Written by Dr. Frankie Timmers

New words are coming into our vocabulary all the time.

In the last year I’ve learned two that break my heart. 

They are omnicide and eco-anxiety.

Omnicide: the destruction of all life or all human life 

Eco-anxiety: extreme worry about current and future harm to the environment caused by human activity and climate change.

They happen to be names given to something I’ve felt, known, seen, intuited and experienced. It even felt like ‘an elephant in the room’ experience for me, especially in spiritual circles.

We are in what scientist call the sixth extinction:

The Holocene extinction, otherwise referred to as the sixth mass extinction or Anthropocene extinction, is an ongoing extinction event of species during the present Holocene epoch (with the more recent time sometimes called Anthropocene) as a result of human activity.

Our soil, sea and air are now so toxic that humans and animals have a hard time surviving in healthy ways.

I could go on, but you might be wondering by now:

”Where is she going with this?”

“How metaphysical is this?”

“How is this IN principle?”

To me it is actually an invitation to turn deeper within. We teach as within, so without. As without, so within………To notice how we feel, what believe and ask ourselves what is mine to be and do?

It’s a rich practice to hold life in both/and (rather than either/or). Holding opposites and find oneness in a personal intimate way allows us to serve in more personal and poignant ways.

For me holding both grief and love and seeing them as one instead of separate has allowed me to go deeper into my consciousness and remember what is mine to do and be.

It has actually become living my life in a simpler way:

•                    Being in the present moment

•                    Listening to my intuition and following it

•                    Serving and loving my fellow human beings and our beloved Mother Earth and all its creatures….to be a channel for Love, Light, Peace, Power, Joy, Beauty and Wisdom (our beloved seven qualities of God per Thomas Toward)

I realized that if I stay in eco-grief I have forgotten who and what I really am: Truth

The forgetting is the first cause of omnicide.

The remembering is Joy.

I choose JOY

I chose my broken heart as an open heart.

There is so much to be grateful for.

The simple practice of gratitude actually heals and not just me….for the practices manifest beyond me.

The birds in the tree, the flowers in the garden..

The person who I greet in the street and…..

“It is not joy that makes us grateful. It is gratitude that makes us joyful.” Anonymous