NATURE AS A TEACHER - Things We Can Learn from Ants

If you think you are too small to make a difference,

try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito

- African Proverb

Living in Nicaragua, I encounter a lot of creepy crawlers - This month alone in my house, I found two tarantulas and three scorpions, but the worst of it was the ant infestations. 

One night, I was lying in my bed, and I felt what I thought were flies on me, and I thought, "Oh great, my dog has fleas." Then, after more swiping and tossing, I realized my whole bed was covered in dozens of tiny ants. I threw my sheets off my bed, shook them outside and then investigated where the ants were coming from. 

Not the floor? 

Not the walls? 

Then I looked at the ceiling. Hundreds of ants were migrating across my ceiling above my bed. I had a seance, with 8 incense burning at once, spraying lavender on my bed, I even prayed to god for forgiveness; even though I did not fully understand what I did to deserve the plague. 

Then, a couple of hours later, the ants were gone, Fergie and I were sleeping on a clean bed, and other than feeling groggy, my beautiful little house was peaceful as ever when I woke up. 

My landlord explained to me that the ants had nothing to do with cleanliness. They were looking for water in the dry season, which you can find in my ceiling when a power outage defrosts my mini fridge and the water from said fridge leaks through the kitchen floor above my bed. They eat and clean any mould or other things that could live in my walls.

Since that happened, I have been a little more conscious of ants, and I have been learning a lot about them:

• Ants work together, being able to carry about 10x their weight, which I've witnessed when 30 microscopic ones are carrying a pebble of my dog's food out the door

• Leafcutter ants can be a substitute for stitches. Their relatively painless bites are extremely strong, and indigenous tribes used to rip off their heads and leave them as stitches when injured in the jungle.

• Ants can become zombies. When they die, they can get possessed by fungus, and that fungus can take over their shell and guide them up trees to the mother. 

• There is an idea that if you weighed all the humans in the world and all the ants, it would be about the same weight

...and so last night when the ants returned, I did not panic, I simply grabbed my inscents and waited until their little colonies evacuated my bedroom. These little inconvenient visitors have become my teachers - reminders of patience, strength and the power of community.

Food for Thought:

Are you on your phone too much?

Something I've noticed is that the algorithm is shaping the people around me in divisive and inhumane ways. Instead of finding a wise teacher or sitting quietly to look for an answer, it feels like we can be drawn to the easiest and most convenient one. This changes the grey matter in our brain and can cause rapid cognitive decline. 

Try to delay using AI for 10 minutes when you have a problem or a question, and see what comes up for you. 

Our rampant tech use, specifically AI, is using up humans' most precious resources - fresh drinking water and trace minerals. If we continue down this path, we will become like ants searching for food and water in an environment that cannot provide them. 

Please remember that nature is your teacher and a healing tool of the great mystery of who or what created us. It's everyone's collective job to take care of the earth we live on and those that we share it with.