GIVE: Stop Sleepwalking Through Life
Written by: Meredith Parker
6/20/2014
There are a few people we meet who walk into our lives for a brief period of time, and walk out leaving us completely changed. I met some of these people in Nicaragua.
One of them was Gerry. I really can’t put into words what his job is because I don’t think anyone is 100% sure, but I know that he taught me more than I can explain about the energy of nature and the earth. I remember one early morning I was lying in the hammock watching the beach and we started talking about sledding down the active volcano that afternoon. It was all very hyped-up: sledding down a volcano was definitely a thrill-seekers paradise. But he pointed out a side of the experience that would have never occurred to me.
He told me:
“When you get to the peak–the very top–lay down and put your hands just under the gravelly rocks covering the volcano. Feel the heat rising from her. Feel her energy. That’s what I do: I lie there and feel the power in the earths belly. It’s rejuvenating.”
That afternoon, after a couple hours of hiking, we reached the peak.
I remember being tired and panting, so I welcomed the break. We were in a cloud and it was all so surreal. I looked around me, lay down on the surprisingly soft gravel, and closed my eyes as I slipped my hand closer to the hard ground. “This is weird, I can’t believe I’m doing this. I look like a crazy person laying on top of an active volcano.” I thought as I lay there, until, finally, I was able to push aside my racing mind.
In that moment, I let myself relax.
And no I don’t mean every time we’ve been told to “relax” before, I mean truly relax and not feel tired—feel the lack of energy in my body recharge like a battery. It was unlike anything I can put into words, something that you can really only experience to fully understand. I know that I would have never done that, never felt that energy and revival without having been told to do so by Gerry.
I never in my right mind would’ve put my hand on top of the belly of an active volcano. But I did. And I felt the energy coursing through the earth and became one with the unity of it all. And no, I’m not one of those people. I don’t wear hemp, I’m not a vegetarian and I’ve never owned a hammock. But I understand now the beauty of the world and that life is so short: why not waste time in the sun? Why not go to a foreign country and fall in love with everything? With the people and the lifestyle and the ocean and the rainforest and the lack of freshwater showers; it’s worth it to abandon the modern and see the simplicity of the beautiful world we live in. Trust me, everything will look brighter.
