It’s NOT OK to be upset. It’s NOT OK to be angry. It’s NOT OK to feel disappointed.
That’s what the world tells us. There's been a movement to watch our thoughts and feelings, making sure that we're positive at all times. We receive messages that we must shift these ‘bad’ feelings and find better ones. But when we do this, we close down and shut off parts of ourselves, suppressing the fullness of our emotions. To feel whole and be whole, we must honour all of it - good and bad. All emotions are beautiful and create a fullness and wholeness in our experience.
They are powerful forces that our bodies can use as fuel for action and healing. Our thoughts create reality, not the other way around. So when our reality doesn't look the way we want it to and brings up emotions that are unpleasant to us, that is the message we are being given to start building a bridge between what is and what can be.
Taking time to be aware of our reactions, thoughts and emotions will bring us into a space of clarity and balance where we can make informed decisions guided and supported by our soul... decisions that will usher in release and healing for ourselves and all of life around us.
Featuring Phoebe Barnard (www.phoebebarnard.com) Filmed in Mount Vernon, Washington State, USA.
The poem read at the start of this film is called 'The Peace of Wild Things' - by Wendell Berry.
Who is Reflections of Life? We are Justine and Michael (previously known as Green Renaissance). We use our passion for filmmaking and our love of storytelling, to remind our audience of one simple truth – that we are all human. The more that we understand and believe in this interconnectedness, the more we will treat ourselves, one another, and planet earth with a greater sense of compassion.
Filming - by Michael Raimondo Editing - by Justine du Toit Sound mix - by Tamryn Breakey
The following music tracks are used in this film : Small Strokes - by Martin Gauffin (via Epidemic Sound) Reflector - by Alan Ellis (via Epidemic Sound) Thistle - by Vincent & A Secret (via Epidemic Sound) Turning Point - by Alan Peretz (via ArtList) The Secretary's Daughter - by Benjamin Monday (via Epidemic Sound) And There He Was - by Bonn Fields (via Epidemic Sound)
A huge thank you to these guys, who gave so generously of their to time to help with translations, enabling us to provide subtitles in the following languages: Albanian - by Denis Skendaj Arabic - by Frihat Oussama Bulgarian - by Polina Stoyanova Croatian - by Davor Bobanac Dutch - by Karla Greven English - by Justine du Toit French - by Amélie Macoin German - by Tanja Pütz Greek - by Vicky Polychroni Hindi - by Parul Sharma Italian - by Grazia Gironella Korean - by Hotae Devin Noh Persian - by Mona Zadsham Polish - by Anna Konieczna Portuguese - by Sibylle Steinpass and Lucivani Valvassori Romanian - by Anca Zaharia Slovak - by Zuzana Beratsova Slovenian - by Jasmina Kovačič Spanish - by Paty Aguirre Ukrainian - by Sofia Bespalova Vietnamese - by Thi Le
When despair for the world grows in me,
and I wake in the night at the least sound,
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake rests
in his beauty on the water and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things.
I come into the presence of still water,
and I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world
and am free, still, and at peace with the world.
And that's the thing that one really needs
when you work, as I do, on biodiversity loss
and climate change.
The loss of trees, the loss of wetlands,
the loss of beautiful places, the loss of beautiful people,
all can bring me to tears.
And, you know, you don't have to be
a conservation biologist to feel that way.
Anybody who loves nature loves not only the beauty
but the tranquility of it.
And so when these places are lost,
it changes us at our core.
I looked and looked and looked for a home
that would have peace and lessons, wisdom.
And I was so lucky to find this place.
This land, tragically, had all been
beautiful old-growth forest
until about 70 years ago
when it was pretty well clear-cut
for human suburban development.
We found this little area with a third of an acre
in northwest Washington state,
which had beautiful grove of young cedar trees,
young but tall cedar trees.
And yet the land also had
these sad and beautiful and wise
stumps of old Western red cedar,
some of which had probably been about 600 or 700 years old
before they were cut.
And they remain a beautiful ecosystem,
each and every one of them unto itself.
They have rich, deep, dark soil.
They are nurseries for little tree saplings
that grow out from them.
I think of them as my ghosts.
Their spirit sits here in this land
and reminds me of its history
every time that I walk among them.
I sometimes go and sit just out there to be with them,
to remember what the land was like
when it was deep, dark, old-growth forest.
I always find it funny when people ask
why do we need nature or why do we need old nature,
why do we need wilderness?
The world was not put here as a playground for humanity.
We value convenience over wisdom.
We value comfort or immediate gratification
over the survival of life on Earth
and this planet that sustains all of us.
And it's our mindsets of entitlement
that the Earth is just put here as a food pantry for humanity.
It's not.
And the faster we shed ourselves of those notions,
those attitudes,
and shrink back into a state of well-being,
a state of balance,
the better off all of us will be on this planet.
I've known for decades where humanity could go
if it was not mindful about its future.
And decades later, here we are.
One of the things that disturbs me most
is the feeling that a lot of people have got
about it being too late.
And I don't think it's that people wish to be nihilistic
or paralyzed by grief.
They just are.
And I don't blame them for that.
But if each of us dwells in nihilism or despair,
then we cannot do anything.
When I consider the things that are lost,
I bring them into me.
They form part of the fire in my belly, to be honest.
They are part of the anger that fuels me.
They are part of the passion of the love
that I have for this Earth and this humanity.
If we cannot use anger to fuel us,
but in a way that is driven by love and compassion,
then what are we here for?
My mom was blessed with a really heart-centered personality.
She was focused on love and generosity of spirit
and bringing the life of the world
into her family and her community.
I would come into the room,
and she would be watching the news in tears
because of some grievous conflict somewhere in the world.
And I would be saddened by that.
And then I just realized, as I grew up as a kid,
that she was simply a woman who felt deeply
and that I was a woman who felt deeply.
And so early on, even before I became a scientist,
I realized that emotion was the currency
of our interaction as humans,
and it was more powerful at changing us
than any number of facts.
I think almost everybody would say
that we are human if we can love,
and we need to keep hold of that love now more than ever.
Everything that we know and love is at stake here.
Our planet, our society, our families,
our children, our friends' children,
every other species with whom we share the Earth,
and their children and grandchildren.
Remember that you are just one of my many millions of species.
Take the gift that you have been given and honor it
and honor everything around you
and live more kindly and more wisely
and with much more humility.
Thanks for watching our film.
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Thanks.
