Lessons I Learned from Nature

My friend, Dianne, sent me this card (pictured above) a few days back with that quote “Earth laughs in flowers.”  by Emerson and it inspired a host of thoughts around nature.

Mother Nature has so much to teach us which boggles our busy monkey minds. It leaves clues for us about peace, timing, purpose, mission, success strategies. If only we would be willing to learn from her wisdom.

Here are some of my recent lessons I want to share with you.

Know Thyself and The Direction Will Be Clear

Flowers bloom knowing the bees will come to pollinate its seeds. It isn’t focusing on the goal daily. It just is innately true to its core. It knows it’s a flower from its seed and it doesn’t try to be anyone else. It doesn’t try to be a tree or a fox. It is clear. A tree isn’t trying to be a tree. It just is. An apple tree grows the fruit knowing it will be eaten. It doesn’t care about validation or will people criticize its fruit. It knows its role and purpose.

 As newborns, we know who we are and then the humans around us coerce us to fit in and we forget our divine truth. We follow the society’s path of what is well behaved, what meets expectations. We follow the set pattern from our childhood into our adulthood bound by our past instead of evolving and into our own truth by accessing our innate wisdom. I have learned to express my truth more each day without distorting it with others’ expectations. It’s a continued journey for me to allow myself to speak and be in my own truth. Like nature, I am getting clear on the direction I wish to go. By connecting to my real identity which surpasses the color of my skin, the name I have been given, the title of my 9-5, I am able to connect to self that is much higher. That’s a never-ending journey. I’ll never get it done. It’s a continued process and I am learning everyday how to move closer to it. 

Nature keeps things simple

Nature doesn’t need a blog post on “101 Rules To Be Happy.” It keeps things simple. The overwhelm we feel at times, bottomless to-do list, the complexities of our busy day at work, is what distracts us from our truth to just be. We are human beings not human doings. That’s why it is hard for us to just be in the present moment. We are busy doing.

We are continually looking forward, backward, sideways, when all we ought to be doing is looking inward for simplicity and direction. We run out of time because so little time and so much to do. That adds complications to our life and we call it the rat race.

Go, achieve, run faster, get there earlier, faster, be number one, time is running out, things will run out.

These frantic thoughts cause anxiety and scarcity which only lead us to act in ways that are misaligned with our truth. Do that enough and it becomes a belief system, a habit you just can’t shake till you step into the light.

Nature has simplicity in that it has a system of hierarchy that provides for everyone. It has cohabitants of species that share the resources and natural laws apply. Trees provide fruit and shelter and are available to all. There is abundance to be found from the greenery to the limitless ocean. Keeping things simple allows me greater access to joy and contentment. That leads me to the reason I was created. It becomes clearer as I proceed further with keeping the connection active to power that created all that surrounds us.

I have learned to get clear on my dreams and then let it go. All that is mine is coming to me.

I needn’t worry the how, it’s the what that I need to know. When I know my innate identity, the journey is an adventure and mini surprise parties everywhere you go! Once the direction of my destination is established, I know the collaborative components will arrive to help me get there.

Just like the flowers, I expect the bees will come and they do. I don’t worry about the how, I know I will attract the right situation at the right time to pollinate my dreams. I trust and I let go. I repeat that daily and refocus my energy on that very thought when I am distracted and find myself distracted by my external world. I expect and experience mini miracles on a daily basis. The little synchronicities that line up so beautifully to create the symphony of my life.

At the right time, the fruit of our actions appear. We don’t expect the seeds of a tomato plant to grow its fruit overnight or at the timing we want but we do that with our goals. We surrender to Mother Nature and know she has this handled. We help it along with proper care and allow it to take seed and go through the process.

Our expectations of how we want things and when we must have them often lead us down a path of frustration and non-belief. We often leave our goals just before they were ripe enough to harvest.

Unknowingly, we blame ourselves for not being able to do something and apply that limited thought to our future actions. Like a carrot that grows underground, if we had been patient, we would have been surprised at how close we were to harvest. Yet, we stopped believing and gave up on ourselves.

Trusting all that is mine is coming to me, I need not hustle and force things to happen. The self-discovery path is dotted with meditation and reflection. It teaches us about slowing down our monkey mind that races to check things off. Trusting the seasons of our lives teach us about divine timing and divine truth. Unlike the answers we find on Google, the connection to our higher selves requires the patience.

There are four seasons for a reason. There is a purpose to them all. They all have something to offer us- from rest, recuperation, reflection to new growth, blossoms, warmth, changes, harvest and fruit of our labor and patience.

Nature teaches me about the necessity of rest to repair, recalibrate and renew. If I don’t rest, my body and mind are overworked and create a dis-ease in my body. Our bodies remind us of this with whispers which we often ignore in our busy lives. These whispers get louder and louder and sometimes, the dis-ease creates illnesses that finally get our attention. More often than not, we are forced to slow down to listen and let our bodies rest. If we were to adopt this practice of mediation, rest, refuel regularly, our bodies and our minds would operate on an optimal level.

Taking clues from Mother Nature has helped me navigate through the challenges and celebrate the triumphs of my life. I have so much to learn from Mother Nature and the ongoing observation help reveal the lessons that facilitate my evolution towards my higher self.