Black Mountain

The greening of the mountains from Blue Ridge Rd, Black Mountain, North Carolina.

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Looking around me

 

The window painting at Pepperoni's Pizza.


I go up and down these stairs to the dining room at the Lakeview Center for Active Aging


Town Center Square in Black Mountain. The tower behind the buildings on the left serves the fire and police departments, and the little hut in the center of the park offers public bathrooms. 

----------------and to continue the thoughts about other kinds of intelligence I offer this:


 "In Nature Needs a New Pronoun, Robin Wall-Kimmerer says, “By learning from other species, we learn humility.” 

    • From what non-humans do you learn?
    • How has your relationship with Nature led you from self-centeredness to humility? 
    • How does that humility influence your work for climate justice? 

I’ve been asking myself and others these questions over the past week or so. Here are some things I’ve heard: 

    • If you plant tomato seedlings too early, they get spindly and don’t survive. They teach me to not get too far out in the future.
    • Honeybees thrive by relying on decentralized and collective decision-making. I want to do that in my work for justice. 
    • Blue Jays teach me about protecting that which I love. 
    • Still water teaches me that even in what feels like stagnation, water still gently flows. I need to remember that as I work for climate justice. 
    • I learn from trees. They root down and rise up. That’s what I want to do. 
    • I’m humbled by the cosmos. It’s so mysterious, and I remember I don’t know everything. 
    • Maple trees teach me that there is a season for growth and productivity, and a season for rest and restoration.

 P.S. Check out this video that I keep replaying because I love it so much!  Woyaya recorded by Wiyaala"




---------------------------------
Thanks 

Rev. Kelly at Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth (UUMFE)



Today's quote:

There’s so much joy to be felt in slowness and softness.

RA AVIS


7 comments:

  1. Beautiful scenes and photos. Take care, have a great day!

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  2. ...nature can teach us a lot if we are willing to take the time to learn.

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  3. Love seeing the photos... nice stairway view at the Lakeview Center. (NewRobin13)

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    1. It is my little bit of almost daily helping my knees stay strong...or the muscles that support them, I guess. Going out my front door I go down 4 steps too, and often am holding onto the banister. Which of course I do at Lakeview too!

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  4. Terrific questions. I learned a lot during my years of tending a large vegetable garden. Patience (no matter what Josie says), delight, acceptance.

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So glad to have your comments...whatever they may be. I'm one who likes to reply sometime or another, so others will see that; or you might happen back sometime and see what conversation might have started.