Wednesday, November 18, 2015

CLEANING FISH





I am privileged to live by the ocean.  The majesty of the California Coastline has been significant always.  It is probably in my DNA makeup somewhere.  My  maternal grandparents lived in the Azores, a Portuguese territory of islands in the Atlantic Ocean.  I traveled there in my twenties and met distant relatives and lived between the islands of Texerica and Sao Jorge.  




Small islands where, isolated from a larger society are deeply dependent on the sea. There are few places on those islands where the ocean is not below you, surrounding you, and being a constant wild force.  When my grandparents came to America, they found land in California along the ocean in Bolinas California, where my mother found her own bond with the deep waters.  I too was raised in close proximity to the sea, and being quite poor, we spent many free hours along the Bodega headlands clamming, rock fishing, surf fishing, wading for abalone, crabbing, and having many a meal from that bounty.  I was lucky then, and          
 I am lucky now. 

Some years ago someone asked me where home was.  I am sure there was the expectation that I would give them some region of the country or a town, and yet what was immediately on my lips was, “The ocean is my home.”  Saying it was strengthening to me, empowering and calming to me at the same time.




Nature is strong. It is always seeking to restore itself to it's best state.  The ocean is strong.  Wild and wonderful, it always seemed to me the same as how people think of God, beyond us, above us, better than us and stronger than us.  




I see that Nature finds ways to clean itself, I know that rivers can return to health, cleaning up the foul things that humans have left behind, and land can be restored to health by rest and introduction of wolves and other natural species.  But perhaps because I do live so close to the sea, I know more about it now and I am so deeply sad at the destruction  of clean healthy ocean waters.








There are many plastic garbage patches or gyres, in the oceans around the world.  There are six major ones in all of  oceans around the world, one as large as the state of Texas.  More research is proving that so many of the sea creatures have ingested or been otherwise damaged by plastics in the waters.  In their original form the marine life gets caught in them and mistakes them for food.  But something much more horrifying is that over time these break down into the small microbeads and become part of the water and every being it has touched.  It used to be true that eating seafood was healthy for you.  If we are not able to change how we deal with plastic, this will no longer be the case.  And probably is now no longer the case.  HELLO.












In the 60”s we used to say/chant  “GIVE PEACE A CHANCE”.  I would like to ask you to “GIVE THE OCEAN A CHANCE.”   Just for today, try to not buy plastic.  Buy glass bottles and recycle them,  Encourage your families to do the same.





I will let these photos speak for themselves.


Now you might ask what this has to do with how we feel as humans.  Well here is the thing.  We DO feel what is happening to the planet.  We DO feel the sadness of the animals, and ocean creatures.  We DO feel sick from the experience of living in this planet that is struggling to clean up our messes. This is sometimes beneath our conscious awareness, but that same sick feeling we get when we hear of senseless shooting and terrorism is a part of our awareness all the time.  It enters our dreams and lives beneath our words like a sickness, a cold or flu that hasn't quite blossomed.At some level we all know that we have seriously damaged our planet,  Maybe we have keep the degree of this damage hidden from ourselves, but we know.  I know.. You know.


                            I believe that Nature is working as hard as it can to clean up our trash.   





SO   JUST FOR TODAY…..  Clean something up.  Take care of the land, the ocean and the animals that we share this space with.  All of that will make you feel better.



Maybe each day we can help that process along.

Today..... clean something up.. 
Pour some water on a plant.  
Pick up ONE piece of trash.
Buy something in glass instead of plastic.
Plant a seed.
It will make the earth happy and your heart smile.


Blessings everyone.  November 18, 2015   Misty 




"In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions: "When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop being comforted by the sweet territory of silence?"
Gabrielle Roth