It’s summer holiday season again! That wonderful time of the year when everything around us seems to go slower. Business slows down, political decisions are on a standstill, cities get rid of their stressed inhabitants and replace them with carefree tourists. The lucky ones to be enjoying holiday breaks grab their suitcases, hiking boots and bikinis. The ones still working in the office discover little pockets of summer joy in their mornings, evenings and weekends.
And yet, this year feels different to me than any other.
The worst of the #wildfires seems to be over in #Greece for now. But the pain is greater than ever. As I am getting ready to leave for my 2 week break I find myself unable to shed this deep, innate sadness about the tragic disasters from the wildfires in Greece in the last few weeks. It’s always there, lurking. During my morning sup, while I read a story to my boys, while negotiating the terms of a new financing. My mind drifts to the disasters: the heartbreaking stories I heard from friends, the tragic loss of our country’s most beautiful natural resources, the wiping out of properties, memories, human lives that we watch take place around the globe this last month.
My own experience was like that of millions of others in Greece. Waking up every morning to a heavy cloud of smog, ashes flowing in the air, our hearts and minds glued to the news alerts, our hands busy with supporting humanitarian efforts. Global news paint a similar picture in many other countries around the globe, California, Italy, Romania, Latin America. NASA’s fire map reporting a whole globe on fire – and experts warn that fires are to be followed by massive floods during rainy season.
Personally I have not suffered any loss. Yet I feel inexplicably saddened by all this. And I am desperately trying to shake this sadness off. I need to reassure my mind that there is still beauty in this world. That this planet 🌍 is still safe for our children to live in.
Today I decided to spend a day with my family in the forest. Here, amidst the hundred year old trees, the luminous water streams, the nightingale songs and the scenic routes, we connected with the abundance of the universe. We were all reminded how inextricably humans are connected to #nature. How we depend on nature for our very existence, for our being. Forests and their glorious fauna and flora are not just there to please our senses and provide resources to our needs. They are an extension of ourselves. We are connected to them by divine energy. We depend on them for our very existence.
Scientists explain that plants and trees breathe, live, experience joy and pain just like all other living creatures of the planet do. Historians explain how landscape can make or break entire civilisations, how it can help an empire grow or bring it to its knees. Ancient wisdom explains how an intimate relationship with the environment is built into the human psyche. It is no exaggeration then to say that when nature thrives humans thrive – when nature is ruined humans are brought to ruin.
So perhaps my inexplicable sadness is not that inexplicable after all.
Our excursion into nature today, helped us experience a greater sense of peace and connection. It is here, among the trees and streams that my mind stopped racing and my soul found refuge.
I know for a fact that we, as humans, are resilient and hard working and ingenious. I have seen my own parents, like millions of other refugees around the globe, rebuild their lives from scratch. We can re-build all the buildings that we lost. Have new memories spring out of the ashes. Create strong relationships through this challenge.
But can we also grow wiser? Or will we continue to destruct the very thing that keeps us alive?
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