Ever noticed how a profoundly positive experience in nature can become a touchstone you return to time and again?
A good memory can resonate within you, recalling the power of nature to heal even the deepest hurts of body, mind, and spirit.
One evening several years ago I reached a low point in a prolonged spiritual crisis in Japan.
Around midnight, exhausted and overwhelmed, I went outside to my mountain garden.
There I simply dropped to my knees on the earth and lifted my arms to the clear, cold darkness.
Great, gulping tears came then.
I cried out for help, for connection, for the stars to carry me, because I felt I could no longer carry myself.
As my sobbing subsided I became aware of the soil under my knees.
The ground was solid and comforting and a little damp.
I noticed the breeze stroking the wetness of my face.
My arms, still raised to the sky, started tingling.
I lowered my hands to my chest and held my fingers there.
As my breathing calmed and my eyes cleared a familiar landscape emerged around me.
Silhouettes of Japanese cypress trees.
Paulownia branches arching over clumps of miscanthus.
The ancient ginkgo stretching taller than all in the night’s luminescence.
Now I could hear the leaves rustling, the water cascading in the narrow stream, the shrill calling of the night cuckoo.
With total clarity I understood that all of this was a thing of beauty and coherence.
Yet how oblivious I had been in the midst of it, weeping in self-pity.
The stars dipped closer.
I laughed aloud at their twinkling.
A wonderful sense of connection and encouragement warmed me.
I sensed, in every cell of my body, that I was not, nor ever had been, alone.
My breath seemed the breathing of this magnificent natural world.
All around me and in me, nature’s abiding love revealed itself.
A wellspring of joy opened in me.
I sensed the belongingness of everything, of my own place in existence, of the innate intelligence and wonder of this natural web of life.
How good my expanded awareness felt then, on my knees, on the ground, on that clear December night in Japan.
Such experiences become touchstones for reconnecting your life with natural energy wisdom whenever or wherever you like.
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I’m overcome with the beauty of the flowers in your slideshow, Catrien! It’s so good to hear from you.
Jane Anne, thank you so much for writing. I am so glad to hear from you, too. The flowers all bloomed in my mountain garden. Now through the website they continue to put on quite a show. Much love to you from Japan.