I sought nature to heal and received far more in return than I ever expected
Natures Recall
February 16, 2024
The poet and mystic John O’Donohue speaks of landscape being very much alive, ancient and wise. It recalls you into a mindful mode of stillness, solitude, and silence where you can truly receive time. Its very essence animates our cells.
Nature is too often associated as something separate from us. It’s out there. We may have learned it’s safer if we control it, walk on it, harvest things from it, and keep it at a distance.
I sought out nature to heal, to take a break from academia, and to learn to farm. It just so happened that this choice changed my life. And that living with the rhythms of nature and learning to farm has shaped me into a constant gardener.
It’s taught me invaluable life lessons. Perhaps the most important, aside from the four I share below, are that control and separation are illusions.
A good cut
Pruning in many cases is not only helpful, it's required to sustain and promote healthy vibrant growth. Flowers, herbs, fruit trees, vines thrive by being regularly cut back. It exponentiates yield. If something is dead, damaged, or diseased, remove it. It’s not good or bad. It’s just what you do. Good writing comes down to great editing, smooth travel is about lightening your load, sometimes it’s less words to articulate the honest feeling.
There’s no such thing as death
Sometimes things don’t work out or in the case of the garden, they don’t make it. And it’s not a failure, it’s a natural process of a much bigger lifecycle with a heck of a lot of variables. As much as I think I have control or orchestrated the whole thing, I didn’t. The plant may not have gotten the water it needed at the right time. Insert warmth and sunlight into that equation. There is life and death. The only difference is the moment of time. It’s a point along the pathway of energy.
I’ve found a greater sense of curiosity and depth in wonder. I’m more neutral. Judgment and comparison begin to dissolve. Everything and everyone has a purpose in time and space.
Rest is essential
Whether it’s a period of dormancy, growth, or decay there is a space where just being is key. There’s nowhere else to go, no one else to be, nothing to do, just be here, right now. I’ve come to discover that openness, freedom, and possibility originate from deep rest.
Paying attention
How I use and focus my attention matters. What does it mean to be an observer? The extent to which I’m able to notice what’s going on around me has translated to a better awareness and understanding of what’s going on inside of me.
It’s a practice; one of consistency, observation and neutrality. Consistency – showing up to water/weed/prune/enjoy. In some cases it takes less than 10 minutes and directly allows me to engage in the second practice, observation. It’s grounding to hear, see, smell, and feel with all your senses. The world of plants, animals, and elements sing.
I swear through this practice my intuition and almost a psychic ability has strengthened. I notice the wind, the moon, the birds…you begin to notice all sorts of things around you and sense things coming and going.
It’s neither this or that, it’s this and…
And finally, what appears to be a juxtaposition can exist simultaneously. This is a tricky one for the western mind, yet from which I’ve gleaned the most from. It stretches my mind to be emotionally durable, to use a term from design but completely applicable here. It also encourages resilience, to what is the inevitable expression of the garden: what appears to be, in this moment, the fullest expression is constantly changing.
If your dreaming of starting a garden, let’s talk – Garden Consultation
Or create and play on your own time – Intuitive Arrangements is a self-paced digital series for flower lovers covering basic mechanics and botanical design. Expand your senses, hone your style, and connect to the elements behind the blossoms. Immediate access upon purchase.