Back to Nature, Back to Self

One of my super powers is my analytical brain. I am great at reading and learning and asking questions and finding gaps and synthesizing information. I love that about myself.

And I notice that when I get too much into that space (which, quite frankly, is how I spent much of the ages 15 - 35), I can start to feel disconnected. From myself, from my joy, from my intuition.

Without realizing it, I’ve recently given my analytical brain the keys to the proverbial car. And I’ve gotten a little cranky.  

This morning, I felt out of sorts. Low on patience with my kids, thinking about my list of things I need to do. 

But I heard a little voice saying, Go to the woods, my dear. 

It’s cold and rainy here again today. I didn’t particularly want to go to the woods. In fact I’ve been avoiding going to the woods lately, even though I know simply being in nature is some of the most potent medicine I can receive.

This morning, I took 20 minutes after school drop off and went to the woods. 

I listened. I marveled. I cried. I breathed deeply. 

I settled back into myself.

Here’s what I know: nature is the answer. 

If we’re feeling lost or disconnected or sad, nature is the answer. 

If we want to make a good day better or heighten our joy, nature is the answer. 

Cultivating a relationship with the natural world can be one of the most fruitful, loving, tender relationships in your life. 

I know it’s my life‘s work to help people connect with the sacred in nature, and, in turn, with the most sacred parts of themselves. 

So I have been spending a ton of energy reading the research and finding the studies and doing all of that left brained work. To prove and justify that this is powerful. And all that data is there. I’ve read it, people keep coming out with more. It’s really compelling and really beautiful in its own way.

But really, the most important data you need, I need, is what happens to our own beings, our own souls, when we engage with nature. That’s it.

On my way back out, I found this little natural altar and left an offering of prayer and strand of my hair.

The power of this connection is why I'm thrilled to be hosting the first Sacred Nature Retreat at my mountain house in the Shenandoah Valley in West Virginia. Mark your calendars for May 19-21 and stay tuned for more details and a presale coming soon.