Salutations Beautiful Bloomers 💐
If you have an itch, should you scratch it? Ah, the lesson I learned as a child one summer, visiting my grandmother at the farm in Northern Minnesota where my father grew up. Covered from head to toe in mosquito bites, I was instructed “if you scratch, it will just make it worse.” What a life lesson! But sooo much easier said than done.
How many irritants are you currently scratching that should just be left alone?
Mosquitos still love me. I have a bunch of bites currently, some in quite uncomfortable locations. Interesting timing as there has been conversation in Bloom and in the Discord about dwindling insect populations. We’re noticing a lack of bug splats on the windshields. No moths hovering around outdoor lights. An absence of cricket chirps. A thread on my neighborhood next door is pondering where the yellow jackets are this year…
Should I be grateful I have these itchy red bumps? It’s definitely an interesting approach to use in an effort not to scratch them.
Jordan and his oldest son spent the past three days doing paid work to safely get bark beetle infested 80 foot tall trees to the ground. In this time of insect loss, these critters seem to be thriving, attacking the trees from the top, boring holes that force the trees to push out sap in response, ultimately killing the host. Should we be grateful to the bark beetles?
Last week we focused on Death – of things like Expectations, Dreams, Legacy, Relationships. What is it that births out of these losses? Change is Inevitable so perhaps looking for the birthing in any situation, helps balance the grieving. It makes it possible to hold the sadness and the joy at the same time. It definitely feels empowering to be strengthening that skill as things get weirder and weirder in collapse.
It’s also easy to feel angry – at the mosquitos who bit me, at the beetles killing the trees, at the billionaires exploiting the planet, at the family members who break trust. But “holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” – Gautama Buddha
At the end of the day, it’s all about me and getting my oxygen mask on first, so I can ultimately be there to help others. Not today, mosquito bite, I’m not scratching.
Looking forward to seeing you in Bloom this week, as you are able – thanks to all for your contributions in the Discord 