Publication Note: This blog article by XiNeutrino was first published in The Urban Times. It is repeated here because of its relevance to current times here in America. Don’t let lifelines go to waste.

It is global. Anger, deep resentful and destructive anger is circling Earth. We are in a turmoil of economic and cultural change that breeds unrest because of weak, indifferent, self-serving politics that ignore their respective electorates. The fiery reaction is totally unproductive and stands to shove us backwards not forward. Muscle, long an enemy of logic, is halting our evolutionary progress. So, what are these lifelines?

Right now we need to soothe and ease our unrest. Normally some of this would occur as we reach out to each other, but our reaching right now is hostile. So, fortunately, we are not the only life form on this planet. Those other lives can and do provide the  release we need, but we must initiate it and be receptive to its intricacies Before I explain, here is a partial litany of lifeline interactions that have personally restored my life many times over..

LITANY OF PERSONAL LIFELINES

  •  My bond with my cougar friends Charlie and Carolion
  •  My dance with a three-legged black bear
  •  My morning meetings with the Reef Squid gang in St. Thomas, USVI
  •  Cautious discussions on family care with an 11 foot momma Alligator with five youngsters  – Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge
  •  My rescue and release of a wounded Mourning Dove whose relatives visit me in the Spring of  every year.
Yes, the above are personal lifelines and are not listed as directions, but only as examples of the benefits of our reaching across to the life that surrounds us and in doing so restoring our own. The delightful aspect of lifelines is that they are individually arranged and therefore are uniquely each persons own linkage. This is the secret restorative process that renews our perspective and neutralizes our venom toward fellow humans. We find we can become hopeful and constructive again. The future is no longer an ugly, dark and blank wall. As we establish more lifelines, that wall begins to disintegrate and the views through it sparkle with renewed challenges.
IMAGE CREDIT:
Pachyderm lifeline from “Life As A Human” http://tinyurl.com/3xr3mxq