Albert Einstein said, “Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better.”
Where do you find beauty and comfort? I’m beginning to understand that it is everywhere. In everything. Or it can be. I went on a run the other day. It was a windy yet warm and sunshine-y day. The long wild grasses were bending in a zig zag wave through the field. Their colours catching the sun and making me think of my younger days acting out Little House on the Prairie.
I passed a farm and smelled the familiar aroma of diesel. That scent may not tingle the senses for everyone but for me that was the smell of Dad getting home from the field. Even after he washed up for supper. It seemed to my young nose that washing up only seemed to enhance the smell. It was the scent of riding in ‘the farm truck’, you don’t dare take that one to town. But for bumping along through the field to where the tractor needed refueling it was dandy.
That smell of diesel meant riding in and driving the trucks and tractors over years of my life. While that smell may signal different things for different people I choose to focus on that time my dad and I took the Diesel to the family farm from our place in town. I remember feeling pretty important to be invited on this excursion. There was a container of candies that had melted together. I don’t know how long they’d lived in the cab of that truck, but I didn’t care. I was with my dad. It was just a passing whiff of farm diesel but it brought up a lot of good memories.
As I continued along my route I kept noticing things to which I never would have paid any attention before forest therapy. This wasn’t a forest walk but anytime I am in nature I am noticing a difference in me. I saw a bird playing on the wind. An antelope in the field that just stared at me as I passed. I did not stop to ask if this is where the deer and the antelope play.
Next a graveyard. Fun! Again some people would think, what an unfortunate damper on my run. I chose to feel open to any good feelings as I went by this resting place. I didn’t sense danger or sadness. Only light. I thought what a lovely place for those that are laid here. And more so for those that can come to visit their dearly departed.
Next a sign to slooooow doooown. Most days those Max 30 signs drive me bonkers when I’m in a hurry. But a slow sign is often a good reminder to take stock. How am I doing? Are there any improvements I can make? What can I offer the world during this season of my life that will lift and inspire? Only when we slow down from our focused zip zip zip of the day. Do we see the way things really are.
To most this will look like an ugly car surrounded by weeds. That’s because it is. But what it means to me and a special someone of 25 years is a treasure of delightful memories. This is the car my hubby and I drove away from the farm directly after we were married. My uncle drove it all the way from Edmonton so I could have it as our getaway car. It means feeling loved. As we drove away Brent couldn’t believe we had done it. Years of dating and months of planning and now the deed was done. We were hitched. I, on the other hand was busy trying to figure out how to keep my dress clean and my wedding hair under control in a convertible on a gravel road. It was perfectly imperfect and I love that memory. That ugly old car in the weeds means wild reminiscing.
This next part was stinky. To me it smells like manure. But it is actually the remains of the grain elevator that burned down over the winter. It is hard to look at what is left of something that once stood proudly amid the prairie grass. But a promise that good things can rise out of something that initially looks devastating came to mind. Beauty for ashes.
In some ways my life seems to be a pile of stinky remains today. But it is also beautiful and happy and phenomenal. This frame of mind is not something that has come easily to me. It has taken effort to retrain my brain out of its default settings that go to disgust and negativity and frustration. Instead I make a conscious effort to go to curiosity. Curiosity keeps me open to the benefit of the doubt. It gives me an opportunity to find the humour in any situation or to recognize and choose joy.
I have a new granddaughter. She is such a blessing in our lives. She is a ray of sunshine just like her big brother. When I am in their presence my life is brighter.
For those not blessed with grandchildren in their home to brighten their day, you can also find that light in the forest. In the book, The Healing Magic of Forest Bathing, author Julia Plevin says, as we begin to forest bathe we begin to understand how to communicate with trees and plants. We gain the ability to interpret a slight breeze or a bird’s call. We fall deeply in love with the earth. The more we tap into mother nature’s rhythms the more we understand that she wants to help us evolve and live with a higher purpose. All we have to do is learn how to listen.
Does that sounds a little too clairvoyant for some? What if you compared it to being in tune to the needs of a newborn who has no way to communicate other than crying? We learn to communicate in different ways. We interpret through signals. The more we tap into her rhythms the more we understand her higher purpose. All we need do is listen.
We are evolved to find relaxation and restoration in nature. There are so many stimuli and stressors in our day, taking time to enter resting mode has become all but obsolete. When life seems like too much to handle, remember that nature is supporting you. Even when it seems the opposite is true. When it seems that the world is against you and you’re between a rock and a hard place, connect to nature and feel that strength you have inside helping you to arise.
That is my word of the year. Arise. I see the many ways I can apply it and you likely have areas of life that would benefit from your ability to arise. How can you arise in your sphere? I’d love to see in the comments.
Here are some ways I can arise. I can be the bigger person when someone is being harsh and just let it go. I can keep exercising through pain and setbacks. I can offer what I have to others even when it seems so simple and small. I can keep doing my best when it seems the odds are stacked against me.
Look for beauty in the ordinary today. Notice the tone and rhythm of nature and find strength in it. Find what feeds you in your home and in the forest. Connect to nature and when you find what’s available, arise my friends and share it with others.
SUNBEAM ACRES 