I am reading this question as we not I, we are all of humanity, a concious assembly of earths elements in the same proportions.  If our goal is unity and world harmony, to include our interdependence with All?  Then no we are not there yet, but the snowball has started rolling it will gather speed as more souls come to love and a greater realisation of Oneness, we are all a part of life on this living organism we call planet earth. WE are on our way.!!!!!!

repeating this because it is appropriate here

       Gaia

Look down from space and feel wonderment
Look past the moon, dry as bone dust, catch your breath,
rising earth, alive, aglow, a gleaming membrane
of brightest blue, girded with great drifts of cloud..
Gaia, our ferry over the sea of existence
We are naked without earth, seed and forgetful progeny
of a super organism. Oceans and rivers are her blood.
Mountains are her spine, the land’s her bones.
Ley lines are meridians that carry her life force,
We consume the great forests of her lungs,
pollute the air she breathes in and out with the moons pull;
pour concrete on her heartbeat as it pulses beneath our feet.
All living creatures are her senses,
about seventy percent water and thirty percent earth,
the same proportions as land and sea.
We are a conscious assembly of earth’s elements,
know ourselves and we will know the universe

Now is the time to buy and plant wildflower seeds to help save our bees, if you don't have a garden a window box will help Have fun and enjoy helping, wild flowers are beautiful,  choose open flowers of the cultivated varieties that the bees can access and enjoy, leave some ground not mulched for the wild ground nesting bees.


In the UK

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/animals/bees.shtml 

http://www.mybumblebeegarden.co.uk/

FREE WILDFLOWER SEEDS FOR KIDS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/central/getinvolved/seedgiveaway.shtml

In the US

http://www.gardenrant.com/my_weblog/2007/07/gardening-for-b.html

http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/bees.shtml

I came accross this article linked to poetry, he is an author / poet, but this farmer is applying his spirituality to his land as natural farming, working with nature and in the process producing award winning wines. I figured it was worth sharing. He is working on a larger scale the principles I am trying to apply in my garden. Here is the link

http://www.visionmagazine.com/archives/0904/HolisticLiving_Wine.html

A  clump of sweet violets, so tenaciously beautiful, the drive to life -  growing from a crack in a wall, clinging on in such a tiny space, it reminded me of how humanity is squeezing out nature because of our sheer numbers. somehow i have faith nature will survive. We need to allocate space with corridoors between for nature to move as necessary  with Global warming, and so importantly, our gardens could become wildlife havens. I also saw a bee fly, quite beautiful, they are marked like a bumble bee, furry,with a long straight proboscis, and single wings, and are only seen where there are fairly plentiful wild bees, apparently they invade the wild bees nest and implant their offspring.

http://images.whatsthatbug.com/images/beefly_uk_kate.jpg

http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/images/screensavers/spring2008_2ss.jpg

they were as beautiful as these, but growing out of a wall.

I can't think of anything at the moment. Few questions arise, the universe often answers almost before questions appear when I am paying attention, my needs and wants are few. For example, my elderly mother feels the cold, heating has been expensive this winter, and then out of the blue someone rang offering a grant to completely cover the cost of better insulation and solar panels. I wondered how I could better balance a little more freedom for me, with my caring responsibilities and help was offered to give me a break without me needing to ask.
i guess it's just being open to what flows my way. i suppose my biggest question has been what to plant, wondering if we can expect another very wet summer, or a hot one. I decided to plan for both, cucurbits and other moisture loving veg, and tomatoes aubergines, tomatillos and peppers that love sunny weather - so far it is all flourishing, we have had a good mix of sunshine and rain. The heritage seeds I planted seem more vigorous than those the big companies provide, and germinated in abundance, plenty to give away and more than enough for us.  Life is good, the universe provides in abundance and I feel such gratitude.

"You can fix all the world's problems, in a garden. You can solve them all, in a garden....And most people today don't actually know that,...and that makes most people very insecure [to see salty dead desert soil bloom and desalinize before their eyes because they are more attached to their worries and mental constructions than solving the issue]."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohI6vnWZmk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5ZgzwoQ-ao&feature=related

It really wouldn't matter what I did - after all -  I have all the time in the world. I suspect it would include much that I already enjoy, and much more.besides poetry, giving time to charities, to love, and things I am passionate about., like ecology, and learning more about harmonising with nature.  I would venture into art, crafts and music, garden more,  read more, and write more. It would be spent creatively, and lovingly, and oh so very gratefully.

Love is my guide and influences my choices, there is no greater power, with love in control - no harm will befall. Love is there for all, not owned by anyone in particular  Love is a gift, and unlike neediness is not reclaimed or bartered. .

i feel that one would need a universal comparison beyond our planet to judge our progress but my gut feeling tells me we are still in diapers, We haven't left our home planet to colonise another yet.   LOL

By doing less to accomplish more, by concentrating on working in harmony with natures provision for the whole interdependence of lifeforms on this planet. I watched a bumble bee pollinating the pea like flowers on my broad beans early this morning,, it took all it's weight to prise open the lower part and enter each flower to give access to the pollen, the bee was going about it's life unhindered by me, no pesticides, no fungicides no digging, in return I will have a good crop of beans, the lush blossom on my fruit trees will be pollinated, I help by growing wild flowers like foxgloves and open flowers to sustain the bee population which is good locally, It all happens quietly with no effort on my part except a lack of interference with natures plan for things. We even have bee flies which only thrive where there is a good population of bees, as they lay their eggs in the wild bees larvae. Bee populations are threatened where we interrupt natural cycles with tilling pesticides, funcicides, destruction of habitat( some nest in the soil), in some areas bees are reduced to 15%, think of the consequences of no pollination  - reduced crops then starvation. It's not rocket science just good common sense. I just call it natural gardening, organic smacks of regulation and control and profits, nature strikes a balance when left alone with predators controlling pests, though I admit it takes nerve and a few losses to allow nature to re establish it is well worth it in the end, Nature is Wholeness
Earth inhales as well as exhales, taking in carbon with leaf fall and dead vegetable matter incorporated back into the soil by worms, when we till the soil we break this cycle of fertility hence the reliance on chemicals with modern agriculture.
No dig and no plow farming and gardening allows this natural replenishment cycle with no need for fertilisers. A plant takes 20% of its nourishment from the soil and 80 % from the sun when we allow it to decay back into the soil it actually increases fertility. At one fell swoop we could cut carbon by a third by allowing this natural cycle and absorbong carbon decay back into the soil We would be caring more for our own health and natural immunity too. We had forgotten how to feed the soil, we cannot just take - all life is give and take. I grew up in a farming community that went down to the beach after the spring tides to harvest the seas bounty, seaweed was stacked to de-salinate and then dressed on the land, ooooh yum  yum, the flavour of their tomatoes and potatoes was out of this world !!!!! Whatever happened to the flavour of our modern chemically supported food?

Some of us are, but then we all have different gifts, all pretty special.

If we are nature smart, with a naturalist intelligence, posessing heightened sensory perception - yes, and this pretty much fits me, I do tend to make connections and observations that others miss, and as a child I was the one poking around the rock pools to discover different species, and collecting various kinds of shells on the beach.I catalogued the local wildflowers, later in nursing my powers of observation came in very handy, I was often the first to notice a change in a patients condition.
Today in the garden I noticed the fruit on the jostaberries was remarkably early due to the recent warm spell, already pea sized. I'm really quick to sense anything amiss with people too, usually before they have a chance to tell me, I will express my concern.

Description: Naturalist intelligence deals with sensing patterns in and making connections to elements in nature. Using this same intelligence, people possessing enhanced levels of this intelligence may also be very interested in other species, or in the environment and the earth. Children possessing this type of intelligence may have a strong affinity to the outside world or to animals, and this interest often begins at an early age. They may enjoy subjects, shows and stories that deal with animals or natural phenomena. Or they may show unusual interest in subjects like biology, zoology, botany, geology, meteorology, paleontology, or astronomy. People possessing nature smarts are keenly aware of their surroundings and changes in their environment, even if these changes are at minute or subtle levels. Often this is due to their highly-developed levels of sensory perception. Their heightened senses may help them notice similarities, differences and changes in their surroundings more rapidly than others. People with naturalistic intelligence may be able to categorize or catalogue things easily too. Frequently, they may notice things others might not be aware of. As children these people often like to collect, classify, or read about things from nature -- rocks, fossils, butterflies, feathers, shells, and the like.

http://www.uwsp.edu/education/lwilson/LEARNING/natintel.htm

As a species, generally we are pretty slow, think how long it took for the general population to accept that global warming is happening. Maybe we need to work together to match skills and type of intelligence to occupations better..

I think my gifts are creativity, and an open mind.
The creativity comes out in my ideas, in poetry, in cooking, in gardening, and in problem solving.
I am open to new ideas and to others, seing the best in each person and with a genuine interest and love of people.  I choose to always think the best rather than the worst, as I hope they will do for me too. Having said that I am fully aware that like myself no one is perfect, and i'm always willing to forgive and forget and start afresh..  

The softest pink apple blossom, the purest white cherry blossom turned my thoughts to spirit and inspired this poem.



Spirits Blossom.

Take my hand, we will walk
through the door of evening

into the portal of night 
wind whistles through our hair.
 
into all that is boundless
we fly to diamante pinpricks

of sky, where spirit rises
no higher than all, no lower
 
than the least. Hold dreams
in our hearts, raise reason

to new heights of passion.
we open up to infinite

petals  as spirits blossom
into fragrant exotic flowers,

The universe has it's own flow, its own creative dance, it's a loving and harmonious flow, I have two choices fight against it or flow with it.. I choose to connect, to access it's power, to flow with it and delight in the fact that it allows for endless innovation, creativity, diversity and divinity evolving and growing towards the infinite, that is true unconditional love, what more could we ask for or wish for?

Anything creative or co creative, poetry, socialising, helping others, communicating,  gardening, cooking, learning, imagining, dreaming, building sandcastles in the air......... of course, these things are fired with love and passion.

Tossing up between Lateral thinking, I take the widest view  and come up wth solutions others miss or fail to consider and a dogged persistence - I don't give up on things I am passionate about.  Probably not unique, but they would be my contribution to any project or people I serve. I would like to add -, a genuine apprecation of others skills and contributions.