Upper Cathedral Valley Overlook, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah | © Patrick Kern, 2020
There is much on my mind and in my heart these days, friends. Yours, too, I know. I hope that you and yours are finding love and support... and remembering how critical it is to take downtime. We have more to do. I am using my particular position of privilege in the world to listen, learn, watch, donate, collaborate, and last – but never least – to hold space for others listening, rest, and healing.
I've recently returned from a two-and-a-half week cross country road trip from Seattle to New Mexico, and back. I'd like to share one of the insights that came from witnessing breathtaking geological marvels formed by inconceivable eons of erosion, plate tectonics, and climate change: Everything is changing – all the time. Nothing is static, immutable, or forever – not even a mountain. There is slow, steady, imperceptible change; urgent, violent, disruptive change; change that comes without warning; change that simmers and hints, a long time coming; change that unfurls wondrous before our eyes. We humans, too, are in flux, and woven into this fabric of time. Each one of us is already collectively and individually a part of history that is still being written. Indeed, today is the precise margin between future and past. We are fortunate enough to still be alive and breathing – and so, we are not done. Here we are! Alive! Together! Now! In THIS world! What a precious, precise gift. What will we do with it?
May we all have the grace and vision to recognize that this is our time, to move the sea change forward. For social justice. For peace. For equity. For climate health. For food security. For science. For kindness. For wellness. For each other. In the grand context of Earth's timeline, our lives are but a handful of decades (if we are lucky); let us make the most of it!
In aliveness & hope,
Nicole