a daily basis. A huge number of those straws will make it into our environment, and will pollute and harm our waterways, oceans, beaches, and marine life.
You don’t need a straw for most of the beverages you drink.
And here’s the super-easiest action you can take:
When you order a drink in a restaurant, politely say, “No straw please.”
It’s simple.
Yoko Ono said, “Every drop in the ocean counts.” The ocean is counting on every person on earth to help keep it safe and alive.
And that is Heaven on Earth.
Here are a few sites with more information:
• Pledge to #stopsucking and read about Strawless Ocean.
• Commit to Be Straw Free, a movement started by Ben Cress when he was 9 years old. See Campaign to Stop Straws.
• Straw Wars is a National Geographic article that includes the plea to stop using straws.
Watch my ‘Turtle’ video, with the sound on, to get an idea of what meditating under water sounds like.
Martin Rutte
