Dear Earth, sometimes we need naps.

At the weekend I gave out leaflets to a few hundred people and was refused by a few hundred more. Twenty of my Buddhist colleagues were sitting behind me in meditation posture on the wet city pavements. We were there to encourage people to ‘be kind to the Earth at Christmas’, without scrimping on any of the most important ingredients – good company, thoughtfulness, relaxation, fun. I hope you were pleased to see us there, dear Earth.

Afterwards we ate together and I told my friend how utterly exhausted I was. She’d also been handing out leaflets and said she felt energised – and she guessed correctly that I was an introvert rather than an extrovert like her. Being with people drains me of energy, and it fires her up.

I wondered later if I should have chosen to be one of those sitting instead. My answer was ‘no’, dear Earth, because I wanted to connect with people – I wanted to offer them my beaming smile and have delicate conversations with them about your health. I was glad to be drained of energy for you.

It’s good to play to our strengths. You need all our strengths, darling Earth – lawyers, hedge-layers, artists, home bakers, scientists, those who start local groups, those who do the washing up after the group has gone home.

It is also okay to do the thing that doesn’t come naturally to us, knowing that it will have a cost. Sometimes it’s important that we do the thing that tires us out, or that we do the thing we really don’t want to do. We need to do these things sparingly, so as not to exhaust our system – an exhausted system is no good to anyone, least of all ourselves.

After all that contact I slept for most of the afternoon, Little Dog curled up beside me, and I woke up restored. I’ll organise one of these actions again, but not for a while. First, the holidays, and a longer period of rest. Christmas is the perfect time for naps.

Much love, Satya <3