Plant a Tree

I hear a lot of people saying they don't know what to do to help save the planet. They fall into the trap of believing that they can't help, because they think the problem is too big, and so they stop there and give up. It's not that they're unwilling or incapable, they genuinely don't know what to do.
Well, all you members of New World Citizen, here's one thing you can do to help - Plant a Tree - You heard me ... Plant a Tree - It's not difficult ... you can do it anywhere and you'll be saving a life. Yes, saving a life - and that life could be of your mother, father, brother, sister, friend, neighbour, county, country - even planet.

The air, we breathe, is sadly not what it use to be ... Gases, emissions, pollution in general, is affecting our air very badly ... just look at all the factories and the gases they send up into the atmosphere. Think of the amount of plane emissions that get dumped every day. Think of the amount of fumes emitted by cars, buses, trains etc etc. All of that goes into our lungs when we breathe in and it doesn't matter where you live, you ARE affected.

I hear you say: "I live in a beautiful part of the countryside. The air here is pure. The water unspoiled. The land untouched" - but you're wrong.

That air, no matter where you live, is the same air we all breathe ... ALL OVER THE WORLD .... The air in your country is NOT exclusive to you. It travels ... and every breath you take in and then breathe out will, one day, come my way, and I will breathe it in and then breathe it out before it goes on its way to someone else.

Don't believe me? ... ok, well, watch how far cigarette smoke travels when it's blow out of a moving car window or how far smoke travels up and out of a chimney. Or, look up at the trail a plane can leave behind it. Air is not a containable substance. It cannot be isolated.
 
Air, is what keeps us alive. If we stop breathing, we know we die. So, air is, technically, the most important substance for our survival. Yet, so many people are dieing because of the quality of their air. Many cancers are caused by our polluted air and many diseases, as we know, can be transmitted through the air because viruses, like everything else on this planet are energy, (atoms), which are the very fibre of the air we breathe.

The air is cleaned by trees. They act like a big filter ... They suck in the bad stuff, cleanse it and send it back into the air in a clean format that we can breathe harmlessly.

The problem around the world is that too many trees are being cut down too quickly. Therefore, our filter is falling apart. It needs replacing like the filter in our cars.

The great news is that it's not too late to fix it. All we need to do is plant trees. If we all did, we would be giving ourselves and others the gift of life. If you plant a fruit tree, you give the world the gift of nourishment as well as life. You, also give the gift of anticipation - the excitement of waiting for the fruit to appear and ripen to consume, and hope - that the tree may bare fruit.

A tree isn't just a tree ... it's life itself ...
So, please plant a tree, be a hero and save a life.

Tears reflected in someone else's eyes

Someone once wrote that God never gives us more pain than we can handle. I guess what is meant by that phrase is that, as human beings, we are so resilient, we adapt to our circumstances. We take the pain and we learn to deal with it in the best possible way. We may even learn from it and eventually start to slowly move forward again; recomposing the pieces in this jigsaw we call life - growing a little stronger each day.

We may be undoubtedly left with scars, some emotional, others psychological or physical but they serve as a living testimony to our strength in overcoming each challenge we found along our path. They’re a reminder of what was; a souvenir we gained from the challenges we faced and are almost like a sign of bravery for every hurdle we managed to overcome and survive.

The healing process for each pain is different and differs from individual to individual. There are those who need to share their pain by being surrounded by others who care. There are those who need to retreat into quiet solitude with their own inner being and there are those who need a little of both.

There are those who look for answers in signs and small miracles and there are those who never question anything at all. They just accept everything as a coincidental part of living. There are some who never heal at all from their pain. There are some who only partially heal and there are those for whom wounds just keep reopening.

Whichever the case, it would seem that pain, whatever kind, always leaves a void; a little hollow space where the depth of the sheer emptiness is such that it feels like a big black hole from outer space slowly taking over - engulfing us with all its almighty dark expanse. Most of the time, we may feel like nobody understands our pain. Yet, in all honesty, we probably never truly understand the personal consequences of the pain of others.

We can sympathise and we can empathise with each other but our pain is just that - ours. Even when we go through the same experiences, we all relate to them in different ways. Our processing means, rates and abilities are all different, our sensitivities are different and our emotional make-ups are different because the experiences we have and the lessons we’ve learnt in life have all been taken in differently.

Therefore our responses to pain and our healing processes are very different and as unique to us as our personalities. We all have different coping strategies in place that are the product of our life’s journey and what we’ve encountered along the way.

Yet, we all probably share one common trait when it comes to pain. Just as we think our suffering couldn’t get any worse, something happens to trigger the healing process. A sign arrives, a friend says something, someone hugs us, or one day we may just see our own tears reflected back at us in someone else’s eyes.

Suddenly, the darkness is banished by resplendent light and clarity. The void is replaced with sheer beauty and we feel that graceful, gentle, loving touch of another human being’s soul. There is no transpersonal connection or communication that is purer, more beautiful or more satisfying to the very inner being of who we really are.

That’s when the healing process begins and we silently, but consciously, know it. That’s when we know we can get through whatever it is we’re going through.

So maybe, in relation to: "God never gives us more pain that we can handle" - perhaps it more appropriate to say that when God thinks we're on the verge of not being able to handle it, he sends us someone or something to bail us out, to replenish our souls and lay a healing hand on us.