Connect with Nature and Heal the Earth, with Kessonga

(screen whooshes and clicks) (bright music) "Headspace Studio." (logo chiming) (wind whooshing) (tranquil music) Greetings, greetings, I'm Kessonga, and welcome to "Radio Headspace." On this wonderful Thursday, I wanna dive into something that's been on a lot of people's minds lately, and that's Mother Earth. Specifically, I wanna touch on our relationship with the earth, how we can protect it, and how mindfulness can play a role in that. Lately, I've been really paying attention to my relationship with Mother Earth, and I have my eco-aware green sister to thank for that. (chuckles) Her name is Tulani Thomas, and she's all about being eco-friendly and living green (chuckles) with her business TuTu's Green World. (wind whooshing) (tranquil music) She wrote a children's book series called "TuTu Goes Green." She also tours different schools around the nation promoting green eco living, and every chance she gets, she tries to get me to embrace green eco-friendly living. I remember when I was over at her house last New Year's holiday, and I had to wipe up a spill. I was going nuts, looking for some paper towels, and then I remembered, she doesn't use paper towels. (chuckles) She uses eco-friendly washcloths, and in addition, every product in her house, from the soap to the toothpaste, to the laundry detergent, is eco-friendly. She doesn't even have plates or forks in her house. Everyone has to eat off of the eco floor with their hands. (Kessonga chuckles) All right, I'm just joking about that, (laughs) but I think you get the idea. And I joke, but she really has inspired me to be more aware of how I move in my day-to-day in regards to protecting Mother Earth. (tranquil music) We're living in a time where environmental issues from climate change to deforestation are becoming impossible to ignore. Many people are feeling what's known as eco-anxiety. Eco-anxiety is a deep sense of worry, fear, and even guilt about the state of the planet. It's very real, and it can weigh on you, sometimes without you even realizing it. But there's something powerful that we can bring into this conversation to counter it, and that's ego-mindfulness. Ego-mindfulness is all about integrating mindfulness into our connection with nature. It's about cultivating awareness of the earth and how everything we do impacts it. Just as we practice being present in our own lives, eco-mindfulness invites to be present with the environment around us. Whether that's the air that we breathe, the water that we drink, or the food that we eat, it reminds us that we're a part of nature, not separate from it. (tranquil music continues) When we feel eco-anxiety, it often stems from a sense of helplessness. The problems can seem so massive that it feels like there's nothing that we can do, and this is where mindfulness can help. By grounding ourselves in the present moment, we create space between the overwhelming thoughts and our reaction to them. When you feel that anxiety rising, take...