GEO

Grounding yourself

photo credit: Mathew Henry from Upsplash

What is your usual answer when someone asks you where home is? Would it be your country, your town, or your neighborhood? Is it where you come from, where you now live, or where you are headed? The smaller frame of reference encompasses the others, so if home for you is the Bronx, then NYC and the USA are also home. Each of these notions of home define a boundary between you and others. Have you ever met someone who declares the earth to be their home, with no need for any other? There is a lot of fascinating fuss about whether or not intelligent life exists on other planets, but not so much interest about why humans on earth are still not able to see their own planet--all of it-- as their home. Some Americans would feel more at home on Mars than in Marseille.

What is the earth for you?

Your connection to this earth is far more vital than your identification with an arbitrary territory on its surface. There is electromagnetic interaction between your body and the earth when in direct contact with it. To be grounded is not just a metaphor. As you consciously ground yourself in the earth, you will feel more connected to everything on it.

Take off your shoes. The ground on which you walk is holy.

Identify an amount of time you think you need to spend defending your turf. Use the time instead to walk barefoot in the grass.