Taking Time For Nature

Taking Time For Nature

Hello Beautiful Souls

Recently I saw a news program in which doctors were writing prescriptions for… Nature. And for good reason. - stress reduction. Sadly modern life has created a disconnect with the one thing that provides potent re-calibration, balance and renewed energy to our psyches and bodies - Nature. We go about our lives in closed indoor spaces with an inch of shoe sole between us and the earth and often only step outside during the day to go to the car. As a result many of us are sick.

So here is something to consider. We are actually a living, breathing appendage of the earth. We would not be here if not for the earth. Correct? So when someone breaks an arm or leg, their appendage gets put in a cast. The cast is just temporary to give the bone a chance to heal. The cast is not meant to stay on for months and months. To do so would cause decay and infection and could potentially become life threatening. Ultimately your healing leg or arm needs to breath. The cast gets cut off. Why then, if we are an appendage of the earth, do we encase ourselves in the metaphorical cast, and refuse to cut the cast off thus promoting an unhealthy and life threatening situation? Because we have divorced ourselves from the very thing that created us - Earth and Sun.

Now more than ever we need to recognize what this divorce has done and start making amends. Just realizing that nature is great for stress reduction is a good start. So why is Nature so good at stress reduction? For one - it is so damn beautiful that it calms and soothes the psyche. Nobody can create beauty like nature. Not even close. Two, it is a good listener. It doesn’t talk back and is unconditional. It just shows up with presence. And three, it actually grounds discordant energy. Yes. You heard me right. On those days when you just feel emotionally shitty for no damn reason, you have probably picked something up from the mass public in one of your interactions (yes we are porous and susceptible to other people’s energy - a topic for another time). Putting your bare feet on the ground or in water, or wrapping your arms around a tree with the intention of reestablishing your connection with mother earth literally serves to drain out unwanted energy and ground you to the electrical field of earth. The earth actually needs you to be connected to “It” for its own health because you are a part of its electrical circuitry. By nature it is suppose to ground you but only if you create access. Modern life does not promote access. All of our modern trappings put us at odds with the earth’s electrical field.

Anecdote? Personally, I hug a tree regularly on my walks in the forest. Yes I admit I am a proud tree hugger. I take this stuff seriously! I try to do this secretly in a quiet out of the way spot mostly so I am not disturbed and partially because I don’t really want to be caught hugging a tree. Aaaah! My egoic hook! I am concerned about what other people think if I am seen hugging a tree. Since I write about what I am also trying to learn, I see a lesson. Disentangle from the need to avoid being embarrassed. Internalize that I don’t need acceptance to be lovable. Ha! Another lesson from nature! And really to be embarrassed about hugging a tree is like dissing one of your own body parts. Me and a tree are both appendages of one big living breathing organism - Mama Gaia. Why wouldn’t I love something that is an integral part of me?

So do me a favor. Go hug a tree or stick your bare feet on the ground or moving waters. Let’s start a movement. And I mean this seriously. Nature has firm boundaries. We know what we are going to get if we disrespect or disregard Mother Earth by not recognizing our relationship as an appendage. Dire consequences. All climate change that we are experiencing is a direct result, and a reflection back the degree to which we are disregarding and denying our relationship with our greater body - The Earth. If we did recognize this connection, we would not be going about doing what we are doing because we would recognize that we are cutting off our own arms. That is a definition of insanity. The Rx? Nature.

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A Side Note to Nature

I am amazed by what I discover on my walks in the forest. When I take the time to listen, nature has so much to convey. I don’t want to take any of it for granted.

I am thankful for my dog. He has shown me the wilderness through the different lens of scent and he compels me to get out into nature.

I am thankful for the forest plants that hold the ground in place and nourish the soil.

I am thankful for the trees, which I hug routinely. They happily put me back in my body when I have been listening way to much to the neurotic voice in my head.

I am thankful for the moving waters. I place my feet in them because I can, and because they sing away the rough parts of the day.

I am thankful for raven, owl, vulture, hawk, eagle, flicker and coyote. I pay attention to their medicine when they show up.

I am thankful for the sun, wind, clouds, rain and snow. Each element shows me a different expression so that the walk I have taken hundreds of times is never ever the same.

I am thankful for the ancients whose rock drawings I pass on a regular basis. They show me the enduring nature of humans.

I an thankful for the rocks in all forms - the grounding sentinels birthed from volcanoes upon which I gaze out upon the heights or the soft river cobbles that massage my feet.

I am thankful that I am thankful. I don’t want to take thankfulness for granted knowing there is human suffering and people struggling just to get by.

Thankfulness is not my guilty pleasure. It is a state I choose to cultivate. No thought, no whisper goes unnoticed by the universe. My thoughts help create the fabric by which we all exist. I am co-creator within this realm and so are you! Mass consciousness is the sum of what we see in this world. So I am learning to choose wisely what I think. I want to create a fabric of soft silk not rough burlap. How about you?