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“The cacophony, the howling winds of humanity’s insane actions,  keeps us frenetic and reactive. The stillness makes us grounded and connective.”

By Denise Attwood

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Anyone who knows me knows I love whales. I have petted them, swum with them, walked the beach with them, had them come to comfort me when in deep sorrow and one grandmother whale gave me the gift of watching her die. I seek their wisdom wherever I am, even when I am far inland, because I believe their wisdom permeates and speaks to everything.

Their gifts to me have been many, but one of their most powerful lessons is how they deal with storms, they don’t beat against the wind or fight the waves, they just submerge into the beauty and stillness of the deep, where just a few feet below the tumult there is complete calm and they can dance.

We are living in a time of great chaos and tumult, so much going on like the perfect storm of humanity’s craziest attributes. The cacophony is so loud that it is like the winds of a hurricane howling such that we can’t hear ourselves think or each other speak. Amidst this storm, I recently lost one of my best friends, my almost 95-year-old father, and through the grace of grief, I have allowed myself to sink beneath the storm and find the quiet, calm steadiness of the waters beneath.

As I’ve danced beneath the waves, my heart has opened to the great sorrow of loss and the beauty of a well-lived life, but also to how we are so easily distracted from what is truly at stake in the world. The cacophony, the howling winds of humanity’s insane actions, keeps us frenetic and reactive; the stillness makes us grounded and connective.

It is to that connection that I return time and again. Whether it is with the whales, the spirit of my beautiful father or the day to day work that I do, I want to more deeply experience the connectivity and calm amidst the storm that rages above. I feel the power of that connectivity, and how it leads into places we can only go with vision together. Connectivity and relationship feels to me like hope. And hope is where I choose to dwell because it shows me what is possible.

In the spirit of connectivity and creating possibilities we at Ganesh Himal have ventured into yet another spirited and exciting relationship based on mutual respect and great love. You will read about it below in our story about Dawn Patel and her painting. Hopefully you feel it in everything we do.

As spring emerges, and hope and beauty explode, I invite you into the depths with us, into the place of calm possibility, that we may ride out these storms with great resolve so that we can recognize the connection that lies in it all. It is in the stillness that our intention can be the clearest and most powerful. So let’s dance below the surface, with great power, like the whales and co-create the world we long to live in.  That is the true heart of Fair Trade.

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