Happy Valentines Day!

“You cannot continue to take, without giving. If you give back, you are protected. We do not have the same disasters that you experience in your countries because we honor the earth. We give offerings, we give thanks. We only take what we need and we ask permission before we take.

But the time is growing short. Please go back to your people and tell them, they must honor the earth. They must bless and give offerings to the earth before it is too late.”

This was the message that indigenous shamans of the Kogi tribe of Columbia shared with our group while we gathered around a small fire in one of the villages. Their faces flickering in the light, there was a sense of urgency in their message.

Over the next few days, under the tutelage of various shamans, we went to sacred sites to give offerings. We infused small pieces of cotton with what we wanted to release and that which we wanted to bring into our lives.  All of these were given as offerings to the earth. In a sense, we invited the earth to compost that which no longer served us and become rich soil for the seeds of our dreams.

On the last day, we met one of the shamans at sunrise on the beach. He’d walked three hours to be with us. He was carrying a bag with small handwoven pouches filled with offerings of gratitude and blessings. Each home in the village has a pouch hanging from the ceiling as a reminder and container for offerings given throughout the day.  Each of us were given one of the pouches to add our offerings, gratitude and blessings.  With reverence, I gently placed the pouch in a small stream that flowed into the vast Caribbean ocean.

Back in Chicago, I felt the forest calling. Fortunately, the area has thousand acres of uncultivated forest filled with nature spirits.  Having just returned from being with the Kogis, I wanted to give an offering. Strangely, I had a feeling to offer chocolate truffles.

As we entered, I broke off a piece of truffle and set it under a large tree thanking the spirits of the land for gifting me with its beauty.  On the trail two deer were grazing.  One of them, looked up and began to move towards me, while staring at my eyes. He took the truffle from my hand and then continued to licked it while I stroked his caramel colored head. There was a love exchanged between us that is still palpable to me.

To South American indigenous tribes, deer are considered protectors of the earth. In North America, they signify compassion. To me, my exchange with the deer was a gift and a thank you from the earth.

In the weeks since my return, the resources to both support my hopes and dreams, and to release that which no longer serves me, have shown up in miraculous ways. And as the days pass, I am aware that staying in a state of gratitude and offerings requires a conscious effort to maintain.

We live in a world that admires productivity as a symbol of success. For me, the anxiety that gets triggered when I don’t live up to that, is something I struggle with as do many of my clients. I know it is a response to our collective cultural conditioning. That is why I am passionate about redefining success as living a life that feeds our soul and allows our magnificence to shine.

As I learned from the Kogi shamans, we can give our anxieties and worries to our beloved planet. It is willing to transform our pain into life enhancing compost. It aches for our happiness and joy. By paying attention to it, by honoring it, and giving back to it, we return balance; to ourselves and to our precious home, the earth. It is an act of love for ourselves, our planet and our future generations.

Blessings and much love,

Gale