As human beings, we are a pretty resilient bunch. We are intelligent, creative, communicative, and emotional. We have designed and developed wonderful things to assist ourselves to have a better life. We can be defined in a number of ways. Mother, Sister, Daughter, Farmer, Nurse are just some of the words used to describe us. No matter how we are defined we are all alike in one simple way. Inherent in our DNA is the need to be loved and share love with others in all its formats.
You may remember the acclaimed book by Garry Chapman; The 5 Languages of Love. In this book, Chapman wrote about how we feel and perceive love, based on his experience as a Councillor.
The languages of love help us to not only understand ourselves better but also our partners and the world we live in. They are Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Physical Touch
You might be wondering what this has to do with Caring for our Planet.
Covid, Climate Change, Drought, Fire and a myriad of other disasters have befallen us over the past few years. There is nothing new in that. We are as I said a fairly resilient bunch.
I believe if you understand your own love language (that is, how you best show love and how you feel loved) then you can put this to very good use not only in your relationships but in caring for our earth. Is not the earth itself a living breathing organism? Let’s take a closer look.
Words of Affirmation – if this is your language for love, you will be the person who compliments a friend, or relative on their appearance or a job well done. It is clinically proven that you will improve not only your own mental health but also improve stress levels and sleep by being out and about in your garden chatting away to bugs, birds, lizards, plants and anything else you find. Some people will tell you that you chatting to a plant will help it grow – I don’t know about that but it will help you to use your love language to help the earth by talking about its needs, and how we can all help reduce the impacts of climate in our own bioregions. So your love language of Words of Affirmation can be a powerful tool not only in caring for yourself but also our planet. Raise up your voice and be heard.
Acts of Service – This love language is really a no-brainer – you are the person who will bend over backward to do something for someone else. You show your love by doing the most mundane of tasks on behalf of someone else or just to give them a break. You are the person who is maintaining a community space or growing vegetables for others to share. In caring for our planet your love language will have you involved in all manner of things at a grassroots level. You are the do-er and we all thank you for your love and devotion.
Receiving Gifts – If this is your love language you are the giver and receiver. You love nothing more than to give and receive gifts. You will like to buy or make tokens both large and small for your loved ones. Using this language – giving the earth the gift of sapling; knowing that it will grow and bear fruit will speak to your heart. That fruit being the gift in return for your stewardship. You will sow and reap rewards all day if you can. You are the person who might be growing community market gardens or setting up seed swaps. You just love the act of giving and receiving.
The love language of Quality Time is next – in your personal life, you are the person who is busiest but also the person who will set aside the time to really make a difference. At home, it is you who will turn off the television or the mobile phone and really focus on what is being said by those you love. In terms of Caring for the Earth, you are the person who will make time for activities that really make a difference. You might be involved in a Sustainable Action Group, activism of some kind or you might share your knowledge through teaching others. Whatever you do, you will give 100% of your attention to it with the time you have available.
Physical Touch is the last of our love languages to discuss. I am sure by now you know where I am going with this talk. The way in which we show love when our language is physical touch is quite obvious. You are the friend who gives hugs or a pat on the back. You will be the person who is sculpting the land. Perhaps you are involved in Regenerative Agriculture or Permaculture Design. Maybe you will be out at the weekend working with Landcare to rehabilitate broken or sick areas of the landscape. Yours is the language of showing you care by active doing.
Albert Einstein said “A human being is part of the whole — called by us ‘Universe’, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature.”
Einstein understood the limitations we impose on ourselves by our way of thinking. A way of thinking which determines what we focus on and how we see the world. He asked us to question who we are and our relationships with all of life and the universe as a whole. Einstein invited us to explore a systems perspective, holistic thinking, and an integrated consciousness that acknowledges our intimacy with Universe. A fundamentally interconnected and continuously transforming whole, manifesting as patterns of energy, matter, and consciousness. In this view, being the whole of nature and consciousness, not separated but intertwined.
Caring for our Earth will not only allow you to develop your garden or community but by default it allows you to care for others; others who will benefit directly or indirectly from your love and attention. In so doing you are caring for people by caring for the earth.
So, I am going to ask you now – do you know your love language? How will you use it to care for our planet and each other?
There is a range of ways in which you can manifest your love language in caring for our planet. There is so much we can do to become more interconnected with this incredible land we live in and on. So I challenge you to change your thinking. Cultivate your mind and body and put them to good use. Practice your love language in repairing and restoring the earth. Do it because you recognize the need to be loved and give love in return.
