Conversations with Earth: Waves of Change

Advice From Ocean

I’ve been visiting with Ocean. 

We've been sharing love and gratitude,

and yesterday,

I asked if she would be willing to take away my doubt. And my fear.

She’s been answering… sometimes through soft gentle whispers

sometimes through just holding me.

Each and every day 

she gives something to practice with.

“I’m afraid of what is coming,” I confessed to Ocean.

“It’s just a wave,”

Ocean said, as she lifted me off my feet and set me back down again.

“There’s a lot of talk about endings and I’ve I’ve been studying history, and the change of great civilizations, and starvation….

I know how culture and the arts are the first to be attacked.

I studied the witching times, 

and colonization, 

and I’m afraid."

Ocean hummed and said, “And you storyteller, know that endings lead to beginnings." 

So I dove into her belly, 

and was held weightless as cold salty water washed away the fear of what is unknown.

“I want to prepare for the worst,” I said to Ocean.

“I think I am alive because some distant ancestor knew how to do just that.”

“Then learn how to ride the waves,” Ocean said. 

“A wave is a wave…

a wave of sound,

a wave of light,

a wave of water,

focused and harnessed power.”

And so Ocean has been teaching me,

how to always turn and face the wave,

and it is in the facing where choices are made.

To dive under,

To dive through,

To jump up and catch her,

Or to coordinate with Ocean and jump into her at just the right moment

So she can carry me to shore.

Every morning the lesson is the same:

Turn and face the wave and choose your ride.

Or

Turn your back, and the wave will push you to the ground.

But it’s never over — when you get smashed into the ground and spun around.

That is when you come back up. 

When you choose: Get out, or to stay in and ride another wave.

I handed over the last voice of my fear:

“But they say this is going to be a bad wave…”

Ocean laughed and splashed as she brought me another big swell to play in.

“A wave is a wave is a wave is a wave. Do dolphins call waves good or bad? They are just part of the world you live in. Learn to ride them.”

And with that, Ocean carried me to shore, and set me on my feet.

I walked away

the fear washed away

replaced with this story to tell.

Dear readers and writers,

This conversation with Ocean was written at the beginning of covid.

It was the beginning of a series of Conversations of Earth,

where space was created to listen to Earth.

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With all of the changes happening in the world—

and that one can imagine the very real threats to Earth as we know her,

I’ve decided what better time to fulfill on the idea of assembling a series of Conversations with Earth.

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Inspired by Noah Scalin’s A scull a day project:

I decided to do a 365 days of Conversations with Earth.

These daily missives will be available to paid subscribers.

Subscribers can:

• Engage them as prompts for your own writing

• And/or make requests for elements and themes (so excited for this!)

Today’s offering for subscribers is a conversation with how to know when Earth is speaking. It was written the day after the US elections.

Here is the preview of what you will find on the other side of the line below:

Me: How will I know it is you speaking, and not just myself?

Earth: Because I will open windows of possibility and weave threads of desire and hope into you because I know what it is to live through dying. 

This wisdom is known in every ounce of my dirt. That life comes through death.

And I will forever sing you a life song and a life line because that is what I am. 

For more CONVERSATIONS WITH EARTH (and to play a role in their creation)

I look forward to joining you on the other side of that line!