Breathing with Nature

Currently I am sitting at a table in the park by a creek with runoff from the mountains. It’s early in the morning and the sun has begun its journey across the vast sky. I feel of its light while also majestic trees extend their branches over me providing cover from what will turn into a warm day. The birds are chirping, and there are only a few other existing souls that pop up here and there as they take their morning walk.

I absolutely love sitting by water that is flowing as the sound soothes my tired heart. I have been coming to this spot a lot lately, as I know at some point the water will run low and I want to enjoy it while I can. Do you ever just stare at something and find that everything else kind of blurs? As I place my focus on the water flowing by, it’s as if everything shifts around it and I feel like nature is breathing with me. The ground, trees, and water feel more like energy, and I become one with them.

Does it always feel like this? No. Earlier in the week I came in the evening and there were so many people. I felt completely agitated and annoyed that others dared to disrupt the calming experience I had come seeking. Even now as I sit in the calmness, a person is walking by being loud and disruptive. I often struggle with this in life. When my surroundings feel calm, I feel calm. If my surroundings get chaotic, well, let’s just say I often don’t respond very well to it.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this because I’m often seeking peace from the outside instead of connecting with the peace that is always within. Sitting by running water is always grounding for me, bringing me back to that peace but I can’t stay here forever. I want to find that calming flow of energy within and learn to connect with that inner nature even when surrounded by an overwhelming environment that is assaulting all my senses.

Does it mean I am going to feel calm all the time? As much I often cling to the idea that it should, life just doesn’t work that way. We are regular human beings that are going to get bombarded with thoughts and emotions that disrupt our harmonious flow. Or other human beings, even with the best intentions, will hurt our hearts and bring chaos to our internal system. The beautiful thing to remember is that the peaceful flow within us never changes or goes away.

We may lose touch with it at times, but we can always come back to it. Sometimes that means finding what helps you to do so. Do you have a place to go that centers your soul and grounds you to your true nature? It doesn’t necessarily need to be a location. For you it may be meditation, spiritual practices, listening to music, or connecting with others. If you haven’t figured out what that is for you, I would encourage you to do so as we often need a place of refuge in the chaotic times we live.

As I pointed out earlier, sometimes our places of grounding won’t be perfect. Last week when here at the park, I was feeling very calm and centered until a big black spider invaded my space. Let’s just say I lost all connection to nature in that moment. I admit that my fear of spiders and other bugs often prevent me from spending time outside. However, I am trying more to accept that fear and not let it stop me from missing out on the beauty of these soul rejuvenating moments that I am experiencing now.

This experience certainly isn’t perfect, and what would I learn if it was. I get to choose how I react when the annoying person walks by, a car idles loudly in the parking lot, the noisy leaf blower that just started up, or if a creepy spider decides to join me once again. Practicing with these distractions is what helps me learn how to connect to the peace within more frequently during daily life and to remember that it is always there. So, I am going to end this writing, close my laptop, and once again connect to nature breathing with me.