![rose-garden.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmfJudvmkp231v8gHntTujJFaGgFDFjLMk5RFE1e8qD5MC/rose-garden.jpg) *This rose garden is on the grounds of a beautifully converted Carmelite monastery, which is now the renowned [**San Angel Inn**](http://www.sanangelinn.com/), in Mexico City. Thanks, again, to Derek and his family for sharing so much hospitality with us. What a gorgeous, and memorable day. 🌹* ________ ![san-angel-inn.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdqH2jT4DsACiyaEw6HqPZdF5J5dyZr52BYd2CAuwqJBQ/san-angel-inn.jpg) *Juan, guarding. Arturo, stretching.* ________ ![san-angel-garden.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmc7gRt8GdibZLQPAep7ihrm4tuc4g3R7sVEAUfi7DS9qg/san-angel-garden.jpg) *More paths for your pretty feet.* ________ ![gus-path.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmSwtRZH13oNTwpWp5tkKWJorgtHDsKMAgyaBmLMjmZZ7k/gus-path.jpg) *[**Arturo Ponce de León**](https://amzn.to/2rVXXSn) is our enormously talented and visionary lead bio-fractal architect. He applies "the geometry of life, to the design of spaces, construction and interiors."* ![page-divider.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPP9iNGaZBScnL3xt7b9nt76m9aFRMuHYyPoYc8tkjFHR/page-divider.jpg) ## What would happen if your fascination about a particular thing *only grew, and was not suppressed or restrained?*

Of course legions of frightened, half-hearted people would tell you to be less obsessed, and more balanced. They would try to talk you out of your fire: *"Woah... turn it down... chillllll....."* Whatever. Besides that lameness. What would happen... if you allowed your fascination to take you as farrrrrr as it wanted to take you... well beyond smoothly plastered walls and Netflix. I don't care if it's math, music, or mothering... Mothering is a great example. I would say, and most would agree, that [**Dayna Martin**](http://daynamartin.com/) allowed her fascination with a certain kind of mothering, to carry her all the way past social and cultural convention... and into new realms of what parenting can look like. For many well-intended people I know, the idea that a child deserves the same kind/amount of dignity that an adult deserves is ludicrous. The discounting of a child's innate personhood is sooooo hard-wired and baked-in as normal, anything less than **strict obedience** sounds like lunacy to authoritative ears. My point with the contrast is to show how very brave and revolutionary it is to raise free and happy children, in a world that still mostly believes in a false right to rule over others. If Dayna had chosen to turn down her passion or voice about this particular Way of Being in the world, **consider all the influencing toward peaceful parenting that would NOT have happened.** How much further behind would that aspect of consciousness -- which is the innate dignity of children -- be? ![page-divider.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPP9iNGaZBScnL3xt7b9nt76m9aFRMuHYyPoYc8tkjFHR/page-divider.jpg) The depths to which I want to understand cannabis' ways and wisdom has yet to find a bottom, or an edge. Well, there is of course the forced and immoral edge of prohibition, which hinders all research, study, and wholesome investigation. 💥 And as a result, there are legal and housing restraints I am subject to, but aside from those... ...medicinally, historically, politically, spiritually, functionally, commercially, psychologically, cognitively, botanically, *responsibly*... in all the ways it can be known, understood, experienced, learned from, and enjoyed... THAT IS WHAT I WANT. I want that for me, and every single person and animal on the planet that needs/desires it. Because behind her gateway, is abundant life. ![abundant-life.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmfSkVTdFuwytZMhDEiTajgv68kNYndZ7552h5crU4Yf5D/abundant-life.jpg) _________ # A question for you:

(1) Is there something -- anything, really -- that holds and keeps your focused interest to the point of time-loss? (2) If so, can you imagine taking that topic/issue (like cannabis/hemp, or peaceful parenting, or homesteading, or singing, or seriously whatever) and study/practice it in the immersive way that devotees cannot resist... and **let the new learnings reveal your next steps.** That's how I navigate my unfolding path... just ride/follow the edges of my new learnings/discoveries. You will lose some people and things you thought you wanted to stay in your life. ![pink-shipwreck.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmbxC9sKtoorMkx1DdLj54ATG2He7ZTE3qxHuTdrivC7ve/pink-shipwreck.jpg) It will hurt like a mofo. But then you're made new. And then you're given keys... **...to whatever locks you have chosen to play with in this lifetime.** USE YOUR KEYS. 🔑 ![door-deck.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmXETFxeJzTU8a77Lb422crTqFZqkPxFyJbdo7Ah8WjkWN/door-deck.jpg) Sometimes your sheer inner groundedness will have to be enough to sustain you. It can. *It will.* This post is to encourage all with the heart of a devotee, TO ACCEPT + LEVERAGE YOUR DOGGEDNESS. **Your peculiar intensity.** I am so grateful for this platform that allows us to freely express honest sentiments that are energetically helpful to both creators and readers. **Thank you, Steemit, for carrying -- and not censoring -- all our words!** I am GRATEFUL for the (block)chain of events (haha) that brought me to Steemit nearly two years ago, thereby dropping me in a crypto-reality I may not have otherwise ventured into on my own. I'm not crypto-rich, but I am crypto-free. Living, writing, expressing, connecting, transacting on it. **Because of it.** Satoshi, and other purveyors of blockchain technology, *I LOVE YOU.* ![IMG_20180503_003033.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmVuwJHWMvzWnyymnGQ1FejAAYpw9TyFNZxiiVw7TSkvHq/IMG_20180503_003033.jpg) *Gus spotted this ashtray sitting in front of us at [**Sandy Toes**](https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g291962-d6627609-Reviews-Sandy_Toes_Beach_Bar_Grill-San_Pedro_Ambergris_Caye_Belize_Cayes.html), a lively beachfront pub in Ambergris Caye, on San Pedro. There were also burnt fiat bills from various countries taped up all over the place. That amused us.* _______ Also while we were in Ambergris Caye, I received an email saying I had been awarded a scholarship I applied for to the [Sativa Science Club](https://www.sativascienceclub.com/) for Certification in Cannabis Science! Four years ago, I was actually *afraid* to put the following statement on my LinkedIn profile (but I put it there anyway): > "I stand for the legal and social vindication of cannabis/hemp, and the personal liberation of those who know her." Like many others, I wanted to shift the public perception of a gravely misidentified Gift of Nature. I also feared the professional consequences of openly associating myself with a plant that has such a distorted reputation. Sure, now it's a sexy, already-lucrative industry that has a lot less stigma than it did just a few years ago. (Hooray!) But before trending smoothed the road a bit, the ride was rougher. The alienation and lost opportunities were real. Still are. According to [**the FBI's crime data report for 2016**](https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/cius-2016/topic-pages/persons-arrested?55), more people were arrested for cannabis possession, than for all violent crimes, combined. If that doesn't clearly reveal [**an intentionally designed mechanism**](https://popularresistance.org/newsletter-prison-industrial-complex/) that enables the US to lead the world in enslaving its own citizens in slave labor, then I don't know what will. Not to mention the well-documented proof that cannabis is [**the most effective treatment of opioid abuse**](http://theexitdrug.com/). And seizures/convulsions, neural degeneration, and [**a host of other conditions**](https://www.medicalmarijuana.com/treatments-with-medical-marijuana-cannabis/). And how about using industrial hemp to reduce carbon emissions, repair toxic/demineralized soil, and replace filthy industrial practices and products? *There is so much social and material good to be done by and with this one plant alone. A lifetime isn't nearly enough for rightful celebration of it.* ![page-divider.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPP9iNGaZBScnL3xt7b9nt76m9aFRMuHYyPoYc8tkjFHR/page-divider.jpg) Now, I better understand that when you love something loudly or proudly, it doesn't *only* subject you to risk and rejection. **It *also* subjects you to the reward of being an integrated and self-accepting person.** When you deeply accept yourself, the rejection of others just doesn't matter so much. When you are accepted by others, it will be based on who you really are. And what you make when you come together will be astonishing. For many of us, the season of being prepared in a silo... the long night of delayed dreams and unused gifts, is over. ### Time to rise and shine.

![rise-and-shine.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZFcyvqip9hHvEjWfc9dkSqotny8RuiVCg4bqnYg5MK5T/rise-and-shine.jpg)

________ Several years ago at my kitchen table in Illinois, I declared to my Mom and my ex that I wanted my life to be organized around the celebration of cannabis and hemp. I wanted my body and mind to be healed by it. I wanted to, literally, live in it. Wear it. Eat it. Write on it. *Share its goodness with the world by building, and pointing to the evidence.* It sounded crazy... ... to envision and desire a life that's dedicated to demonstrating the richness of a master-plant that we have betrayed and underused to our own deep suffering.

________ **Well, crazy or not... it is actually *happening,* now!** ![EAV-core-and-doc.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZsTjjon4MTCwjvznsZXgkSGLGxGCwaTuC58TyYsugnnQ/EAV-core-and-doc.jpg) *EarthAngel Core: [@juansgalt](https://steemit.com/@juansgalt), [@mikeonfire](https://steemit.com/@mikeonfire), Gus, Dr. Albert, [@barefootskinny](https://steemit.com/@barefootskinny), and me.* _________ What we say today, is a brick in our tomorrow. So let's build smart, beautiful things. ![page-divider.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPP9iNGaZBScnL3xt7b9nt76m9aFRMuHYyPoYc8tkjFHR/page-divider.jpg) ## Previous Posts About EarthAngels:

#### * [The moon will rise. Perspective-changing in Belize.](https://steemit.com/cannabis/@erikaharris/the-moon-will-rise-perspective-changing-in-belize) #### * [A Belizean Adventure With EarthAngels](https://steemit.com/photography/@erikaharris/a-belizean-adventure-with-earthangels) ### * Learn more about [earthangel.vision](http://earthangel.vision/), a decentralized, hemp-based community to heal the earth.

![earth-angel-logo.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmeJhCgmqMheUGaHUWSMcNc3xmwQ6YwvMTqc11ZG5i18W1/earth-angel-logo.png) _____ **With special thanks to everyone who continues to care, to hope, to start.** *Distraction is easier but, thankfully, not for you.*