222. A leap to thrive.

Life is a beautiful, messy thing. No matter how you paint it. Some aspects are arguably better left undefined, while it is crucial we have transparent solutions to problems. A planet of tangible and intangible- Earth.

We learn and grow at incredible speed, connecting dots as we run. Earth, green and sky blur to combine. Thus, it now appears like the sun crossing the line of the horizon at dawn, that we can also transform at an incredible rate. Our planet orbits while we form squiggly trajectories in our daily lives that we believe to be ‘linear’. Another day done- check. Checkmate. We have rested and ran in crazy, stupid, out-of-our minds kind of ways ‘to build that city’ and ‘be somebody’ or ‘close that gap’. There is more than music that swells and expands when we listen. Efficacy is required of us ahead, and clarity on our intentions. The miraculous thing is, we are changing to be more holistic already. Once we thought our planet to be flat.

Hi. Emma here.

I am writing a short chapter here that has required a great deal of thought and learning. It is a chapter of me, and we must be careful when revealing ourselves these days. No matter how I envision what I feel I must share with the world, simplicity seems best. That is the approach I am moving into, hereafter this immersion in the overwhelm of being the first generation aged 21 in the 21st century. I type as a small blip in the universe, from my MacBook Air, in a small country town in Australia- ‘A resting place of the birds’. The ‘A’ key on my laptop has a dint in it having been subjected to the intensity of mostly online undergraduate and postgraduate education. I set out now to write a thousand words or more as a plane may glide through the sky to a foreign country. For some unknown and irrelevant reason, the Californian sun does beckon me more than my current rural farmland surrounds.

I grew up writing and dreaming and creating art. Being open and embracing my empathetic nature. Learning the science and being studious. Adapting and rising from adversity to be more resilient. These are traits I will carry with me into the next chapter of my life, but not the heartache of wounds endured. The girl must fade for the woman to emerge. I don’t want to live to survive anymore. And my story isn’t me- the journey is. Thriving is needed urgently for all. Not everyone is ready to talk about great change, I get it. It does seem scary for a while- the means of how we will do it. I’ve been so caught up in the resistance myself. Butterflies catch there, stuck in a spider’s web. Do we remain trapped until we transform? This question, I pose to you. The more I learn, the more I realise I know nothing at all. And I laugh. Smile more. Choose freedom and peace. Discover new ways to harmonise. Adapt. Innovate.

People live such incredible lives. Mine feels rather uneventful in comparison. Do we be brutally honest and open? Do we camouflage our intuitiveness and essence? I guess the ‘typical’ and normative answers are already known to you. What if someone lay themselves on the line and just let their heart melt there with the Great Heating/Burning/Hunger of our planet? Kinda stupid, right? Feeling is so important though. Relationships even more so. When you love with the ability to forgive and make peace over and over again- is that adoration? Is there any ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to live anyway? Personally, I love Earth so much and I live to help make it thrive, now and for the future. I feel melancholy waves of pain and sorrow but, cannot hate the tides of anything. The future is grand in my soft, hardened eyes, and less heavy like my resilient heart. Tragedy is not inevitable, but healing and transformation are.

Heck, I don’t know where I am going. And honestly, I do not know why I am always drawn back to writing and creating art. Nostalgia, I guess. To cope with the solastalgia of these times. I don’t know if I will have the time to write a decent novel, whilst trying to start out in my career. So, I write for you now. My mind ticks faster than that clock on the wall, and we are all so much stronger and powerful then we are led to believe. We emerge, out of fire, into adoration:

-Dreamscape-

She burns. Lightning turns sand to crystal at their feet. Water turns to gold. Silver linings emerge.

The woman ventured out beyond the safe walls and port of the harbour, travelling into new terrain and unchartered territories. A remarkable journey through space and time leading to-

Fragmenting splendour.

Ariel stands alone in the vast, naked savannah. The cracked earth underfoot stretches to the horizon, dusted with the odd weed and tendril of ivy, to remnant jungle and skyline. A pillar of white marble has been eroded into a rough slab that hovers parallel to where the woman stands. A peculiar pavement of mirrors weaves to the right, reflecting the galaxies overhead with such focused clarity. She can sense energy of desperation lurking, but it is not imminent. To what end was beauty and purity no longer warranted and therefore left behind? In the distance, machines continue to rumble and gnarl away at the forestry. Green lights and metallic rigidity consume on and on, unrestrained. Ariel begins to walk, and then run. She crosses the sand dunes that sting her eyes in the wind. Storm clouds continue to blacken and swirl overhead. A pink lake of poison appears in the valley below, and she swims through it without breathing. The lake gets left behind, and she ventures on through the savannah. She cries at the sight of figures stacked like bricks in a pyramid. Still she surges forward, toward the root of consumption. Ivy snags at her ankle and Ariel falls. For a time, she cannot see with the dirt pressed hard into her face. Blades continue to scrape and prod at the already cracked earth like arrows through a heart. She rises. Lightning ignites flames: amber and blue combust. Ariel runs towards it without fear. A strange land, indeed. Stars implode all around.

Algorithms and mathematics and physics and science and language and art and architecture and technology and what the- is this? This hunger? It is a need for love and harmony and synergy. She found the foundation. It is innate need for transforming… merging two worlds as we know them- the tangible and intangible to create a beautiful, balanced life. Extraordinary beauty does not come in the box that then appears in the planet’s biosphere. The miraculous has no limits because, it is undefinable. Flowers break the chains and the lasting birds take flight, chorusing. Somewhere, lie stories and lives never told.

…

What do I know? Here- in the thrumming beat of the Australian agricultural sector, singing “Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac!... Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, space monkey, mafia, hula hoops, Castro... Belgians in the Congo!” Here, people drive their Land Cruiser’s down the torn bitumen with the radio blurring and swerve to let green machines pass by as we continue to drive down the road. Meanwhile, more intensive farms from corporations owned afar take hold and the real green recedes. Yellow planes glide overhead like locusts and spray chemical on fields that then drifts in the wind, settling on the fragmented Eucalyptus woodland. Settling in my lungs. The sun burns freckles and moles into my skin like constellations. Barbed wire has torn at my skin, then snags my horse. Part of my family get stuck in pastime. We lose belief of our potential and worth. The Earth screams, I scream. People look curiously at me through tired eyes. I suffer under the weight of expectation. Exhausts puff black smoke and we slow in its ominosity. We pause briefly with the overwhelming spread of disease. Then we let our lead foot fall back to the accelerator- the elephant’s in the room- but some of us evolved differently in the process of changing gears. This travelling journey of mine- my first 21 years- has been incredible and extraordinary. Driving forward, faster and faster- this at least must be something most people can relate to. This is the real reel. The challenge is moving beyond the overwhelm and embracing the transience in our surging ways towards a thriving world of harmony and diversity. Little hairs on my neck stand up on end in excited awareness.

Being an artist and aware of the science… you set out and discover things. This collation I have shared with you- I feel I can no longer keep absorbing what I have absorbed as an individual at the rate I have. I will act though, to keep doing better every day. Creating regeneratively and treading lighter is necessary. Heck, my days of ‘resting’ are over now, I realise, I must take flight in my journey to help others navigate this confusing terrain. I have learnt quite rapidly (relative)-

Let go of the weight that doesn’t serve your present and future. Know your nature and worth. Know your beauty and strength. I turn towards the sun, as it angles in through the window in the morning, and I am not afraid to rise and leap each day, even in the face of weeds, poison and shadows. Sustainable development is the chapter ahead and doing it with efficacy. I hope those children of the future universe are not burdened with such lengths and heights of responsibility at such a young age, as I have been/am. I have accepted I cannot fix and save everything and everyone. I must accept that I cannot escape the responsibility of transformation. It is in my era. The great change is here and I cannot deny or reject it. Breathe it in and let it out. Get anthropogenic CO2 to net zero. Flow and grow. Surge forwards, but run with your heart, body, mind and spirit intact. Seek peace and balance.

In my 21 years, as I approach 22, I have learnt so much and my greatest lessons I have yet to implement are: We have control over our lives and future. We get to create that life. Be your own artist and take positive action. We are inextricably apart of nature, and we need to thrive. Get out of your own way and don’t be a hindrance to your growth. Forget insecurity and judgment, honestly. Have courage to be different, even when that difference blinds others. Don’t forget to spend your energy and time wisely so that you are truly happy! How the world has changed since 2000! Where we set out from this moment is already miraculous, I believe.

On a final note, in the here and now- the kookaburras fly along the riverbank and land in the purple shade of the Jacaranda trees. The sunlight filters in through my window. Water teems in abundance and the plant growth is astounding- ecosystems thrum vitality in this season. I feel complete and I feel gratitude. I know I have healed from past torment, and I do not need anything to prove it. Success can be silent, but we can share with others to inspire. In all my frankness with the world around me, we are more than one thing. Artist. Scientist. Conservationist. Blogger. Photographer. Influencer. Politician. Fireman/woman. Healer.

You. Decide.

Radiate love always