I recently took a spontaneous road trip across the southwest. It was such an amazing adventure, visiting loved ones along the way and being inspired by the beauty and majesty of this country’s ever changing landscapes.

At one point, I discovered spectacular, roaring waterfalls in Colorado and was literally moved to tears by the force of their beauty. I spontaneously started singing the words from America… “My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, to thee I sing’

Amid all the polarizing politics, I found myself tuned in to the vision this land was founded on – freedom and equality for all. 

I have been wondering what it will take for us to move beyond the current destructive divisions into a more constructive conversation? During my journey I had a deep sense that it will be the earth herself that will finally unite us.

It is easy to feel powerless in the face of overwhelming climate change, eco destruction and polarizing politics and yet, personally, I feel more optimistic than ever.

I know we are evolving as a species and beginning to see the answers we need will not come, in Albert Einstein’s words, ‘from the consciousness that created the problems.’

New solutions arise as each of us becomes willing to listen, not to the repetitive fear-based voices, but to our own deeper wisdom, and to those with different opinions than our own, and perhaps most of all, to the Earth herself.

Along my travels, I saw a bumper sticker that read ‘It’s time to Mother Earth’. It took me a minute, but I realized what it was saying – it is time for us humans to mother this planet. To really care for that which sustains us.

Perhaps the simplest and most direct way we can care for her is through our appreciation, through slowing down enough to see the beauty and abundance that continually surrounds and nourishes us. And through recognizing the power and intelligence of her life-force, of which we are a part.

Even now as storms and fires and climate changes intensify, I sense the impact of her ruthless compassion, how she is awakening within us the quality of humility needed to realize how exquisitely inter-dependent we are.

There is great power in the simple act of appreciation.