Litterbug Medicine: eat, sh!t, and die

"don't litter" by Shenghung Lin on Flickr

I took a shamanic earthwalk the other day (~ a walkabout vision quest in nature), and afterwards, as part of 'being the change I want to see in the world', I was guided to ask, “Why do people litter?”

(Although I realize the better question might be, “Why does it bother me so much?”)

Symbolically, tossing litter is motivated by an unconscious impulse to clear one's mind. Funny enough, nature can help us with that, but many of us don't know how to take advantage of what She offers.

What is it that people are trying to clear by doing it? ...frustrations, disappointments, defeats we harbour, borne from feelings of how little control we feel we have in life; self-beliefs about being ineffectual, unworthy, or (fill in the blank).

As the saying goes (and I'm paraphrasing here), 'give Spirit a laugh; present Him/Her with your plans'.
When our lifedream delivers us a surprise and screws up arrangements we've made for ourselves, the feelings these challenges can induce are not something many of us can bear to acknowledge. Inept and frustrated, we toss them (or try to).

Hey, from personal experience, we can get pretty sucky when life gives us something our soul Needs, instead of what we think we (should) want. It's not always easy to take an observer's perspective. Being human and all, rather than deal with our shadows, we'll more likely try to exorcise our feelings by externalizing them in the physical, like pitching a mind-less hissy-fit and throwing trash, for instance (spoiler alert: it doesn't really help. It's like a pacifier – an artificial substitute for an actual connection).

Ironically, actions like these are our soul's way of trying to make us aware of what's going on within us. And in that sense, (on a Divine level at least,) there's no judgement for doing it. Really. The problem is that it doesn't solve – or even come close to acknowledging – the actual issue.

So what is the issue? ...being able to have the presence of mind to realize that it's all 'Good', what happens to us.

We take everything (events that induce disappointment, especially) personally, when actually, it isn't. So often, it's the case that we're actually reacting to someone's expectation or behaviours as prompted by their own wounds. Perhaps our boundaries have been violated, and it doesn't seem we can do anything to remedy it. We inadvertently create Goblins for ourselves, and allow them to perpetuate our hurts, influence our behaviour.

What's the answer? Eat, sh!t, and die (except in a way that's infinitely more fulfilling than that sounds;). Take in what our lifedream is serving up. Let go, and let Spirit lead. Allow what doesn't serve us to pass.

Let Nature take Her course, and appreciate (or at least entertain the idea) that what appears is in our Highest, best interests. In other words, 'get out of our own way'. Let your lifedream reveal its intended Desires for you, rather than the other way around. Watch for miracles to unfold, without having to control or force anything.

What 'results' can you expect? Love. Absolutely. Everything else is trash.

Big Medicine Love to You
David 'Black Feather' Nagy