Planting Seeds of Self-Care in Nature's Soil

What can we learn from Nature about self-care?

Ever wondered what self-care secrets are hiding in your backyard garden or the nearest park? Prepare to be rooted in a revelation that will not only enrich your understanding of self-care but also weave you closer to the intricate web of life that sustains us. 

On today's episode of Give a F*k, we embark on an enlightening journey through the concept of biomimicry and how it can be more than just an engineering principle; it can be profound lessons from Nature. Uncover the symbiotic relationship we share with plants as we discuss how fostering these connections can lead to a flourishing life for ourselves and Mother Earth. 

This episode offers a fresh perspective on nurturing our growth akin to repotting a plant, reawakening our connection with Nature, and trusting our intuition. 

You'll be invited to reflect on making choices that honor your well-being and the environment. Join me, and let's cultivate a life of enlightenment, one leaf at a time.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

What can we learn from plants about self-care? Maybe you've never thought about that until just now. That's all the more reason to tune into this episode. In Season 2, episode 8 of Give a Fuck, presented by Spark Consciousness, we're talking about one of many lessons we can learn from nature about caring for ourselves and the planet. Join us to learn more. Welcome to Season 2, episode 8 of Give a Fuck, presented by Spark Consciousness. We're dropping knowledge bombs and answering your burning questions about nature, animals, spirituality, mental health, women's empowerment and other profound topics. This podcast probably won't change your life, but hopefully it will give you some food for thought, some guidance on this twisted path we call human existence. My role as an award-winning story keeper and catalyst for healing humanity and Mother Earth is to help you reawaken to your own connection with nature and, through this reconnection, reacquaint you with your intuition. What you do with it, how you incorporate that into your life, is up to you. I hope you'll make changes that benefit both you personally and mother earth as a whole. I hope you'll share what you learn here with others and that they'll make different, more compassionate and enlightened choices too. Either way, take what works for you, leave the rest. Always work to be the best version of yourself and try to leave the world a little better than it was when you arrived. And I would like to just give a quick shout out to the best realtor I have probably ever worked with. His name is Vinnie Russo, with Keller Williams in the Pioneer Valley area of Massachusetts, and if you're planning a move to that area, you definitely need him. He's fabulous. He's also a dear friend, and that's all I'm going to say on the moving thing, because I don't want to get bogged down in that drama again. That's not what this podcast is about, but I did want to give him a quick shout out. Normally in this spot, as you know, is where we would do questions from listeners that are submitted as part of being a Patreon member. I don't have any questions that are aligned for this particular episode, but please do continue to sign up for Patreon and submit your questions so that I can make sure to answer whatever your most burning questions are. So now, moving on to the seitan of the show, we are talking, like I said, about what we can learn from plants, about self-care in this particular instance. We can learn many things from plants, but specifically we're talking about self-care in this episode. So first I want to explain something called biomimicry. Now, you may have heard of this in terms of engineering or not, but it's usually used in engineering to mean that you learn, you take something from the natural world and try to make technology that mimics it, hence biomimicry. I use that term a little bit differently and I mean that we're taking inspiration from nature's solutions, because we're all made of the same carbon building blocks and also everything in nature mimics itself. So, like I said, I'm putting a little bit different spin on it. So here's some evidence of the spin that I'm talking about.

Speaker 1: 3:50

If you look at the roots or branches of a tree and the x-ray of human lungs that are showing the bronchioles, you'll see that they look pretty similar. This is not a coincidence. This is a visual of how we're connected and interconnected. We literally need each other to breathe. As I'm sure you know, trees make oxygen for us and we make carbon dioxide for them. Without each other, we both die. We also both need clean water and sunlight, and we're going to come back to that concept shortly. And that's just one example. There are many, many others, and I do touch on a few more with images in my online course and I'll also link to some in the show notes as well.

Speaker 1: 4:33

But for now, let's expand on this one example involving plants. So I had a potted plant in my house and she really didn't look super healthy and, you know, I kind of was like, well, what do you need? And tried to figure it out. And so one morning I just I was like I think you're root bound. So I repotted her and by the time I went to bed, she looked happy and healthy and was thriving. Now, remember, we're all made of those same carbon building blocks, so we are basically just fancy plants. We're made from the same stells. We started in the same group, right, and, as we talked about, we literally rely on each other to continue breathing not just trees, but plants in general, and so, therefore, within us lies the ability to heal just as quickly as my plant did, with, of course, the right care and self-care. And so I want you to take some time today or tomorrow or whenever you have a couple minutes, but really try to be mindfully carving out time to do this, because it's important.

Speaker 1: 5:42

Think about what do you need to grow and give your roots more room. Now, that may be different from what I need, from what your BFF needs, from what your partner needs, from what your neighbor needs. But what do you need? To give your roots some more room Now. Also just like plants, they need soil that is more acidic or alkaline. Some need more water, some like it more dry, some need more direct sun, some like shadier spots. But with the right growing conditions, they thrive without much human effort or intervention, and the same thing goes for you and I, right? So, again, what do you need? To give your roots some room, give yourself some room to sprout, to blossom, to become the person that you are meant to be.

Speaker 1: 6:29

Where are you feeling crowded or cramped in your life and what can you do to change that? Essentially, what I'm saying is what soil, water and sunlight do you need? It may not look like soil and water and sunlight. It may mean you need a different job, or you need a raise, or you need to make more time for self-care, or you need to make more time for exercise. It could be things I haven't even thought of yet, right, because this is you and your life.

Speaker 1: 7:01

But think about what it is that you need. Perhaps one of the things that you need is a more supportive community, and if so, I encourage you to check out the link for my sisterhood in the show notes. Perhaps you need to make some small changes to your diet or your lifestyle. Maybe you're feeling called to speak out and make a difference in some way, and again, those are just some examples. Yours may be completely, completely different. This is your life, but whatever it is that you need to do to give yourself the love and nurturing you need to thrive just like my once root-bound plant is now thriving.

Speaker 1: 7:37

Make some time to do that. First, make the time to figure out what it is and then make doing it a priority. Your body will thank you, your soul will thank you and therefore the planet soul will thank you and therefore the planet nature, the universe, will thank you. I thank you for joining me today and I hope you learned something. Did you feel a glimmer, a spark, a light in the dark during this episode? You'll love my online course, the Soulful Seeker. Check it out at sparkconsciousnessnet slash TSS. You can also support the show as a Patreon member or episode sponsor. You can learn about all of those opportunities and find additional resources about everything we talked about in today's episode, in the show notes and just hang on to the word plant to help jog your memory and remind you to hop on and back over to season two, episode eight of Give a Fuck, presented by Spark Consciousness, to find all of that awesome info. And I will see you next time.