I am under a lot of stress right now but spent my coffee time this morning sitting near the garden listening to birds and watching a rabbit run straight at me until suddenly it took a sharp left and headed away. I was at peace, the stress lifted, and I felt joy. Now I am back inside at a screen to convince you to put down the computer and go outside.
Ok, now I am talking to the ones who were not easily convinced lol, but isn’t that what a blog is about? All that rambling about how good the recipe is before you get to the recipe on a cooking blog… so what is the recipe here?
Get outside, be in nature, breathe, relax. That is why nature is featured in the art on this
website. But you may have noticed a preponderance of lichens, or maybe you thought it was all moss; whatever you thought, you probably found the crusty gray green and orange shapes familiar or maybe you live where lichens take a more leaflike form. I love lichens, I love seeing them seem to spring to life again after a rain as the adjacent moss does. The moss (a true plant) is often near a lichen since it holds water the lichen needs.
But I am starting to feel poetic, back to the science. Trust me, this is about relationship, recovery, and reconciliation.
What is a lichen? For 150 years we thought a fungus provided the structure and the algae
provided photosynthesis creating something that appears to be a plant created from two things, neither of which is a plant. Then a third ingredient, another fungus, was found to be involved in this symbiotic relationship. And oh by the way, one participant, blue green algae (blue for the water it needs and green for its ability to photosynthesize) is a bacteria. Happy to help clear all that up lol.
How wonderful is it that these different organisms,--fungus, the algae, and the bacteria called blue green algae--found a way to live together that to our eyes created a living organism that is so much more than just the sum of it's parts. Algae can live in so many more places thanks to fungi. And lichens take so many beautiful shapes!
But why a lichen as art on a recovery site? Because inspiration for recovery can come from
anywhere (to be clear, we all have something to recover from every day; we carry old sorrows;
we have disappointments large and small; we have addictions large and small, remember my coffee?). Once you start thinking about living your most authentic healthy life, inspiration is
everywhere. [from Re: Once recovery takes root and sobriety grows, it is like driving a car new to you; you start seeing others just like it everywhere, where you didn’t see them passing by you before!]
In a very short National Geographic film on lichens (see below) you can find the inspiration for what is written below and I bet you will find even more connections and inspiration unique to your situation.
I am inspired to spend more time in nature, paying more attention. I am lucky to have easy access to nature and to lichens. Lichens cover seven percent of the earth and live in warm, cold, dry and wet environments. They take on many forms. Odds are you can find some lichens to enjoy when you are in a natural area near you. Being in nature has been shown to be healing. If you can’t do “forest bathing” or visit a prairie, then plant a pot with native flowers to attract pollinators, add a stick with lichens to the pot, and see what happens
when you visit your flower pot daily.
The wide variety of lichens show us there is more than one way to be in the world. There are
long, “hair lichens” in wet environments, flat “crust lichens” in the desert. All adapt to and
respond to their environment. How is your environment working for you? For your loved
ones? Lichens attach to stones and trees. What are you attached to?
Most people don’t give lichens any thought, assuming they are moss or plants, if they think of them at all. What else are we missing when we focus only on the stress right in our faces instead of walking outside, taking a deep breath, sitting quietly long enough to hear a bird song that isn’t an alarm call, and noticing a tiny lichen?
But someone did bother to figure out what a lichen is. What have I paid that much attention to lately? And after 150 years of thinking we knew, we learned more. The learning curve for life is steep. Never think you have arrived. Keep learning. Stay curious.
Two living beings, working together, can have a bigger life than either can alone. The algae and fungus that make up lichens can live together as lichens where neither could live without the other. They say a fish can’t see the water it is swimming in but as humans in relationships we have to climb up on the bank every now and then and take a hard look at what we are swimming in. Is this person photosynthesizing (nurturing) for me? Providing structure? Attaching me to a beautiful rock or healthy tree bark? Are we together more than we each could be alone?
Symbiosis as a noun entered the scientific literature through the study of lichens. From Merriam-Webster: “the living together in close association of two different kinds of organisms (as a fungus and an alga making up a lichen) especially when such an association is of benefit to both”. Clearly this is something to consider when recovering a relationship damaged by addiction. But this raises infinite scenarios. Humans can’t always be symbiotic. When one is ill, for instance, and the other exhausted from caring duties, the symbiosis can be hard to see though it is there in the value of caring for one who would care for you if they could. If you are caring for an addict who is struggling to recover, symbiosis will grow as recovery grows, But you have to be aware when the situation crosses over from mutually beneficial. A relationship can help an addict regain control so the relationship can be mutually beneficial again, or if recovery is not happening, the addiction can be like parasitism. Again, Merriam-Webster: “parasitism …an intimate association between organisms of two or more kinds especially: one in which a parasite obtains benefits from a host which it usually injures” or kills. If your life is in danger save yourself. If you are exhausted, rest. If you can see symbiosis recovering, keep working. If it is all too confusing, get help with a therapist and/ or support group.
Humans are not algae; we are not fungi. We have legs and can walk away. And we can stay and help each other. But we have to look closely at the symbiosis: if both are enabling each other’s addiction, if one is getting sober, if one is desperately trying to help another get sober, if that one is trying or not trying … infinite shades of symbiosis or parasitism. It is not always codependence (simplest example: sober partner buying booze for alcoholic partner); it is almost always more complex. (see Robert Weiss’ and Stefanie Carnes' work, Prodependence, under Books and Other Resources)
When, in the video linked below, they found that two lichens looked different but had the same DNA, the scientists looked deeper. It was a simple question. It was a group of people from different backgrounds taking a deep look together. They grew to understand lichens better.
A deep look with the help of other people from different backgrounds is what it takes in recovery to find that subtle deep hidden difference that makes all the difference. Keep looking until you understand, and then keep looking because the understanding will deepen even when you think you have it all figured out.
When you are ready for recovery, inspiration is everywhere. I hope you can take a walk in nature today, or sit on your porch, or visit your flower pot on the terrace or in the window.
Take inspiration from the wise lichen. Find those who will nourish you. Find your best place to be. Grow whenever and wherever you can.