Celebrating Earth Day – 22 April

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Earth Day – 22 April

 
“Loving our Earth all year long – celebrating it today!”

Earth Day was first created on 22 April 1970 as a means to bring attention to the environment. It was an emerging concept at the time in terms of general public participation. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin came up with the idea for setting aside a day to honor the environment.

Over the years, the event has gained momentum and it is fêted in the U.S. as well as other countries. There is even an Earth Day Network where you can connect to various events and environmental campaigns.

Joyfully we sing our song to the Earth – a song of healing, a song of repair.

Caring For Our Earth

We should hold the Earth in great tenderness. Perhaps our notion of "having dominion" over the Earth has always been a terribly bad translation of an ancient text.

It should read that we "have responsibility" for the Earth; a great responsibility to care for and tender the Earth and all its inhabitants, most notably the plants and animals. 

What a different energy that would be for us. Instead of blithely taking, destroying, and wantonly discarding the Earth; we would protect and love it, and nurture it in every way that we could.

Perhaps a large majority of us will achieve that level of responsibility one day.

Arbor Day – Plant A Tree

This day is also shared with Arbor Day that emphasizes planting trees. The Arbor Day Foundation states:

 
“We inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees.”

We can always have more trees, can't we? It's delightful to listen to the wind moving through their leaves. This is a favorite tree planting quote:

 
“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago.
The second best time is now.”

Earth Day With The Radiance Technique®

Students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) can participate in Earth Day. Plants benefit from the universal energy in your Radiant Touch®. Students of The Second Degree of The Radiance Technique® can direct radiant energy to matters that concern them.

We certainly don't lack in topics that need attention.

For example, our honey bees need help and our marine life, such as whales and dolphins, need protection.

Others are working to bring balance to the deforestation and to promote clean drinking water. When you direct energy with TRT®, you will not control any outcomes. Rather, you offer radiant light from deep within to support clear and right choices.

A wonderful meditation for both The First and Second Degrees of TRT® – picture the Earth in your heart and do TRT® hands-on in Front Position #1 for an extended amount of time. Maybe 10 or 15 minutes – more, if you would like.

Celebrating Earth Day

The most common way to observe Earth Day is by participating in activities designed to preserve the environment and our natural resources. These include collecting garbage  for sorting and recycling, avoiding the use of gasoline-powered vehicles, picking up roadside trash and planting trees. 

There are many activities, especially for teaching our children. If you're stumped for ideas, this page at Family Education has a list that includes 10 Eco-Friendly Crafts and Top 10 Earth Day Books for Children.

 

Spring Is Springing Into The Equinox

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Spring Equinox Is Upon Us

The calendar tells us that spring is about to make an entrance, even if we can't see it outside our windows.

Spring is certainly arriving on the West Coast here in California. The flowering pear trees are happily blooming in a profusion of white. In this photo, their eager blossoms are given an early morning kiss by the rising sun.

For the East Coast, I fear that Spring will arrive with a bit of a limp. Another "chilly front" is predicted there for the Spring Equinox. The weather pattern "favors below-average temperatures in the eastern states late in the week and into early next week, including the first day of astronomical spring on March 20."

The East has already struggled through quite a severe winter. February was the second-coldest February since modern records began in 1895 for the Northeast.

Whatever our temperatures, we will, nonetheless, greet the Spring Equinox as we reach the equal balance of light and dark before heading into our longer days of summer.

Students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) can focus their meditations on this change of seasons. In particular, we can join our TRT® friends in the U.K. with their celebrations of the Spring Equinox. The Radiance Technique® Association for Great Britain (TRTAGB) has gone all out with planned events.

If you're able to be there in person, here are some of the activities offered.

Events for TRTAGB Spring Equinox Celebrations 2015

Thursday 19 March 3 – 5 pm: Meeting for alumni of The Third Degree 3A for Attunements and Directing at Woburn Walk, London, near Euston station. Followed by gathering for tea.

Friday 20 March: The New Moon is at 9.36 am. In Britain, the Eclipse begins about 8.30 as the moon begins to touch the edge of the Sun, reaching a maximum around 9.30 and moving away by 10.30. In the evening the Equinox is at 22.45.

Saturday 21 March: Morning meeting for TRT® Hands-on and Directing near Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Sunday 22 March: Meeting for TRT® Hands-on in Leicestershire

Monday 23 March: Visit Leicester Cathedral to participate in the historic Richard III ceremonial.

 

Doesn't all of that sound delightful? How I wish I could be there for the Richard III ceremony. The story of a King fallen in battle, and then whose remains were discovered under a parking lot, has captured the imagination of the world.

The Richard III ceremonial is just one of the events of this Spring Equinox.

The Richard III ceremonial is just one of the events of this Spring Equinox.

However, if you can't attend in person, fear not. There is a wonderful Inner Planes celebration and students of TRT® can join in from around the world.

Spring Equinox TRTAGB Inner Planes Celebrations: 19 – 23 March

This year the weekend of 19 – 23 March is special. A New Moon, an Eclipse of the Sun, and the Spring Equinox are all within a few days of each other.

Friday, 20 March: a Total Eclipse of the Sun is visible in the Faroe Islands with a partial eclipse visible in Britain. This Solar Alignment is a time of transformation for Planet Earth. It’s a wonderful occasion for renewing our commitment to our regular practice of the Cosmic Science of The Radiance Technique®.

Students of The First Degree of TRT®, as well as students of all other degrees can participate with TRT® hands-on.

“..in the Inner Planes from Thursday 19 March to Monday 23 March. Devote extra time each day for revitalizing with TRT® hands-on.

If you’ve studied to The Second Degree (or beyond), pattern the Cosmic Symbols and use the techniques you know for Directing Energy and Attunements.”
— TRTAGB

Whatever your plans for the Equinox on 20 March, the date marks the promise that Spring is on its way. We welcome the rebirth and blossoming on many levels.

Happy Spring Equinox.

If you have a keen eye for detail, you'll notice that the URL in the photos is RadiantNursing.com.

Exciting changes are taking place here. We've got a new name and we're thrilled to share all the details with you soon.

There may be a break between blog posts as we migrate to our new website with our name: Radiant Nursing. New name, same great content.

Actually, even better. We look forward to seeing you there!

Delightfully Bonding With Nature

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Animals, Critters, And Plants – That's Nature

We live on a planet filled with nature in its myriad forms – animals, plants and creatures of all shapes and sizes. As human beings, we are expanded not only in our thinking, but in our hearts, when we connect more deeply with them.

Many worlds thrive and evolve just beyond our human awareness; everything from the microscopic and macro-photographic levels to the far cosmic reaches of our galaxies. Fortunately, others are willing to share their photos and knowledge with us.

Benefits To Connecting With Nature

Connecting more deeply with the wholeness of the planet, and thus, with your own wholeness, has many benefits. It isn't just about "hugging a tree," although there is nothing wrong with that either!

Becoming more connected to nature helps you to slow down to a more natural rhythm as you listen to the "heartbeat" of the earth.

Connecting With Nature With The Radiance Technique®

For students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®), you can expand and deepen your bond with the living energies of the planet that include animals, plants and cycles of life. As we learn more about nature, we also increase our awareness of what is natural from within... and that knowledge expands with the use of TRT®.

TRT® is great to use out in nature, for example, swinging in a hammock, walking on a hike, sitting on a blanket in a nearby park, or relaxing in your own backyard.

Wherever you are, TRT® is there with you. With your Radiant hands-on, you breathe with the rhythm of nature and you begin to sense, from within, what is real and what is not.

 
 

Beginning with The First Degree of The Radiance Technique® you are able to use your TRT® hands-on with your pets whenever you touch them, caring for them and loving them.

As we become more aware of nature, we are able to deepen our connections – with nature and with each other.

 

Marsh Wren Competes With Van Damme

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A Marsh Wren And The Joys Of Nature

This humble marsh wren is certainly talented. He sings at the top of his voice. With gusto, as they say. All this, while doing the splits on cattail reeds.

No one can accuse this little bird of not fully participating in the moment.

Jean Claude Van Damme In Epic Volvo Ad

When I saw the marsh wren tweet by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah – I couldn't help but think of the Jean-Claude Van Damme video with his epic splits on two Volvo trucks. Van Damme's splits are crazy impressive, but I must say this little marsh wren is giving him some competition.

Personally, I find Van Damme's splits compelling at the age of 53. The Volvo advertisement picked a captivating choice of music, Only Time, by Enya. Two perfectly positioned 18-wheeler Volvo trucks roll smoothly backwards with early light gleaming off golden paint as the sun rises across the landscape of Spain.

Impressive.

I Confess, I Used To Drive A Volvo

To be honest, I'm probably a bit partial to the Van Damme/Volvo video because I drove a Volvo S-40 T5 AWD for nine years, that I first picked it up in Germany.

I drove that Volvo all over Europe for 4 wonderful years. What an awesome piece of machinery on the German Autobahn. I definitely miss driving 100 mph in the early morning on an empty, silent Autobahn that had no speed limit. But, that's a story for another time.

Traveling the highways in Europe, I was always a bit surprised to look up to see big rigs with the mark of Volvo or Mercedes Benz. I'm used to seeing those marks on cars in the U.S. – but not on long haul, transport trucks.

In the video, Volvo shows off the impressive and steady precision of its big rigs.

Back to the topic of splits – I dutifully acknowledge anyone who can do the splits, no matter the species. Between the two of them, Van Damme and the marsh wren, I'm not sure which one has outdone the other.

Here's a link to the song of a Marsh Wren so you can be alerted when one is near and perhaps observe its lovely splits.

 

Hummingbird aka Kiss-Flower

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Hummingbirds And Honey Bees

Getting ready for work one morning, I looked out my kitchen window and spied a hummingbird flitting amongst the flowering bushes in my backyard.

As the hummingbird lifted up from sipping a flower, it stopped mid-air. A honey bee had appeared and the two of them hovered in space directly facing one another. Long moments passed while they had, what appeared to be, quite a serious conversation.

Inter-Species Conversation

It was amazing to see this take place, suspended in the air, right in front of me. Remarkable, because hummingbirds and bees are some of the rare species that can actually hover.

They both flew a few inches further and then stopped again, bee nose to hummingbird beak. It would appear there was more to say. It really did seem that they chatted with purpose and intensity.

Then, the honey bee buzzed off into space and the hummingbird zipped back to another tempting flower. I couldn't tell who had the final word.

For the rest of the morning I wondered what that conversation was all about. Perhaps they were discussing the merits of the nearby flowers. Perhaps they were disputing territorial rights. Or, perhaps, it was a simple inter-species conversation of, "Hey, I see you. You can hover too!"

One of the unsolved, only witnessed, mysteries of nature.

Also Known As Kiss-Flower

One of my friends, whose heritage hails from Portugal, informed me that the word for hummingbird in Portuguese is "beija-flor."  This translates literally into "Kiss-Flower."

Talk about poetic language. "It was delightful to see a Kiss-Flower in my garden today."

Connecting With Nature

 It's possible to deepen your connection with plants and wildlife while observing the many creatures who share the planet with us.

There is much to be learned from nature, even in our own backyards. Watching hummingbirds and honey bees as they flit from blossom to blossom and listening to their buzzing sounds as they zoom here and there, our hearts are reminded to rejoice in the natural beauty that surrounds us.

May you be blessed with many hummingbirds and honey bees in your garden.

 

Heart Crumble And A Red-Winged Blackbird

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A Red-Winged Blackbird

I do my walk/jog on my lunch break in a field off to the side of the hospital.

There's a red-winged blackbird that must have a nest near-by. 

He is always perched on tall grasses, in the same spot, and every time I go past, up into the air he goes, flitting above my head, scolding and chastising me until I move further away.

This same activity occurs when I return.

painting by Sandra Merwin

Sweetness And Courage

I wish I could somehow reassure him that I will not go near his nest, but my human communication fails to cross the divide.

This little, brave being. Brave because, after all, he is so small and I am so big in comparison.

Despite our gargantuan size difference, his little heart of courage beat strong. He refused to be intimidated by this lumbering, clunky human passing by.

His sweetness, courage and tenacity crumble my heart into tiny pieces in the holy wonder and love of "all God's creatures, great and small."