How connected

do you feel

to the Earth?

To the sky?

To the sea?

To your body

to your voice

to your breath?

There are times

when I do not feel

connected

at all.

When I feel defined

by my thoughts

my emotions

my worries

my fears.

When I feel like nothing more

than an active mind

desperately seeking

a moment

of rest.

But when I watch the sun make its descent through vine covered jungle trees

when I climb creature crusted coral cliffs

when I wander markets in faraway lands

when I sit still with the sound of the ocean

I remember

that I am more than my mind.

I am also my body.

I am also my spirit.

I am also my breath.

I am filled with energy of the Earth.

In my struggle

to reconnect with nature

to reconnect with myself

I wonder

how have I

how have we all

wandered so far

from where we began?

Is it because we live in a world

where we listen

to outside opinions

conflicting noise

instead of the expert

within

who knows our body

who knows our self?

Do we ignore our own intuition

and instead follow

a society

controlled

by fear of rejection

fear of deception

fear of poverty

fear of disease.

Do we look to pills

to packages

to diets

to prescriptions

when we have everything

in ourselves

to clean

to nourish

to thrive?

We have learned to be disgusted by dirt

abhorred by insects

afraid of animals.

To communicate through email, through Facebook, through blogs

when there are people all around us

if we only offered them our attention.

To gaze at the world on a screen

passively mesmerized by its intoxicating ease

rather than absorb the magic that can only be seen

through our very own eyes.

To control land

to control animals

to control each other

to control ourselves.

We have learned

to abandon the harmony of nature

for the comfort of cultivation.

To seek fulfillment

by having

instead of finding contentment

through releasing.

And why do we feel compelled to control?

Why do we think that we need?

Why do we constantly look outside to fix what we feel inside?

Is it because we are told

that we are born broken

born flawed

born incomplete?

I want you to know

that you are whole

you are perfect

you are complete.

That you have every tool

inside

to heal

to survive

to thrive.

That you need nothing.

That you are secure.

That in a culture that identifies so deeply with what it consumes

you are more than the car that you drive

the clothes that you wear

the shoes on your feet.

You are so much more than a Mac or a PC.

You are more than the cocktail you drink

the shows that you watch

the bands that you like

the diet you follow

the religion you preach.

You are beauty.

You are passion.

You are expression.

You are a force to be reckoned with.

You are everything.