If you live in a place that is cold or getting cold, I have a theory. A theory that goes along with my always present message of how our inside world colors, creates and curates our outside one. My theory goes beyond what you see and into what you feel. I believe we can change the weather too and we are responsible for all the changes ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Mama Earth is going through. And not just from what we’re doing on the outside as humans, but also how we’re feeling on the inside as well.

To me, freezing weather in a place and in a time that is not traditionally freezing is concerning. The average temperature in Austin in February does not usually go below 41 (5 degrees C) or above 83 degrees F. Average is usually 61 to 70 degrees F.

My take on this temperature drops, not just in Austin but around the Western world tell me that we’ve gotten cold inside for too long. Last year disconnected us from our loved ones, from nourishing each other, from hugs and physical touch. 2020 taught us to avoid each other, to close our doors and stay inside, to close our hearts to the possibility of resilience and wellness and overcoming anything with the power of unity. In so many ways, we divided and ‘otherismed’ the heck out of each other and to me that moved away from the heart space and into a place that serves no one.

I believe if we create, cultivate and color our inside world through warmth, connection, nourishment and tons of self-love, we can see and feel those on the outside. If we open our arms, our hearts, our minds, our hearts and our lives to others, we’ll see and feel the limitless and undeniable connection we have between us and through us.

According to Trevor Gollegher,

A great little analogy is we are like fleas on Mother Earth’s back. If we are full of negative thoughts and feelings, energetically we become mean and nasty, inflicting burden onto Mother Earth. We essentially burden her the more negativity we create within ourselves. She is sensitive to what is happening on her, just like we are sensitive to what happens within, on, and around us…

He goes on to say that Mother Earth copes, clears and releases the negative we impose on her through the only way she knows how. Extreme storms, tidal waves, earthquakes, volcanos, hurricanes are all negative energy releases that have built up within her.

Similar to the way we react and respond as humans.

By releasing them she is practicing super self-love.

We’ve seen that first hand in our time here in Mexico. Everyone, locals, natives, expats have been so warm and welcoming. For us, its been one big open door and celebration of what it is to be alive. M Sol calls in babies every morning and afternoon from age 2 to 18 who play and laugh and swim and eat with her. She’s even called in a big sister named Luna who she plays with on most mornings on the beach.

We’ve built relationships with people from Portland, Guadalajara, Mexico City, San Blas, Vancouver and Italy. Esmeralda, a local, came over and taught us how to make vegan mole and pibil. Sonia and Chuck from the valley took us on a whale watching tour and Sonia watched Beanie while J and I snorkeled.

Yesterday, M Sol woke up from her nap and kept saying ‘pizza, pizza’ and when she walked outside there were a circle of La Cruz teenagers under the palapa. She walked her half-sleepy self over to them and inched her way into their circle while they chowed on Little Caesars. Of course they invited her in, gave her some food and played with her for a good while, while I connected to a mama from B.C. whose daughter is now 9 (middle name is also Sol) and was just like our Beanie, curious and playful and always the life of the party. The most welcoming and warm teenagers we’ve ever encountered.

We continue to wake up and be grateful for this opportunity, for my sisters frequent messages, ‘you’re safe cukie monster, you have all you need, cukie’, for the cold plunges and the delicious food and build such a warmth inside, it turns into what we experience and feel outside, in people and in weather.

So instead of fearing all the catastrophes and chaos that we hear about day in and day out, I invite you to cultivate a warm, cozy, loving, compassionate world within, as always. If you’re ready some warmth in your life, start by going within.

It sounds like crazy talk, but just like thoughts can affect water and rice -Dr. Masuro Emoto’s work-they can also affect our climate.

Some suggestions:

• Call someone you love who you haven’t talked to in a long while
• Practice Loving-Kindness Meditation
• Do appreciation ramPAGES where you just write and write and write all your gratitudes and appreciations
• Write a letter to someone you miss or love deeply, alive or departed
• Hug your loves for a long time
• Play 528 hertz in your ears and lay down taking it in
• Do a self-massage and express love and gratitude for your amazing physical body
• Laugh big belly laughs for 10 minutes straight
• Drink a cup of cacao made with coconut milk and lots of love and song
• Lay in a heart opening position with pillows all around you to hold your arms

Cold therapy is a thing that I love, for sure. I dive into Barton Springs and take cold showers, but extended outside temps is whole other thing. We’re living in a time that calls us again to go get the medicine inside. To warm yourself within to warm the world. Through opening our hearts, our souls, our minds and our lives to connection once again. Thank you for reading.