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Posts from the ‘Nature’ Category

Sep 20

The World in Pause

“Try to be like the turtle – at ease in your own shell.” – Bill Copeland

“Take a walk with a turtle. And behold the world in pause.” – Bruce Feiler

Pause to see progress.
To mark mileage.
Not in miles but in inches and feet.
In depth and expanse.
The unfolding, the opening, the becoming.
The slow path of transformation.
Seeing the same with fresh eyes.
Attuned to what is and possibilities of what is to come.
Root and reach.
Pause and praise.

“Life is a work in progress.” – Jeff Rich

Aug 12

After the Rain

“I need the seasons to live to the rhythm of rain and sun.” – Sophie Marceau

“I am a being of Heaven and Earth, of thunder and lightning, of rain and wind, of the galaxies.” – Eden Ahbez

Deep soaking rain.
Hail too.
Seeping into thirsty earth.
Sustaining green and bloom.
Nourishing.
Harvest soon.
August rain.
Followed by pink clouded sunset.
Summer remains.
Soak it all in.

“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.” – Langston Hughes

Jul 20

Aptitude to Fly

“A power of Butterfly must be –
The Aptitude to fly
Meadows of Majesty concedes
And easy Sweeps of Sky”― Emily Dickinson

“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”― Leonardo da Vinci

Butterflies have been crossing my path all week.
Dancing with delight.
Landing for a second on still blooming flowers.
Classroom in nature.
Ever present.
Free from spiraling thoughts, fabrication, worry.
Light and easy.
Resetting. Recalibrating. Renewing.
Giving up the unnecessary to defy gravity and take flight.

“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon

Jul 15

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Lake Time

“For the contented minds, lakes are oceans!”― Mehmet Murat ildan

“Take a course in good water and air; and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you.” – John Muir

Lake time.
Classroom for rest and renewal.
Invitation to stillness.
Breath in nature.

“Water creates so much beauty, life and mystery.”― Fennel Hudson

Jun 2

Reclamation

“As long as I live, I’ll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I’ll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I’ll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can”.”― John Muir

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”― John Muir, The Mountains of California

Get lost then found in nature.
Explore, wander, be quiet to hear the symphony.
Waterfalls flowing, birds singing, a soft breeze on a summer’s day.
Restoration, rejuvenation, reclamation.
Soul, spirit, body.
It’s a beautiful world.
Go out into it.

“The sun shines not on us but in us.”― John Muir

May 10

Refrains of Nature

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”― Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”― Albert Einstein

Heed the call of nature.
Get out in it.
To stop overthinking.
To listen.
To observe.
To inquire.
To breathe deeply.
Watch quietly.
When your world gets too small, get out into the world of nature.

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.” ― Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

Feb 17

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Birch Swinging

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

“I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree~
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”― Robert Frost

The hem of Heaven.
The earth beneath my feet.
The common work between the mountains and valleys.
In all things, in each moment, a possibility to see and be new.
Present, awake and in awe, sitting right next to boredom and commitments.
Auto pilot off, task checking paused, for a moment or two a swinger of birches.
Delight in each season and the moments they are made up of.
Next and near to, a breath away.
May each see all that is before, breathe deeply, choosing what to grasp and what to release.
Daily bread.

“The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain common work as it comes certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life.”― Robert Louis Stevenson

Dec 10

Under Our Feet

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” — Henry David Thoreau

“When it comes to the beauty of nature, time stops, the space becomes silent and the soul falls asleep while awake!”― Mehmet Murat ildan

After an off-leash romp in the woods, Abby returned wearing the woods.
And a big grin.
Sasha came up behind with the same delight.
Coats of joy.
Evidence of frolic.
A big mess to brush out.
Worth every stroke.
A release of energy and enthusiasm to generate even more.
Go off leash every day.
Untie from tasks, rushing, shoulds, have-tos, busy work, transactional.
Unbound, untethered, free-falling into felicity.
Nature invites all to the playground of expanse and exploration.
Breathe. Drink. Taste.

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” —Henry David Thoreau

“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” —Mahatma Gandhi

Dec 7

Gladness and Praise

“I am one of those who has no trouble imagining the sentient lives of trees, of their leaves in some fashion communicating or of the massy trunks and heavy branches knowing it is I who have come, as I always come, each morning, to walk beneath them, glad to be alive and glad to be there.”― Mary Oliver, Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems

“I would write praise poems that might serve as comforts, reminders, or even cautions if needed, to wayward minds and unawakened hearts.”― Mary Oliver, Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems

May gladness and praise be the path you walk.
The well you drink from.
Your journey home.
Wandering and wondering.
Dipping into the immeasurable.
Awakened and found.
Attentive to the beauty.
Held by the light.

“And as with prayer, which is a dipping of oneself toward the light, there is a consequence of attentiveness to the grass itself, and the sky itself, and to the floating bird. I too leave the fret and enclosure of my own life. I too dip myself toward the immeasurable.”― Mary Oliver, Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems

Oct 22

On Whom Nothing is Lost

“The poetry of the earth is never dead.” – John Keats

“Try to be one of those on whom nothing is lost.”― Henry James, The Art of Fiction

The crunch of leaves;
The crackle of snow;
The softness of thaw;
The sinking of sand;
Whatever season, feel the earth under your feet;
Grounded in the present, the now of it all;
Walk the path, break trail too, wandering and exploring;
Fully present, moving into the unfolding and unfurling.

“Paths are made by walking”― Franz Kafka

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