5 Songs That Foster Earth Love

Now more than ever we need to find and foster our love for Mother Earth. Sitting in nature helps to calm our minds and relieves stress, but it also allows us to connect to our surroundings and take a moment to thank the Earth for all she has given us.

I encourage you to find a patch of Earth and take a seat. It doesn't need to be a spectacular view or deep into the woods to appreciate nature. You can sit by a small garden, on a sliver of lawn, or leaning against a park tree. Wherever your surroundings take you, close your eyes, feel the Earth under your legs, breathe in the air and feel the breeze as it moves across your face. Put your earbuds in and press play on these 5 songs that will help you to connect to our Mother Earth and relax your mind and body:

1. Spirit Bird - Xavier Rudd

The first time I heard this song it moved me so much that I had tears in my eyes and goosebumps on my arms. The connection Xavier Rudd has to nature and his respect for indigenous culture vibrates through each note. Beautifully executed, it helps us connect to our surroundings, remember our ancestral roots and calls upon us to protect the Earth in our current life. The lyric that moved me to my core:

Spirit bird, she creaks and groans, she knows she has seen this all before.

2. Pig - Dave Matthews Band

It was 2006 the first time I heard the song Pig by Dave Matthews Band. It was a slow afternoon at work and my view outside the window was of the lake and the boardwalk where tourists gathered to take photos. As the music hummed along in the background I watched as couples paused to pose in front of the lake, holding their sunhats from the wind, sunglasses on. I had a moment where I seemed to understand the value of each day. Here I was watching these people live their lives through the window while I sat wasting the day away. "Don't burn the day" Dave's voice rang out and it soaked deep into my consciousness in that moment. How greedy we can be to want all these material things, but in reality here we are with all this beauty around us. Why aren't we enjoying it? After that, I started taking my breaks outside on the bench and listening to the passing boats, the birds in the nearby trees and connecting to my surroundings and expressing gratitude to live in such a beautiful place. The lyric that stuck with me:

Oh, this love will open our world

From the dark side we can see the glow of something bright

Oh, there's much more than we see here

Don't burn the day away.

3. Guaranteed - Eddie Vedder

When the soundtrack Into The Wild was released, I had just moved back to my hometown from city life. I remember the feeling when the morning sun shone through the living room window in our new house and making a promise to myself to get outside every day. I began running each morning, and as I weaved around backroads dodging wild turkeys on the road I would pass a stream with a small waterfall. I made a point of stopping each day at this point and taking a moment to appreciate it's beauty. The Into The Wild soundtrack was my running playlist which may seem odd. It wasn't the most upbeat sounds to exercise to, but what I enjoyed was that it allowed me to check out from my busy mind and enjoy the surroundings of my run and connect with nature. It became my daily moving meditation and gratitude for our Earth and living an authentic life. The lyric of this particular song that moved me:

Wind in my hair, I feel part of everywhere

Underneath my being is a road that disappeared

Late at night I hear the trees

They're singing with the dead

Overhead

4. Home - Jack Johnson

This beautiful little melody is such a simple ode to the joys of tending to the Earth and the abundance she gives if you care for her. When we connect the food we eat and water we drink back to the Earth, we take better care of those things. Many of Jack Johnson's songs have the undertone of caring for our natural world, and we can learn from his lyrics to enjoy our surroundings and become better stewards of the Earth. As a gardener myself, the lyrics that I go back to time and again in this song are:

I gotta get home there's a garden to tend

All the seeds from the fruit buried and began

Their own family trees, teach them thank you and please

As they spread their own roots then watch the young fruit grow again

And this old trail will lead me right back to where it begins

5. With My Own Two Hands - Ben Harper

Ben Harper has long been a passionate artist who stands up for social issues and uses his music as a way to motivate others. I have listened to this song for motivation for as long as I can remember. It has one of those upbeat rhythms you can crank on your car's stereo, or while exercising. It's a great tune to dance around the living room and feel good too. It sends the message that we can make change in our own corner of the world, and it will undoubtedly make a difference. It doesn't get any more hopeful than that. The lyrics I love to repeat in this song:

I can make peace on earth, with my own two hands

And I can clean up the earth, oh with my own two hands

And I can reach out to you, with my own two hands

I hope you've enjoyed these five Earth-loving songs, and overall feel more hopeful, grounded and empowered to care for the wild spaces that surround you. Now let your own light shine out to inspire others to join in!