Cleaning the planet!
There’s a lot of media coverage of beach cleaning at the moment, which is a positive thing, because it raises awareness of the need to keep our beaches clean. But as with all these things, i do wonder if we get start to get lost in the glory of it, so it’s not so much about cleaning the beach, but about being seen cleaning the beaches.
We clean the beach daily, I enjoy it, it’s something I’ve popped on my CV because I find it like a meditation, and I’m always fascinated to see what i might find. I’m telling you now, not for the glory, but because it’s a simple pastime that can easily be incorporated into any trip to the beach, just take a plastic bag along with you and some rubber gloves and go have a rummage in the shore line and see what you may find!
I don’t know what it is these days, that we need to make such a big deal about these things, is it our inherent insecurity and our need to be recognised for our goodness? Or is it simply the effect of social media where everyone is trying to be recognised for something? Well whatever it is, if it gets people cleaning the beaches, that has to be a good thing, but let’s do it for the rights reasons.
What you’ll find is the beach gives back to you enough and more, beautiful moments of being at one with nature, the sea, the sand, the skies, all creating a positive impact on the soul. There might be little gifts too, we found a heart shaped sponge awaiting us yesterday, for example, and there are sometimes marbles, or sea glass.
I can’t help thinking that as with any litter picking, the more we collect litter, cleaning up our beautiful planet, the more we’ll find ourselves collecting the litter from our own lives, cleaning ourselves up in the process, appreciating more of the simplicity of life and the inter-connected nature of all life too. It becomes not just about beach cleaning then, but about cleaning the planet generally.
So the message is clear, collect litter, from the side of the road, from the beach, from wherever you happen to find any, and then go about your life.
Happy collecting!
Love Emma x
