Learning Lessons From Nature

All throughout the world and our time on it, there are great teachers who have wisdom to pass on to us. I have found such a teacher in Mother Nature. She is kind and so gracious. She knows when to let things settle on their own and when you need constant repetition for something to sink in. If you open your heart to her, you may be surprised by what she pours in. I want to share with you, just a few of the lessons that have been shared with me this year.

You are surrounded and supported.

These words are ones I needed repeated over and over and over to break down the barrier of belief that I am on my own and no one may ever truly know the real me, not even me. Slowly my eyes have opened to all the beings that surround me - every flower, every tree, every plant and lichen and stone, all the birds, the insects, the wind, the sun, and the water.  All these things I had been saying hello to, and they were saying hello back. They broke down this barrier so that I could see and appreciate all the people who have been in my life this whole time. People I am connected to, that I love dearly, and that love me. With this I realized, I am never alone, I am always surrounded, and am always supported so long as I can place my feet on the ground.

We are all connected. We all matter.

It doesn’t take long observing the natural world to understand that without one of us, we wouldn’t be us. We all need to be here to understand who we are.  We are all needed and have something to offer. Each of our actions and roles affects the rest because we are connected in a delicate, brilliant balance.

Let it flow.

To me these words vibrate on the same frequency as “living your truth.” A river would not be a river if it didn’t flow. It wouldn’t not carve away the rocks slowly over time. It wouldn’t move fallen trees downstream to create homes for new life. It wouldn’t disperse oxygen in exactly the right way so that this plant and that insect can live in their perfect environment. A river flows because that is what it is meant to do. The water just keeps moving; it doesn’t stop and ponder if maybe it should go back up the mountain. It trusts that it will flow beautifully down the perfect path ahead of it, a path it inherently knows, a path that makes it a river. So, let it flow. You can’t hold back what is meant to exist in the world.

Magic exists.

Yes, it does. As a girl who always hoped to find her way to Neverland, this message brings a smile to my face. Magic, at its essence, is a shift in perspective and a magnified awareness. I think the spiders teach this best. Can you imagine having eight eyes and all that you would see? Your view of this world would be entirely different. They also teach us to see with our two given eyes. Their webs, those sticky, scream-inducers, hang invisibly across our paths, but in just the right light, or if you look carefully, they are magnificent beautiful works of art. With magic, whole other worlds are revealed with the tilt of your head and a tap to your heart.

There is much to be learned.

When you open your heart and mind to the world, there’s no end to what you may learn and there never will be. There’s not supposed to be. Every plant has a message, every bird a song, every person a piece of wisdom to pass along.  These gifts, these lessons, they strengthen the connections between us all. These are gifts we have to share with the world and one’s we are here to receive. We just have to be willing to be open and aware.