Being anchored

So much seems to be happening at the moment that I feel I have lost my connection to the earth. I still continue to go out and work every morning of course, but for about a week now it has been something that I do each morning before I deal with various issues/problems that seem to be a constant part of my life right now. This has included things like; having a volunteer who got rather unbalanced and left leaving a trail of chaos behind her, going to two meetings and writing up the quite complex notes, dealing with people who want to come and see Buddha Garden and talk about what we do. The list is endless and each new day seems to bring a new crop of ‘things that have to be dealt with’.

I find myself focusing on these things as my hands continue to weed and plant and pick.

I suppose if I was so inclined I could castigate myself for not being properly ‘present’ while I am doing the work on the land. That if my whole consciousness was focused on the present moment as I do this work I wouldn’t lose my earth connection. And yet the fact that I do the work, that my hands touch the earth and I do the things necessary to grow food means that I never lose the connection completely. Even when I am focused on something else in my head my hands working in and with the soil are the reminder which I feel physically even if it gets crowded out by other things taking up my attention.

Once again I see how the work of growing food is the very physical anchor that keeps me connected with the earth – whether I temporarily lose sight of it or not.