Still water, I'm laying over, Still water, lay my body down… Sad eyes in the weary night have you seen your Brother?
We hope this post finds you and your family healthy and holding strong. Here in Michigan, The Higher Haven’s native soil, our homestay, with some relaxed restrictions, has been extended through May 15th. While we’ll continue to stay aware and work together to protect one another, this will hopefully put us in the clear for our first gathering, a late May Herb Walk and Mushroom Hunt with our resident amateur Mycologist Anthony Blowers during the very heart of Morel season. You can revisit one our former walks here, and to learn more about Anthony’s knowledge, foraging skills, photography and culinary works, check out his Facebook page I Love Wild Mushrooms. While all is well as always in nature, safety precautions in the form of social distancing, proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and pre-walk plan communiqués will definitely be put in place. We’ll also post a terrific article or two on the importance of gut microbiomes, demonstrating the vital link between your body’s health and internal ecosystem and the ecosystems of the Earth, as it turns out that what’s good for your is also good for the planet.
We also hope you took in and enjoyed the former posts and talks from my teacher Shinzen Young, on how having a regular meditation practice can be so beneficial at this time. Taking part in an online retreat was a great boost, and depending on how the late spring and early summer unfold, we hope to continue with June classes and weekend retreats, although safety precautions and social distancing may limit the number of available spots. In the meantime, with so many experiencing extraordinary levels of stress and loss, one simple, effective way to bolster our individual and collective emotional health is to remember how we can help ourselves by helping others. Much of the scientific research on resilience — which is our ability to bounce back from adversity — has shown that having a sense of purpose, and giving support to others has a significant impact on our well-being. Look around and you’ll see it everywhere. Companies completely switching gears to go from providing products for the auto industry to producing hand sanitizers. Independent mask-making ventures with home sewing machines. Organizing community food deliveries from local markets and restaurants. Finding creative ways to educate kids who are at home. Brave people manning grocery stores and gas stations, to say nothing of the front-line nurses, doctors, and others jumping into the fray at hospitals, even risking their own lives. In the face of much darkness, stars shine bright.
Matching many of the horror stories of difficulty are equally encouraging tales of hope and transformation. My sister turned me on to an extremely engaging NPR On Point interview with Omid Safi, a professor of Islamic Studies at Duke University, who speaks of distilling life to its essence, questioning our relentless busyness and how quieting the din of life could be making room for something more. “There's actually something quite beautiful, in the midst of this storm that is around us, and all of the uncertainty and all of the suffering that we see,” said Safi. “I think there's some sense that the pace of life that we were living before was not so humane.” Another professor, Brian O’Connor, author of a book titled, "Idleness: A Philosophical Essay” challenging the case against activity, had this to share: “There's a kind of busyness that’s dedicated to sort of making a name for oneself, you know, establishing an identity. Whether it be a social media identity, a presence, a personality or a professional one where visibility, relentless visibility, is required. I think that probably the most stressful thing that many people put themselves through is building a visibility, which is highly dependent on whether anyone wants to look at you and whether anyone wants to regard you as worth looking at. I think that an escape from that strikes me as a pretty liberating possibility.” Listen to the interview, read a few additional positive, creative stories on this extraordinary period, and we’ll pass on additional information shortly.
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about.” - Rumi