every single moment

i pray every day. my lifestyle is my prayer. daily choices for planetary health and well-being of everyone sharing this planet. photography. texts. quotes. food. movies. recipes. sport. EARTHspiration.

[earthspiration-blog]

soulution Always when facing a problem or challenge I wish to remember this word. “Soulution” which for. E means solving a problem by thinking bigger. Beyond the current problem. Finding a long term and sustainable solution and forgetting one’s own ego.

[earthspiration-blog]

I am in love with this poem by Climbing poetree

Being human

I wonder if the sun debates dawn some mornings not wanting to rise out of bed from under the down-feather horizon

if the sky grows tired of being everywhere at once adapting to the mood swings of the weather

if clouds drift off trying to hold themselves together make deals with gravity to loiter a little longer

I wonder if rain is scared of falling if it has trouble letting go

if snow flakes get sick of being perfect all the time each one trying to be one-of-a-kind

I wonder if stars wish upon themselves before the die if they need to teach their young how to shine

I wonder if shadows long to just-for-once feel the sun if they get lost in the shuffle not knowing where they’re from

I wonder if sunrise and sunset respect each other even though they’ve never met

if volcanoes get stressed if storms have regrets if compost believes in life after death

I wonder if breath ever thinks of suicide if the wind just wants to sit still sometimes and watch the world pass by

if smoke was born knowing how to rise if rainbows get shy back stage not sure if their colors match right

I wonder if lightning sets an alarm clock to know when to crack if rivers ever stop and think of turning back

if streams meet the wrong sea and their whole lives run off-track I wonder if the snow wants to be black

if the soil thinks she’s too dark if butterflies want to cover up their marks if rocks are self-conscious of their weight if mountains are insecure of their strength

I wonder if waves get discouraged crawling up the sand only to be pulled back again to where they began

if land feels stepped upon if sand feels insignificant if trees need to question their lovers to know where they stand

if branches waver at the crossroads unsure of which way to grow if the leaves understand they’re replaceable and still dance when the wind blows

I wonder where the moon goes when she is in hiding I want to find her there

and watch the ocean spin from a distance listen to her stir in her sleep

effort give way to existence

by Naima

[earthspiration-blog]

rolling outside of comfort zone

i have started with a new activity. completely new to my life. something i have never done before. #longboarding

when i was little i made my grandma buy me a skateboard because i loved the shape and colors of it. i rode it with my friend in a very comfortable manner - one was sitting on it and the other person was pushing the board. we were browsing the streets of our neighborhood like that not even trying to use it the way we were supposed to except of those few times i practiced at home on the carpet because it would not roll that easily (dangerously).

now few decades later i am back to it.

the board is new. i like the shape and color and i actually stand on it. i took it from the beginning. on a parking lot. just kicking and rolling and breaking. then i add both feet on the board and turns. working in my knees and hips. next step. downhill. just a friendly decline. the "speed" keeps me tensed first. three rounds later it does not feel that fast anymore. some more rounds and i feel the physics of it. when have i done something like that latest?

no goals. no reasons for doing it. no visions of victory nor top performance. just trying something new that is beyond my comfort zone. new environment. new kind of movement (which i definitely felt next day). playing. for the sake of joy. for being in the moment.

[earthspiration-blog]

how are you

such a simple question. we ask it every day. in some cultures it does not even mean that we wonder how a person is. an answer to how are you is how are you. 

a: how are you? b: how are you?

but i dare to say that we actually mean it most of the times. what do we answer? i've got the question recently and i sincerely wanted to tell how i was. my answer was: i am ok thank you.

i could say so many things. i was happy to see the person. i was impatient waiting for an important answer from another person. i was disappointed by yet another person. i was excited about someones's idea. i felt content. i was in love. i was concerned... all that at the same time. i chose to answer with a simple ok. but for myself i went through all my states of mind and emotions. we do it all the time. not only when someone asks. and then we choose one state that defines how we are at a certain moment. sometimes we even get stuck in past feelings and when we give it another thought instead of an automatic answer, we find out that we've actually moved on. so how am i in every single moment? happy? impatient? disappointed? excited? content? in love? concerned? i choose.

we do this all the time. we maybe do not choose everything that happens to us but we choose what we focus on. every single moment.

[earthspiration-blog]

to be true to oneself

sports help me to be in balance. in sports i have learnt to focus and then let go. in sports i have learnt to do my best and practice every single moment approach.

sports remind me and sports teach me. yesterday's workout was a great demonstration of how i can choose who i am and what i do.

i am not training for olympics. i am not joining any competition. not even a local one. i do not train in order to look certain way. i do it to stay healthy. or as my training program says: fit body fresh mind.

none is involved in my training so none cares whether i execute the exercises one way or another. the only ones who care are my consciousness and my conscience. these buddies are there when i am weighing to slow down or try one more step in full speed.

and so i try and i either find out that i still can do it properly or i understand that i should decrease frequency for the sake of quality (or mere oxygen).

it never feels good to do half good exercises - meaning half good of my ability. it feels like waste of time. and as a matter of fact - it can be dangerous too. and through this experience i understand that it is the same in life. we decide every single moment how we do what we do. are we putting our heart and soul into our efforts? are we just doing it for having it done hoping that none else cares about how it is done?

every single moment we are making a choice to be true to ourselves or not.

[earthspiration-blog]

run 4 sobriety

freedom is to go out running. today i did the run as a part of the fit body fresh mind program by amanda bisk.

it is easy to downprioritize sports. first you don't feel the difference. then you feel fatigue and can't make yourself go and do some workouts. knowing that makes you just more tired finding some more excuses why to skip a workout.

only breaking that circle gives a kick. what might discourage you is that you are in a bad shape and compare with how faster, stronger, flexier you were last time when you did some exercise. but do you know what? it does not matter. it never matters whether you are better or worse than what you remember about yourself. what matters is that you do it because as long as you do it properly it is better than avoiding it. that's for sure.

joining some programs or groups can also help. our #run4sobriety is a global celebration of freedom from substances. it is a celebration of powerful mind and body and it is a celebration of society that chooses a system that is built for well-being of their citizens.

[earthspiration-blog]

back in time.

i have been listening to this spoken word for some days now. there is so much beauty in the way Shane chooses to assemble his poetry. every meaning resonates with the truth of my experience and i remember. i am back in time and i am in now. and i can smell and feel the past and have distance to it like watching it on a thin glass. the boundry is fragile so i just sit and listen keeping the air in my lungs so it won't blow away the memory that has just come back

remember how we forgot

shane koyczan

remember how we forgot? remember how no one ever really died in the wars we fought? because each gunshot came from our finger tips and we never really kept them loaded just in case 'cause each enemy was a friend and none of it was about oil, religion, or land it was all just pretend

remember how we used to bend reality like we were circus strong men like our imaginations were in shape then like we were all ninjas trained in the deadly art of "did not". like "i totally got you" "did not" remember how we forgot?

remember how our parents told us never to look directly into the sun and how we were their sun and so we never looked directly into the mirror, in fear that we would go blind

remember how we used to find any old reason just to call someone we were crushing on like we could just pawn off our sense of embarrassment buy a chunk of courage that would last just long enough to have us askin em about math and stuff and how stuff was just stuff like i heard you're getting braces, now braces somehow were and still are kinda hot remember how we forgot?

remember how we all caught mono and our folks would go, "oh the kissing disease" and our first steps into gangstahood had us saying “mother please.” even though we’d never really kissed anyone even though we never did half the things we said we’d done we just spun yarn like rumpelstiltskin spun gold. we told ghost stories never realizing we would one day ourselves become ghosts haunting the hallways of schools, breaking all the rules of silence in the library but we had no chains to rattle no voice to battle the fact that we had no vocal chords we had only finger nails on chalk boards we would scream, shout, and yell trying to tell ourselves what experience can teach is what no teacher taught remember how we forgot?

once upon a time, we were young. our dreams hung like apples waiting to be picked and peeled and hope was something needing to be reeled-in so we can fill the always empty big fish bin with the one that got away and proudly say that "this time, impossible is not an option" because success is so akin to effort and opportunity they could be related so we took chances we figure skated on thin ice believed that each slice of life was served with something sweet on the side and failure was never nearly as important as the fact that we tried that in the war against frailty and limitation we supplied the determination it takes to make ideas and goals the parents of possibility and we believe ourselves to be members of this family not just one branch on one tree but a forest whose roots make up a dynasty so when I call you sis or bro it’s not lightly and when I ask you to remember it’s because the future isn't what it used to be.

so remember now pay tribute to every sacrifice laid upon the altar of somehow for all the times somehow we overcame somehow we pushed on somehow we’ve gone the distance and in going there we possessed the freedom to map the uncharted lands of any and everywhere

we are unbound six feet above the underground where we will all one day rest so until then test the limits test the boundaries and borders as if the headquarters of potential lay just beyond the world's edge let the belief that hope belongs to us all be the pledge you take to make the unachievable as inconceivable as the false fact that we were never here

we were here and our memories are as dear to us as every slow motion moment or held breath so remember every instance before death every first kiss, first dance, near miss, last chance, yes, no, maybe so let us go the distance once more let us remember all the moments that were and were not like the point is something we can get and what we can get is what we got Because all we have are the times between the moments we connect each dot So live and remember Burn like an ember capable of starting fires Like each moment inspires the next Like memories are the context we put ourselves in so that life becomes the next of kin we need to notify in case of a big bang or extinction level event

let now be our advent let us live like we meant it let us burn like we mean it because this world doesn't give a shit if we end in a train wreck or a car crash if our story ends with a dot or dash if we were dust or ash because all we were is all we’ll be and all we are is the in-between of so far, so good so forget every would, could, or should not

forget remembering how we forgot live like a plot twist exists now and in memory because we burn bright our light leaves scars on the sun let no one say we will be undone by time's passing the memories we are amassing will stand as testament that somehow we bent minds around the concept that we see others within ourselves. that self-knowledge can't be found on bookshelves so who we are has no bearing on how we appear look directly into every mirror realize our reflection is the first sentence to a story and our story starts: "We were here."

[earthspiration-blog]

life sentence

painting the world. every day. by every action. by what you say. how do you choose the colors you use? what if you knew that the colors stay? that rain won't wash them away? what if you knew the colors stay? what if you knew the colors? what if you knew? what if? 

how do you chose the colors you use? do you chose? and how do you paint? are you a mirror? or do you create? are you inspired? or insecure? Or just "in"? regardless. do you go for more? or less? or is it more or less the same? is it just a game? never. there is always at least a stain. strain your eyes. it is there. your masterpiece. you also are the master of this (lack of) peace. peace of mind. do you mind? would you mind? Mind the gap at least. it's painted black and yellow. black and yellow. black and yellow. thank you for the warning by the way. some paintings are obvious. we understand them right away. and some make you look away. walk away. you leave. the colors stay. will you come back? paint over? Or will you call it a game over? what do you say? word by word... until you paint a life sentence? what color is a grid? the same as greed? and fear? do you fear to be free? what does it mean to be free? infinity? infinity of choices? every day. every action. every word. how do you choose the colors you use?

[earthspiration-blog]

there are many reasons for lifestyle choices: health, appearance, expression of opinion or ideology, protest, compassion. some of the active choices i have made in my life are being vegetarian and living alcohol-free. why so? The reasons for those decisions were very simple and only after years of living like that i have collected those rational factual arguments that every activist will gladly share with you.

my genuine reason was appreciation. appreciation of my good health and of the world i was living in. simple. safe. diverse. rich. impressive. magic world. i did not see any single reason why i should compromise either my health or the earth's condition.

my father has always been talking about micro- and macrocosmus we are part of. from a single cell beyond our galaxy everything is interconnected and everything is built of forces holding smaller particles together. on all levels. if a part breaks, the system is out of balance either spending energy on reparation or it falls apart. simple. i did not see why i should consciously spoil something that works well.

it has never been about limiting myself. exactly the other way around. it has always been about freedom. freedom to live and use my body every single moment. freedom to discover what my real potential is. freedom to live in a healthy environment where the nature hosts us generously and provides everything we need. i was lucky enough to be born in the part of the world where a simple person as i could experience it. why would i want to spoil it?

for me the earth and a cell are symbols of perfection, unity and inteligence of the universe. it is not easy to grasp the greatness of it. i think that for humans the easiest way to understand it is through witnessing the functioning of our own bodies. when i think about it i feel immense appreciation and apprEARTHiation for life and the freedom it gives me. and that is what this blog is about.