You, like many people may have many un-articulated needs that get expressed through nervousness, irritability, impatience and intolerance…depression as well as anxiety…or a longing for something, yet not knowing exactly what it is. That’s’ just one of the reasons I consider it vital for people to learn to develop open and effective communication with their subconscious so that it doesn’t have to resort to less positive and sometimes painfully dramatic means to get through. Many symptoms of illness and psychogenic problems are metaphoric or symbolic messages from the subconscious; unfortunately few people are able to translate them consciously. However once they learn to listen within themselves the way I teach them to, they know what they really need, and so their healing can begin.
One of those most fundamental and most neglected human needs is for the medicinal ingredients for physical mental and emotional well-being that only nature can provide… its ability to release the tensions and their related ills that come from the built up world of machinery, technology and the artificial.
That’s why when people are encouraged to relax they tend to imagine themselves on a beach near the ocean, in the woods, or lying in a field of wild flowers: The instinctive need to escape to the natural world is thereby proven.
Just stepping outdoors when you have been in the confined spaces of offices and other stuffy places, and taking a deep breath feels wonderful, right? However, we know on some level of our consciousness we need more than that for the relief from the citified, urban and crowded suburban atmosphere.
We instinctively know the enormously enriching experience of being in a natural environment is unequalled by any other… you know your heart expands and your spirits soar when you are in open spaces and natural places … when you breathe in clean fresh air, where you can look up to expansive skies uncluttered with human architecture…where city lights don’t dim the sparkling profusion of stars in a velvety black night sky…when the horizon is visible yet far off in the distance; it’s not only restful for your eyes and brain, it’s good for your soul.
If you’ve ever been in the woods or by the ocean, or looking out across open fields or from a mountain into a valley, watched animals enjoying freedom in their natural habitat, or come close up to a wild animal, you know the value of that experience. Its positive effects stay with you, and just remembering is heart warming and refreshing.
Many people realize consciously the inherent need to be close to a world that is not man-made, and they seek it out because when getting close the nature, they relax…everything within them settles down, their senses open to the earth and sky, they have a feeling something like coming home after a long and arduous journey.
You can love the city, choose to live there, to be stimulated by the hubbub, and get great pleasure from having many people around you to work and talk with and be close to. Yet the need to get away, to escape from the complexities, the demands and accoutrements of every day life is why we have vacations, holidays, a respite from the hustle bustle and the routine. Many opt for trips to different cities… the old adage that a change is as good a rest, may be true for them. In my opinion all too few allow themselves the joys of getting back in touch with the nature, to be there and simply let it work its wonders for them.
Some people need a little more time with nature in the raw to get closer to it, to feel at home in it and resonate with its energies. Perhaps you are one of them. However, at least give yourself the opportunity to get there, to feel that sense of harmony with it that can help you transcend the ordinary and feel the powerful life energies all around you.
Our human nature is grounded in nature; it’s where we can find the solace and the kind of therapeutic silence or sounds not available anywhere else. The sounds of birds, water falls, and the musical sounds of bubbling streams all have their own medicinal qualities. By regaining our sense of our connection with nature, to recognize our place in it, to feel the earth beneath our feet, and open our hearts to the natural world we feel more alive and even larger than life, somehow.
I’m fortunate that I live in an area where we have more nature and less structure around us. When people come to me for hypnotherapy or workshops, they always remark on how lovely the areas is, how peaceful. They smile in a way that tells me they are finding relief and refreshment from the crowded tar and cement world they usually inhabit.
Sometimes they see the deer or the geese enjoying the fallen apples on our front lawn, and their appreciation is evident. I know from my own experience and what they tell me that any close encounter with nature or a wild creature evokes a welling up of emotions, a relaxed kind of excitement, a sense of awe and contentment all at once.
When was the last time you took time out to get together with nature?
It is more important to your health and well-being than you might realize.
Even those who prefer the city or suburban life style and who say they don’t care for being out in the country are really saying they don’t feel they could actually live there. However, their human nature needs nature in its free and uninhabited profusion to help them heal from the stress of an over peopled and the over built world that usually encase them.
Not realizing this could be hazardous to your health and well-being.
I strongly recommend you take some time to get back to nature somehow. Even a brief time will do you so much good.
No time right now…or soon?
How about when you’re driving, make it a point to look around you, take more notice, be aware with more openness, take in all the beauty; the drive can be refreshing when you consciously determine to appreciate that nature in many of its forms is all around you. Don’t just pass it by. Really look at the trees, all distinctly beautiful, not just in their brilliant fall attire also in every season’s appearance. Everything in nature is in the constant process of change… light and color, shades and shadows are always in motion. Attune yourself to that too. So your drive is always less routine, even uplifting, and your travels less stressful.
Plan or spontaneously go on a drive into the country, any time of the year; take a trip to the lake, a walk in the woods, whatever it takes, and take time to fill that basic human need to be with nature. Even if you spend time in your garden, enjoying your activity there, there are still places that your mind and heart seek for refuge from familiar surroundings. You need to experience creation in its natural states. For it is when we lose our sense of belonging to the natural world, when we forget that the source of all life is expressed through nature that our humanness seems to shrink somehow.
So please keep in mind that the therapeutic advantages of your human nature communing with all of nature are priceless and free!
I know you are busy, you have a lot on your mind, many responsibilities, much to do, however, if you have the time right now, continue to read, because there’s an encounter with nature I want to share with you. If not, come back to the blog when you can and go with me to that time and place… I think it will be good for you.
While you read, do yourself favor, let your imagination work for you. Put yourself there, see it and feel it through all of your senses. Let it be your personal experience. I’ll describe my experience in the first person, think of your self as the “ I.” And the “me” is you.
I’m walking in our neighborhood; the air is warm and clear, the colors of fall are vibrant reds, orange, rust, and yellow, gold, brown. The grass seems greener with the dew still on it, the flowers more radiant under the bright sunlight. I see three deer come out from the woods nonchalantly crossing my path about 20 feet away. I stand still to observe them. They stop and look at me. One is apparently the mother, her coat a clean shiny dark brown, and another smaller, a young buck, his antlers not yet fully formed, and a little female, I think, no bigger than a Great Dane. I’m very still, almost breathless while I take in the wonder of their beauty, feeling the unique privilege of being witness to their presence. The little one takes some confident steps towards me. I’m amazed at her audacity! I begin speaking quietly to her, telling her how pretty she is and what a privilege it is to be so close to her. With my hesitant steps in her direction and she stepping quite boldly closer to me, I am enchanted.
Less than five feet apart, we both stand still. We make eye contact; this is incredible! Her eyes are huge, full of expression. She is curious, her head tilting from side to side as she studies me and listens to my voice softly encouraging her sense of safety. Her coat is lustrous light fawn color, I guess it would be soft to the touch, yet I dare not reach out to touch her, although she is now within arms length from me. The others are waiting at a safe distance, standing very still, looking on. I wonder if the mother is anxious for her baby…yet, for some reason I cannot fathom she allowing us both this connection. I know at any moment the baby deer will follow her instincts and run away, or be called away by her mother. So I absorb the essence of the experience; all the while I’m savoring my incredible luck.
This darling little creature is obviously too young to recognize the danger humans are to her kind. In her innocence she is giving me this beautiful experience. I can’t help wondering what it’s like for her. What is she experiencing, what is going on in her mind? Time seems to be standing still as I’m captivated by her. It’s probably only been about three minutes now – all of a sudden the mother decides it’s time to take off, she has been patient enough, I guess, and as she does the little deer automatically takes off too. I feel a little disappointed that our communion has ended; but now as she gets about fifteen feet away, she stops and looks back at me, as if hesitating to leave the scene; perhaps she feels the need for one last look, we connect again for just a few seconds, and she trots off after her mother and the young male who have already disappeared into the woods.
I stand there for a little while. I’m feeling an incredible sense of wonderment and fulfillment. I breathe in deeply and look around me, and tell my subconscious that this experience is to be stored forever in my mind, ready to be recalled as I want or need to. Tears of joy well in my eyes while I’m walking home, reflecting on the specialness of the experience.
For me, one of the greatest joys is sharing my joy, so I am keen to tell Don of my encounter with wildlife. He asks me if I took a picture. Now I’m cross with myself that I’d not taken my camera along on that walk. But then I realize that any sudden, movement or noise I made would have ruined our togetherness.
It’s true that the deer around our property probably feel safer than those where hunting is allowed. They prance through our front and back garden freely, often freeze motion to stare at us, sometimes through our windows or while we sit on our front porch. However, they take off suddenly when their curiosity is overcome by instinct, or there is a sudden noise or movement. That’s why I feel this encounter was so extraordinarily precious.
I hope you could feel at least a little of my wonderful experience of connecting with nature and one of her most beautiful creations. And I hope you will allow yourself some time and the opportunity to invite a similar experience into your life.
It can happen, I know,when you are out there, because I have been privileged to have another close encounter , that time with a wild eagle in Arizona where I was permitted close enough to feel its warmth and see very detail of its feathers and look into its eyes. I’d promised it as I approached it so carefully that if it let me get close to it, I would not touch it, so as much as I wanted to, I kept my word. I felt a kind of communion with that beauteous regal bird for several minutes. It left the scene after a few minutes, flying away with its huge wing span creating a shadow over the rocks; I wondered if it knew it had given me enough gratitude to last a lifetime. Once again I didn’t have my camera with me! Ask me why, and then we could talk about another natural phenomenon.
Perhaps next time I’ll tell you the story of “The Orange Tabby and the Deer. ” Another amazing interspecies interaction!
Until then, I wish you natural rest and recuperation amid nature and all of her creations,
TTFN and all the best always, from Elaine Kissel