Water Wisdom: What You Water Thrives

Water is our lifeblood.

This verdant meadow is tucked away in a drainage not all-that-far from pockets of development and the increasingly-desertified agricultural lands of Idaho’s high alpine desert. A short walk into the surrounding forested slopes revealed everything the news is telling us—the soils are so desperately dry and friable—and far too early in the summer—that the threat of wildfire and disease looms large and scary.

I camped here overnight and received the gift of recharge. I recognize I am incredibly fortunate to both reside in this kind of oasis and to have spent a life in deep connection with the natural world.

So many of us are so disconnected from nature and its lifeblood and are so surrounded by the trappings of the modern world we struggle to fully grasp what is amiss in our lives. Why do we feel so disconnected and full of grief? Why are we so physically unhealthy? Why are our relationships suffering?

The answers to these questions come easily as you spend more time outside. And, I mean anywhere outside. It is hard not to look at this lush meadow and its dainty little stream and see the life-giving magic of water, and further to ask: What in my life am I watering? Am I nurturing my loves? Am I honoring the important people in my life? Am I choosing a life-affirming path? Am I serving a greater good? Am I healing myself? Or, by contrast: Am I feeding the maw of capitalism? Giving relentlessly to others while failing to nourish myself? Am I disconnected not just from nature but from myself?

In all of it, please remember that what you water thrives. Choose well. (And, conserve water.)