Mmmmmmm, I enjoyed sharing some fun reflections in my newsletter this week from an ancient Ecuadorian forest - here's a recap in case you missed the flow:
WOW...as I write this, we just got back from a powerful, inspiring walk in the nearby Podocarpus national forest here in Ecuador...I have been wanting to go hikin
g in the forest here ever since we came to Ecuador and today we finally made it out into the hills... What an incredible TREAT ;O
I feel very moved and transformed by this simple two-hour walk in the wilderness...my mind echoes with the quote from Henry David Thoreau: "In wildness is the preservation of the world." This feels distinctly true and significant to me right now... It was so interesting to be out there, in this ancient forest, surrounded by ferns, native trees, orchids, hummingbirds, butterflies and seemingly endless biodiversity... the air felt so *rich*, moist, nourishing and clean...
Up in the cloud forest, the range of flora, the greenery and moistness seemed to be in sharp contrast to the currently parched "dry season" landscape of most of this area...it is so odd to think that this whole area probably used to be just like this - primary forest, untouched by human madness, rich, dense, teeeeeming with life and energy, before clear-cutting for cattle raising became the norm...
It felt so REAL to be out there in that peaceful, serene wilderness, even if it has man-made nature trails with signposts for us to follow...I felt such an easy and direct sense of connection to nature/the divine... It then felt pretty surreal to come back out of there and drive along human-made tarmac roads, see road signs, houses, cars, people in clothing, churches and so on... everything right now outside of that pristine forest environment has a sense of "unreality" to me - what *are* we humans doing here...?
(Continued below...)
on August the 19th I enjoyed:
1 quart water
1.5 cups watermelon/orange juice
1 cup intense greeeeeeen/carrot juice
5 granadillas
bowl of yummmmmmers cucumber/dulse/avocado/kim chi salad, stuffed into nori sheets with Sea Clear, followed by a small handful of dried jack fruit pieces
water of two young coconuts
chunk of fresh papaya
2 cups water
on August the 20th I loved:
1 quart water
8 granadillas
2 cups water
3 tbsp spirulina crunchies
water of a young coconut
bowl of yummmmmmers cucumber/dulse/avocado/kim chi salad, stuffed into nori sheets with Sea Clear, followed by a small handful of dried jack fruit pieces
water of two young coconuts
mug of herbal tea
The majority of us seem to be living so dramatically removed from an "original" state of being in nature as to make our lives seem almost farcical from my current point of view... Walking in the forest today, we were contemplating how different a human might be if they grew up in that kind of environment - what would they eat, what would their connection with nature look like, where would they live, what would they focus their attention on...? In contrast to the kinds of possibilities that seemed to arise in th at context, even current human choices that we might consider "eco" or "green" seem frankly bizarre in comparison - running an organic farm for example, or buying food from a health food store, running an "eco-friendly" business from a computer, making a superfood smoothie in a high-speed blender or going on an "eco"-holiday rather than a standard trip... Wow, humans strike me as so very odd sometimes...such a strange presence here on Earth...our actions and interactions seem so at odds with the quietness, presence and clarity of pure undisturbed nature...which is always there in the background, quietly carrying on with its own reality, while the maddening whirl of modern human reality spins and jumbles on over the top, like a bizarre superimposed cartoon of psychotic, parasitic behaviour...
Hmmmmm, well, perhaps that may sound harsh to some people and of course we are all part of this current co-creation... my intention here is certainly not to try to "blame" anyone for our current context, I was simply really struck today by the beauty, majesty and clarity of the pristine forest and wanted to share some of this perspective here, to pe rhaps serve as a little reminder to us all, myself very much included, that as Thoreau stated, "In wildness is the preservation of the world."
(You can see some more of my pictures from this trip on Facebook HERE and a little video of our forest reflections HERE - enjoy ;)
on August the 21st I appreciated:
1 quart water
6 granadillas
water of a young coconut
2 cups greeeeen smoothie: papaya, mango, greeeeens from the garden
bowl of yummmmmmers cucumber/dulse/avocado/kim chi salad, stuffed into nori sheets with Sea Clear, followed by a small handful of dried jack fruit pieces
water of two young coconuts
chunk of Mr. M's rawmarkable Pili Nut "Chocolate"
mug of herbal tea
on August the 22nd I was blissed with:
1 quart water
6 granadillas
2 cups "Chocolate Milk" green juice: spinach, romaine, carrot, alfalfa
water of a young coconut
bowl of yummmmmmers cucumber/dulse/avocado/kim chi salad, stuffed into nori sheets with Sea Clear, followed by yummers raw desserts at a potluck party: blackberry "cheesecake" with Andean blueberry sauce, durian ice pie, fruit salad :)
water of two young coconuts
1 cup waterIn other news, it was also fun to see this week that Bernando LaPallo, the healthy Arizona centenarian, just turned 110 :) A truly vibrant leo brother - check out an ABC report on his 110th birthday reflections HERE - long live this inspiring example :)
All love,
Angelalaalalaaaaaaaaa. xxx
