2026-02: Reciprocity

Last month we practiced paying attention; this month we’ve been thinking about what comes next. To notice the lives around us is also to recognize the countless exchanges that make our own lives possible: plants turn sunlight into food, animals move seeds across the landscape, fungi connect forests beneath our feet, people care for one another, and machines extend what our bodies and minds can do. Reciprocity asks us to see ourselves inside these systems rather than standing apart from them. The exchange is rarely equal or immediate, and it isn’t a transaction. It is an ongoing practice of receiving, responding, tending, and giving back. If attention teaches us that we are surrounded by other lives, reciprocity reminds us that we are already in relationship with them.