Send your emotional roots out far and wide to support your community.
www.grateful4.org
Gratitude
Intention
First
Things
The G.I.F.T. Today
Grateful: to realize I don’t know how everything in my life will unfold and that is the beautiful mystery of my life experience.
Intention-see the beauty in everything in front of me all day
First-get ALL my hairs cut
Things-lunch with Scotty maybe?
Morning Platitude from The GratiDude
A few years back, soon after my mother passed away, I visited Northern California and some of my favorite redwood forests.
I intentionally hiked some of my favorite spots and brought with me a portion of my late mother Eugenia’s ashes from Florida. My mom and I both love the redwoods very much and without her love and support and gift of life, I never would’ve been able to experience anything let alone the majestic wonder that is an ancient old growth sequoia tree.
What’s cool about the redwoods is that when one of the old large trees falls from old age or fires naturally a circle of new redwood sprouts up around that now stump.
The root mechanisms and network under the ground using mycelium send nutrients, energy, and tree-love to the fallen tree now stump, and the result is that the stump will stay alive for years or decades after its initial falling. More times than not a new tree will grow out of the old stump with new roots, riding a top the old roots as if nothing ever happened.
All of this happens without anyone having to trigger an alarm or ask for help or cry out in need. The community in the forest knows that it should help the other trees without being told to do so.
I placed my mom’s ashes inside a giant redwood stump that already had a new baby tree, twenty-four inches tall, growing out from its former center. It was beautiful, and surrounded by other short young redwoods (soon to be tall) each between six’ and ten’ tall that sprang into action when the BIG tree in the center of the now circle, fell.
What might be the coolest thing of all is that the redwoods don’t just help other redwoods and keep their support exclusive to their own tree type, instead they provide help to any tree or any species that needs help through the mycelium network.
According to current scientific understanding, mycelium does not have consciousness in the same way humans do, but emerging research suggests it might exhibit behaviors that could be interpreted as a form of “cellular consciousness,” including decision-making, spatial recognition, learning, and short-term memory, allowing it to respond to its environment and interact with other organisms in complex ways; essentially displaying a level of awareness and adaptability without a central nervous system like animals do.
Key points about mycelium and consciousness:
Complex behavior:
Mycelium can navigate through its environment, find food sources, and adapt to changing conditions, demonstrating complex behaviors that go beyond simple stimulus-response mechanisms.
Network communication:
The network structure of mycelium allows for rapid information sharing between individual hyphae, which could be seen as a form of communication like neural networks.
“Fungal mind” concept:
Some researchers propose the idea of a “fungal mind” where the collective behavior of a mycelium network could be considered as a form of consciousness.
Scientific debate:
While there is growing evidence for mycelium’s complex behavior, the concept of “fungal consciousness” remains a topic of debate due to the lack of a clear definition of consciousness and the limitations of studying such phenomena.
Wouldn’t it be cool if human beings had an emotional and spiritual mycelium network?
When we felt out of sorts or unwell we would instantly get support from our friends and family checking on us because they somehow received a message that we needed some help.
That would be amazing right? The 70% or so of people that reported feeling emotions and sentiments of loneliness during the holidays would’ve gotten visitors or phone calls or perhaps notes that would’ve lifted their spirits as community members or other people hopefully, friends and family, would be alerted to the need to step in and provide some support.
The reality is that we need to use our own awareness and compassion to act as human mycelium in our own friends and family networks and communities at large.
How could this work?
It works primarily when you are not being consumed and focused on your own bullshit. Instead, focus OUTWARD, on others, and being present and aware of your surroundings and the people in your life.
You must learn how to breathe, and stay connected to your breath.
You can’t help anyone if your thoughts are wrapped up in future thoughts of anxiety, or if you’re dwelling on something that happened in the past and feeling the energy of regret.
You are simply wallowing in your own ego bullshit and doing nobody any good at that point, including yourself, so pull yourself out of that spiral with your breath and become present, which is the equivalent of putting the oxygen mask on yourself first on the airplane in the case of a loss of cabin pressure.
Once you have your own sea legs underneath you, asking questions of friends and family, especially those folks that may be going through challenging times or difficult life experiences, and being initiative-taking and not waiting for sad news to happen.
This is why a disciplined approach to self-care and having routines around your wellness is what allows you to be of service in your community. It is our responsibility personally to take care of ourselves so we are not a burden on the resources and energies for the people that could be providing critical support to folks that are truly in dire need.
I’ve been blessed with good physical health, and my mental faculties are still in place and for that reason I need to practice self-care to be able to be an active contributing member of my community working towards the greater good and the upliftment of individuals when possible.
On the few thousand days that I woke up hung over I was not of much service or value to myself or anyone else in the community. My inability to integrate some of my traumas and experiences led me to self-destructive behavior, and I surrounded myself with individuals and situations that would enable that behavior.
It was selfishness through sickness.
Now I can be a healthy helper instead.
This is a great thought as we go into 2025 and think about ways that we could improve the lives of our loved ones and friends in our community in our country and on our planet.
Those of us that are healthy and have the ability to locomote and take nourishment under our own volition need to spend a portion of our energy taking care and looking out for the poor, the sick, the lonely or sad, and the elderly. If Trees can do it, why can’t we?
Let’s be a Forest of Humanity where we view each other collectively and recognize we are only as strong and healthy as our weakest plant or tree.
The reason I have been and will be an effective manager in business situations and leading teams is that I never asked a salesperson or a coworker to do something that I wasn’t willing to do myself. I demonstrated both effort, diligence, and perseverance so that when I made requests from my teammates, they were well received as I had earned credibility through my commitment and activity.
So, when I ask you all to step up your personal commitment to your friends and family by taking better care of yourselves, I’m not asking you to do anything that I’m not doing myself today.
Please remember that 20 years from now if you could look back on the resources and the opportunities and the help that you have today, you would tell yourself that you have everything you need to be happy to succeed and to thrive and to just trust yourself and love yourself and take care of yourself.
Internalize this message today and be the support structure in your family and community and act like mycelium through compassion and care and sharing your attitude of gratitude.
EVERY DAY:
Love
and
Gratitude
https://www.instagram.com/GratiDude_abides
KevinACarpenter@gmail.com/941.894.8030
Thank you sincerely.
IN LIFE AND GOLF, GET BETTER…..NOW!
HERE: https://grateful4.org
Every day, every way, grateful.
KC
I am here to help, add somebody that needs a “check up from the neck up”
KevinACarpenter@gmail.com
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