Pest or Guest - Which Are You?

I found it only fitting that in the basil picked for pesto, I would find what some consider pests.

 

There were three to be exact.   

 

What some would call pests to me are guests. I joyfully greeted each mindful that if I were a farmer a hundred years ago feeding my family the presence of these three would have evoked great concern and fear. (In moments like this I glimpse how fear prompted the use of chemicals so families might live.)

Before returning my guests to their outdoor home, I gave worm, snail and unknown bug each a leaf on which to hang out.  

As I chopped and diced garlic, basil and nuts, I wondered how it is these creatures here long before us are labeled pests when oftentimes it seems to me humankind is the real pest on Earth.  We've become the pests when we're really the guests. 

Guests visit my city, Nashville, increasingly as we are temporarily dubbed Nowville. Good guests are grateful for a place to stay and are happy to be in their anticipated place.  As a welcoming host, when those I know pass through my city or home, I often have a small gift, a jar of jam or local candle to welcome them. 

Mother Earth is a profound host.  We are welcomed and in essence told take what we need and do whatever we want.

Historically we have cleared the land, hunted and killed. Now we pave and build, dig and blast without real thought as to the long-term consequences of our actions.  When the big picture is talked about words like productivity, jobs and growth are espoused without considering the implications of these concepts on our host or future generations.

We the guests become the pests.

You may call me native, but I believe to shift from pest to guest is quite simple.  With awareness, I the pest become the guest at any moment.  All that's required is time something of which we all have the same amount 24/7 and the internal equipment to be mindful, ask questions, increase our awareness, evaluate our reactions, ponder our purpose.

We have time to return to being grateful guests for getting to live here rather than forgetting why we are here.

It is so simple if we take the time, return to gratitude, awaken our minds. Gratitude and joy in Earth's simple, rich gifts and for getting to be here are key. 

We can return to being grateful guests here on Mother Earth for she and this Time are the real Nowville !

Which are you pest or guest? 

-Dawn, The Good News Muse  5 September 2013

dawn@imaginetheshift.com