Category: nature

When it’s over, I want to say, all my life I was a bride married to amazement.  Mary Oliver

I dedicate this piece to Mary Oliver, whom we lost this week.  She was a true mystic, present to the amazing beauty of nature that surrounds us every day.  The mystic sees the sacred in the ordinary.  The mystical path takes us from our head to our heart.  It is a path of mystery, awe, wonder, and gratitude.

When I am fully present to life, I am able enjoy the birds in my backyard, the park I am able to walk everyday, and the antics of the squirrel that has outsmarted me each day.  This beautiful squirrel continues to eat my birdseed and bird suet.  I finally went out and bought a squirrel baffler.  Looking out in the yard later I noticed the squirrel sitting on a branch of the tree looking at the baffler.  He looked up, he looked to both sides, and then stared at the baffler.  I am smiling and thinking “Ha got you!”  All of a sudden he crouches down, takes a flying leap up under the baffler and proceeds to enjoy the suet.  As I watched this great display of nature, I was feeling no stress or tension, I was just smiling and enjoying the intelligence of this little critter.  He is now part of my wildlife backyard.

Abraham Maslow once said, “The great lesson from the mystics is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one’s daily life, in one’s neighbors, friends, and family…in one’s backyard.”  Yes, it is what Abraham Heschel calls “Radical Amazement,” the ability to see the world through the eyes of awe and wonder, and to be amazed and astonished at the beauty, complexity, and synchronicity that graces our lives.

Mary Oliver shared her mystical soul with us through her poetry.  I thank her for waking me up to a form of earthy, accessible, and mystical poetry.  I close with her three recommendations for life:

Pay attention
Be Astounded
Tell Someone

May you know in your heart that we are all born mystics.  Being a mystic is as natural as experiencing wonder.

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know all the scientific information about ant colonies.  I just happen to have the privilege of observing one colony over the past two or three years. This colony sits right on the side of a trail I walk almost daily. I’ve watch it grow in the summer, be demolished by winter weather, and grow again the next summer.

I have been mesmerized by the bevy of motion on this ant colony.  Movement is everywhere–tiny ants working individually yet in harmony to create such an amazing structure.  One day while I was observing the activities I noticed a small stick about one in a half inches long moving across the path.  I did a double take, it is not everyday you see a stick moving.  There were 8-10 ants working together to bring this stick to the colony. I have so enjoyed the building, maintaining, and working together of this colony of ants.

My thoughts move to how we as humans work together to create towns, cities, countries, social networks we can all live within.  At this time in history I feel the divisiveness and hateful rhetoric we hear is diminishing our ability to trust in each other to create the livable communities we so want to build. How do we bring back trust?  How do we honor diversity and know it is our differences that create the new?  How do we reach out and support our neighbors when so often it feels safer to hole up in our homes? Fear is the driving force of hate–may we find ways to combat the fear of the “other” and build sustainable lives for all of us.

I know the ants are instinctual, and fear is not a part of their living.  They just work with each other building a colony for all. May we find ways to reach out to each other and build bridges of understanding.

 

“….what is my work, ….standing still and learning to be astonished.  Mary Oliver, The Messenger

In his book Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help you find Health and Happiness, Dr. Qing Li shares a Japanese practice called forest bathing.  He has conducted numerous studies that show the health benefits of forest bathing.  Nature eases stress and worry, helps us to relax and to think more clearly.  Being in nature can restore our mood, give us back our energy and vitality, refresh and rejuvenate us.

When we unplug from technology, slow down, and relax into the beauty of nature, our bodies and minds de-stress.  I first heard about forest bathing a couple of years ago and recognized the truth of nature as healer. The natural world is a place I go for joy, for solace, for experiencing a sense of awe and wonder.  I feel connected to something greater than myself when I am in the natural world.

Dr Li says, “The key to unlocking the power of the forest is in the five senses.”  When I walk the trails of the park behind my home I intentionally practice engaging all my senses.  The sound of the birds and small mammals, the smell of the forest floor, the variation of greens throughout the park, and the feel of the earth beneath my feet.  I don’t easily experience taste unless the salmon berries are out.

He  recommends we find a place close by that  brings us nature’s gifts.  It could be a park, a tree in your backyard, any place that helps you relax and let go of the day.  Above is a picture of where I go when I need a forest bath.  It is less than a quarter of mile from my home.  Walking there, I sit on a rock and listen to the rippling water cascade down  past a wonderful old cedar tree.  The sound of water always nourishes me.

I hope you can find a place you can retreat to, if only for 30 minutes.  Give yourself the gift of a forest bath each day to support your body, mind, and spirit.