A Fairy Child's Head

And the trees will guild me home to a mothers soft sweet arms,
this water running over my feet will cleanse me,
the light hides just behind confused eyes,
while the moss embraces me.
Asleep upon the forest floor,
the moon watches over me,
fireflies are my little immortal night lights,
messengers for the earth who is my goddess,
she protects me.
Woke up under a blanket of pine needles,
scent...woodsy...sweet,
Through sleepy eyes,
I witnessed the sunrise and ran,
because the rain is my only hope.
Hit the cliffs edge,
and jumped in....
to the water that cleanses me,
please be my light.
Shore full of pine cones,
where is the sand?
Symbolic of an untouched land,
sat amidst the pine cones,
contemplated life.
This is what things look like...

Written by Sossina Chirhart

Why Interactions Matter

I was talking to a good friend of mine the other day about why I believe in investing in people, and it went something like this:

"I believe in investing in people when I am volunteering, teaching and mentoring, because humans are a part of the big equation. In the next couple of decades, maybe less, the relationship between humans and nature is going to change dramatically and the products of those things being added together is going to equal some sort of outcome.

humans+non-humans+some sort of divine?= Unknown Outcome

Knowing this information, I believe that in order to change the possible effects of the outcome, we must nurture others with a positive, real, hopeful vision for the future."

Our interactions with each other, create these personal webs, at least, that's how I imagine them. And in our webs are all of the interactions and experiences we have had by ourselves and with others and with non-humans. And inevitably combinations of the interactions and our essence, form and shape who we end up being and contribute to the actions we make and take in this lifetime.

So, if we think about that, then it becomes extremely important to leave positive impacts on the people around us and live the life we aspire others to live. Makes sense, right?

"In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision". -Dalai Lama

On everything we touch and every person we interact with, we must leave a kiss of kindness and a hug of hope and inspiration through our thoughts and actions. We must do these things to help create a "positive vision", to help remind ourselves that a positive outcome is possible through "positive action". And that the only way this string of things survives is through our synergy with each other and with non-humans.

It's a pretty big weight to bear, but we have created our current reality, and in the over arching reality there is great unrest. There is also great power in realizing that through our relationships with each other, that we can transform the unrest into some sort of action that needs to happen.

So I leave you with these thoughts:

Knowing everything you know now, kiss your kids, by kind to all humans and non-humans, hug a tree, have compassion, live with gusto and true intention, because our realities are exactly what we make them and they have the power to positively or negatively affect others.

"If we're destroying our trees and destroying our environment and hurting animals and hurting one another and all that stuff, there's got to be a very powerful energy to fight that. I think we need more love in the world. We need more kindness, more compassion, more joy, more laughter. I definitely want to contribute to that". -Ellen DeGeneres

Lets contribute to that! I look forward to chatting with you next time.

All my love,

Sossina

Lets Be Like the Jar of Salsa!

I remember breaking down the other day and with all of the arguably bad things weighting me down in my life, turned to the love of my life and said "I feel liking I am loosing myself and barely know who I am anymore". To me being lost was bad, I feel empty, and I was looking at that emptiness as loneliness something defining something that I wasn't sure how to overcome. I remember someone saying that I was taking the road less traveled, goddess somedays I resent Robert Frost. It's just like Kid President said, "I took the road less traveled by....And it hurt!...There were rocks...and glass...and my pants broke!...Why Robert Frost?".

Empty to many of us, has come to represent sadness, unfulfillment and loss.

But what if I set an empty jar down in front of you? And what if the jar had been full of delicious salsa in its previous life, but it isn't now, it is just a scraped semi-clean empty jar with imperfections. The label is missing and all of the obnoxious glue is still on the outside. But what if I told you, you could fill it with more of anything, you could even fill it with more salsa! Or glitter or pictures or memories. And you would totally do that right? You would give the jar purpose again...I mean why wouldn't you?

Then how is it in our own lives that we are not the jar we would so readily fill, when we are lost and feel empty?

I am a vessel, you are a vessel, if we are like the jar then we will fill our vessels with whatever we want. If I feel empty, then I can fill myself with not only the things I already am, but also with the things I want to be. I can turn the dreams into things I am and so can you. You can fill your jar with whatever you want! And when we start to feel empty, maybe we will stop seeing it as such a bad thing, because it's not. It is Life giving us a wake-up call, telling us not to be okay with what we are perceiving to by normal, shouting at us to be more, calling for action.

I know that when I am home and I have an empty jar, I fill it with things I love: glass stones, ceramics stones, flowers, plants, paintbrushes, the colorful water from the brushes I have used to paint with, food, ice cream, all sorts of things that I love!

We are the glass jar, and sometimes, yes, we are empty but we are never gone. And when you feel empty, you can fill yourself right up, maybe you won't have the same things that were in your last jar, but that is so totally and incredibly okay, and maybe you will have the same things, and that is also totally okay. Any maybe you can't fill it by yourself in which case you should totally ask others to help you out and they will put things in that make them happy and you happy.

So, let us be like the Jar of Salsa, sometimes full, sometimes brimming over, sometimes empty. And let us remember that all of those things can be good.

The ability to love oneself, empty or full is quite a feat indeed.
I look forward to the next time wanderers!
Love,
Sossina <3

P.S.(Look at that jar! It is filled with honey and honeycomb from my friends bees! What a happy vessel it must be indeed)

Be Free

We all live in systems.
systems that every single day,
try to break...
break us of who we are...
break us of our dreams.
Fear keeps  us in the systems tangle in the unlocked chains of choice.
Ignorance keeps us in the systems, keeps our minds in the prison block.

People say that having the ability to truly live out who you are is a great feat...
That's because it is.
Systems oppress us while the soul in all of us seeks freedom and the humanity seeks understanding.

No one keeps you there caught in the limbo.
Choose knowledge and be free.
Choose Dharma and be free.
Choose Love and be free.
Give yourself the permission to be free.
The chains are unlocked, so fly.

Sossina Chirhart December 2015

With love and positivity to the universe and all the wanderers,
Sossina <3

Dear Diary...

Dear Diary,
The last couple days have been heart breakingly beautiful. Diary...I have met people that have changed my life forever, that even now in this moment are changing the universe as I know it forever. And that my love is a pretty powerful, pretty darn incredible thing.

I should explain though... a few days ago I got back from a conference. This conference was about us. All of us, about environmentalism, about racial equity, about everyday life, about spiritualism, about acceptance, about humility, about gratitude, about forgiveness, about our intrinsic connection: to the earth, to each other. and Diary, when I left that place, I left a piece of myself there, there is those incredible people, in that incredible place, and Diary, I look forward to returning to that place and collecting that part of myself someday.

You will never meet people kinder, or more thoughtful, that celebrate the Dharma inside each other, that grieve together over the injustices in this world, that sit in the silences with each other, that approach each and everyday with reckless abandon.

Diary, these last couple days have been some of the hardest ever. I have spent time grieving and really truly feeling. I have spent time trying to overcome the great distance I feel, the sadness, the depression. I have gone to counseling and done art therapy and spent a lot of time in the dark.

And when I am truly sad beyond belief, words of a great friend echo in my head, "It is truly courageous to grieve and cry, honor those tears, do not be ashamed, they are a sign of strength". And Diary, let me tell you something about the darkness...I left that place, telling everyone, that to me they were the lights in the darkness, that made me know I could help my people...the people. So when I close my eyes, I see those people, I see them each illuminating the darkness with their candle, with their inner light. Behind my eyes, they dance around me, walk around me, they light up the space around me and if I can grasp that vision, I know deep down that...I...am...not...alone.

Diary, environmentalism, seeking active awareness, are often lonely tasks. The thought of actually comforting the things in our lives is a scary one, it can be filled with fear. But once again, I close my eyes and I can see them all around me, everyone holding a candle, filling that space with the one thing that makes us all keep going...light...hope...understanding.

And then more words Diary, will echo inside me."Sossina, being naive is not a bad thing. For you it is your naivety and curiosity that inspire enthusiasm. That is a gift, whether you realize it or not, and that enthusiasm inspires others". The words that resonate inside of me Diary, those words keep me going.

This feeling keeps me going and knowing that someday, no matter how far away, I will return to claim the part of my soul that I left there, with those amazing people.

Diary, I am only just beginning to understand...
how to heal,
how to strengthen the light inside of everyone
how to nurture Dharma so that Lakshmi may also find me
how to be collaborative
how to be compassionate,

But aren't we all Diary? Aren't we all experiencing: compassion, understanding, gratitude? Aren't we all learning how to set our metaphorical rocks down, so that we can actually talk to each other?

I certainly feel so. I feel it in my essence and in my bones, Diary. Change is on the horizon. I am shivering with anticipation. But I am not waiting for it, rather actively seeking it out, inviting it to become apart of who I am.

Diary, there are no amount of words that could actively describe how I am feeling in this moment. They are a cacophony inside me. But the dissonance and uncomfortability is also okay. I am okay with the darkness, the silence, the sadness. And I acknowledge that inside me lives a "coal, of hope, that I must never let burn out". That everything I experienced is creating a more incredible me, someone that has the tools to actively and positively change the things I touch and the people I meet. That I can support the people, my people, my college, my community.

To everyone I met, we danced together, we had entire conversations through dance. We cried together and had entire conversations through feeling. We meditated together and had entire conversations through the transfer of energy. We healed together and had entire conversations through the rawness. Everyday, I remember all of you and that is why I may feel alone, but know that I am not alone.

"I have energy, You have energy, We have energy. None of the energy ever goes away, we just turn it into more incredible things." -Gyasi Ross

Diary, this is my story, my reflection. May what is keep me going.

Love to all of my Salish friends, Love to the Sea, Love to the Earth.

We will meet again soon,
Forever yours,
Sossina

I Thank thee Earth...

Thank thee Earth...
For the rain...(water)
the feeds our souls and feeds our brains.
That makes us new and washes away.
That nurtures and forages,
the things we need to grow.
this is what it takes to make us whole.

Thank thee Earth...(fire)
For the sun,
The bright rays that let us know a new day is come.
The golden spots that reflect natures beauty,
the kaleidoscope that lives inside us,
warm under the rays of the ethereal sun.

Thank thee Earth...(soil)
For the moss,
the squishy green stuff that keeps us grounded to this place,
the soft bouncy good stuff...
where little bio's live and where cranberries sometimes grow.
This is the blanket of the earth.
Lay in the moss and feel safe.

Thank thee Earth ...(wind)
For the wind,
That fills my lungs and body.
That gives us an undeniable urge to look up...to fly.
That pushes boats home to families waiting.
Whose quick breezes remind us that our loved ones are with us.
For Breath...For Breathing...For Cleansing

I Thank thee Earth...
The Mother,
From which all life flows.
Who sustains and nurtures...all the grows,
and even some that don't.
Whose resources we take advantage of and whose creatures we harm.
The Mother who will hopefully forgive humans someday.

I Thank thee Earth...
The Web of interconnectedness,
That makes me feel like I belong here...
or somewhere.
That gives me strength.
A place where my brothers and sisters are not just humans,
but all living things.

I Thank thee Earth...
For the life she provides me.
For the voice she gives me.
For the beauty that I feel blessed  to see each day.
For allowing me to just...be.

Existence is precious.
Thank thee Earth.

Sossina Jeanette Chirhart October 8 2015

In honor of Earth Charter Week

Authenticity

Mirror Mirror On The Wall,
You reflect a person I do not recall.
I am not that broken girl.
I stand right here and I am tall.
Your Lies they eat away at me,
I wait for night,
I wait for peace.
Morning comes,
I smash the mirror.
For I am here, yes I am here.
I am not defined by a mirror.
Reflections distort our face,
make us hungry,
feel unsafe.

Broken Mirror on the wall,
I am not pieces,
I stand tall.
I am not broken,
I don't need to be mended.
I am perfect,
My own light inside me,
The stars are my token, they are what guides me.

-Sossina J Chirhart October 2015