Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

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Did you know that we’re all made of stardust?

The molecules within us, the basic atoms that make up our bodies, are the residue of exploding stars millenia ago.

Here’s how David the geologist and astronomer explained it to me:

In the original big bang, the elements hydrogen and helium were created. Clouds of these elements eventually coalesced to form stars, where nuclear fusion took place, like in our Sun.

Fusion reactions eventually create “heavy elements”, that is, anything other than H (hydrogen) or He (helium). These sink into the centre of the star due to their greater density.

When the star goes supernova, which they all do sooner or later, these heavy elements are expelled into the void, where they eventually form planets, meteorites , comets and so forth. Since we are a product of our planet (Earth) and every atom in us comes from the planet, we are made out of once stellar material.

Look at it this way.

You get atoms from a carrot. The carrots atoms were once dirt. The dirt was once rock, the rock is made of heavy elements, all of which were once in the centre of a star.

Regardless of your “living” age, the atoms in your body are billions of years old.  When life is wearing me down and the day to day seems overwhelming, I find this thought comforting.

It reminds me of the enormousness and complexity of life, and of how little control I have over any of it.  It makes the things that I worry about seem trivial.

It reminds me to view the world with awe and wonder, and to ponder on our connectedness to all things.  I often wonder where the atoms that are me have been recycled from.

It reminds me to give thanks for the gift of being alive – and for the brief use of this stardust for the time I’m here.   And to focus on enjoying the time I’ve been given!

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We are stardust…we are golden…billion year old carbon
And we’ve got to get ourselves…back to the garden

Joni Mitchell, Woodstock 1969