Planting Seeds of Love

As I sit in my safe, comfortable home watching the sunrise over the hills, fog blanketing the farm fields, birds singing sweet morning songs, I ask my tender grief-struck heart: Why is there so much violence in the world and what am I doing about it?

Once the thoughts of self-judgment pass, I listen. I am here to heal and assist others in healing. I explore the root of disease by inviting balance into the body with herbs, whole foods, and energy work. My definition of disease is when there is anything but ease in the body. Dis-ease.

I believe one of the most pressing diseases to investigate in the world is violence– internal and outward.

Why does anyone choose violence? FEAR. We live in a fear-based political and economic system that destroys communities in the name of profit. Greed fuels separation and separation invites disconnection. Disconnection from self, from God, from truth, from one another. What happens when society is rooted in disconnection? Isolation.

Isolation is a breeding ground for dis-ease. It can feel so lonely that a person in deep isolation may not believe anything they do matters or will make a difference, which can lead to choices that cause suffering. Isolation is death. Humans cannot survive in isolation. We need each other. We also rely on the Earth for sustenance. Believing we are alone is believing we are not loved. Ouch. Feel that. It makes my heart hurt.

How does the cycle of separation impact you? Have you ever felt isolated?

There is another path. Even though it feels impossible and the discouragement is as terrifying as a large truck plowing through a crowd of people. You will not be defeated if you choose another path. And you will not do it alone, either.

You have to choose it, though. You have to wake up every damn day and say yes to LOVE. It is a decision. And you have the power to choose. Put your attention on love. Because love, just like fear, is energy. And when wherever we put our energy, is what we invite into the world.

Each and every one of us is creating our own reality. We have a lot of responsibility as human beings. One of the primary responsibilities, which they don’t really teach us in grade school, so hopefully it’s shared at home, is to love and accept ourselves. This cannot only be taught. It must be experienced.

If you choose not to be love, I accept you and love you regardless. Bless your journey.

Love is powerful and so are you.

Choose love when you witness the shootings of innocent Black people. Choose love when you are faced with men cat-calling you on the streets. Choose love when your place of worship is burned to the ground. Choose love when the sacred land that your tribe called home is taken in the name of “development.” Choose love when you look in the mirror and see your inevitable mortality. Choose love when love feels like the last emotion inside your body because anger, rage, hopelessness and despair run deep. Feel the anger, rage, hopelessness and despair. Then, choose love.

Love can be tender and love can be fierce.

When the shock wears off after watching the videos of innocent people being murdered or whacked onto the ground, I grieve. Grief is underneath everything. Grieving is a choice I make because if I don’t grieve, I hold the weight of all the injustice inside of me. Grief is one of the ways human beings show love. As I grieve, I am present. I am not numb. I am fully there, with the pain and suffering. I am not taking it on or bearing the weight, I am releasing it back to Source to be recycled. Grief is a gift to the One, the Divine, God, whatever you call it. Grief is love.

When we grieve, we honor the lives of those who have died.

Grief transforms hatred and fear into love and acceptance. When I grieve, I am also grieving for all the un-grieved. I am grieving for the police officers. When I grieve, I am grieving for the “terrorists.” What do they hold onto that manifests into violent behavior?

What do you hold onto that manifest as violence towards yourself?

What would the world be like if everyone released the pain held in their bodies through grief, rather than violence? When we use violence, we are using a force based in fear. And the cycle continues. Violence interrupts energy from transforming into the ultimate underlying truth: Love. If we are to heal from and eradicate racism, homophobia, sexism, and all other oppression, we have got to grieve.

To be brave is to take off your armor and grieve.

Your grief does not have to look a certain way. My grief probably looks different from yours. Grief can be loud and it can be soft. It may be different every day. From the lion’s roar to the puppy’s weep, all grief is welcome.

When grief is witnessed by another person, there is even greater capacity to heal. If no one is around who you trust, then grieve anyway. If we grieve in the arms of another, we are contradicting the deep seeded patterns of isolation. Grieving together is loving together.

Loving together is making peace.

The power of love in connection with other human beings, with nature, with self, is invincible and unending. Love is a force. Even when we end relationships or someone dies, the love does not die. It flows into other spaces seen and unseen. When we grieve the loss of relationships or someone who has died, we are spreading love everywhere.

Love is a seed. It is inside all the seeds that grow into plants, which I transform into medicine for healing those in need. The medicine I make is for everyone regardless of age, race, class, gender, or religious beliefs. It is what I do and how I be.

With Fierce + Tender Love,

Hannah