Tag: Nature

Nature & Me

Love Sows Sorrow ~ Grief for the Natural World

Stacey Hayes

I kept going back and forth in my mind about publishing this post. I didn’t envision Soulful Seasons being about sad, hard things. My hope is to be life giving and generally uplifting. But this topic persists in my heart. It wants a voice, so I greatly appreciate you as listener.

Being attuned to the natural world brings me great joy and enriches my life in so many ways. The shadow side of this is a deepening sense of sorrow and grief as I bear witness to suffering in nature—both from natural and unnatural causes.

I often experience a heavy heart as I observe loss in nature. I understand all living things have a lifecycle. There are food webs with predator and prey. There is natural death at the end of an organism’s life.

My grief is heaviest when the natural world experiences loss due to human causes. In my suburban environment, I witness this on nearly a daily basis. The wildflowers getting mowed down on the side of the highway. The turtle that was crushed by a car. The loss of habitat for wildlife that has been clear cut for a new car dealership. The black tar residue in our neighborhood creek from the storm water runoff after our road was recently repaved.

Beyond my community, there is even more suffering. The death of millions of migratory birds as they travel north in the spring and south in autumn — disoriented by light pollution and tall buildings.

The litany of loss is unending.

If you are a sensitive soul or are especially attached to nature, you may have these feelings quite often as I do.

How do we manage our grief on a regular basis? How do we respond?

Compassion & Comfort

When I’m out with my son and we see a part of nature being hurt, we talk about it. We ask questions. We express how we feel. We hug each other. We often have a moment of silence to fully experience our thoughts and feelings. We offer ourselves and each other compassion and comfort.

Nature’s Resilience

I remind myself of nature’s resilience. I take note of the new shoot growing from a stump. Or the emergence of hatchling birds and turtles and baby bunnies in the spring. Or the dandelion springing forth from a crack in the driveway or the ground of dry clay.

Creativity

I don’t consider myself the activist type, but as a creative soul I can creatively respond…through writing poetry or these blog posts. By honoring a part of nature through a watercolor or collage. By taking a photo in appreciation of something I notice.

Restoration

There are very practical ways that I can nurture nature in my little neck of the woods. These acts of stewardship help to mitigate my grief and hopefully help nature. Our family enjoys providing bird baths and birdhouses for the song birds in the area. We also try to restore habitat in our community by planting native and pollinator friendly flora.

Blessings & Gratitude

I can say a blessing for or offer my gratitude to the creatures that share their habitat with me. Maybe I should offer gratitude for my grief, which engenders humility, wisdom, and action.

Although we share a collective grief for loss in the natural world, each person’s response will be as unique as the individual.

What comforts you when you grieve for nature?

What response feels authentic for you?

“There I lay staring upward, while the stars wheeled over… Faint to my ears came the gathered rumor of all lands: the springing and the dying, the song and the weeping, and the slow everlasting groan of overburdened stone.”

J. R. R. Tolkien

Nature & Me

Nature’s Calling

Stacey Hayes

Not that long ago, I was exploring the woods with my seven-year-old son. He looked up at me and said:

“Mama, my purpose in life is to take care of nature.”

He was not only referring to his future but to his present life; he spends much of his time caring for nature in a multitude of ways. This purpose is written on his heart.

I was in awe at the inner wisdom and sense of purpose springing forth from his soul. What a gift to have such clarity at a young age.

I believe we are all born with special gifts, passions, and purposes that are lived out in various ways throughout our lives. Children often know their truths.

Along the way, we may lose our sense of what that is. We may be judged or criticized causing us to doubt our path or confidence in our gifts. Grief or tragedy may thwart, delay, and distort our sense of purpose. But in time we may realize these life challenges fine tune our gifts and deepen our purpose.

What I have come to appreciate about nature is its innate sense of its place in the world. A song bird knows its tune and how to construct a “just right” nest. A squirrel has the innate ability to perform ariel acrobatics, store nuts, and engineer a drey. A bulb knows when to awaken and shoot down roots, break through soil and when to bloom. A Monarch Butterfly knows when to migrate, where to journey, and how to find the milkweed plants it needs to lay its eggs for future generations.

These living things rely on and trust in their innate wisdom. They live out their purpose. If only we could trust our inner wisdom more.

The earth needs your gifts. As Frederick Buechner stated years ago, calling is “..the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

How long has it been since you’ve thought about your soulful work? When have you embraced your inner gifts that have most likely been present since childhood?

Does compassion come naturally to you? Are you able to see the world in a different way? Do you enjoy using your hands to create things? Do you have the gift of being able to teach so that others understand? Or the gift of listening and offering presence in way that comforts others? Do you love being with children? Do you have a special connection with animals?

Are you a Healer? Creator? Storyteller? Gardener?

Or perhaps nature calls out to you as it does my son.

I encourage you to take time to reflect on the gifts you behold and present them as an offering to the world. When sharing your gifts, simplicity is grand….it need not be a grand gesture. Our callings are lived out in the small moments that make up our days.

“My work is loving the world.” ~ Mary Oliver

Explore Your Inner Gifts

Identify and embrace your inner gifts that you can offer the world through the metaphor of blooming wildflowers. This invitation for the hands and heart is an excerpt from the Soulful Spring Guide.

Download “Bloom” PDF
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Reverence for the Small Things

Stacey Hayes

For the resounding voice of the wren who calls out from her post each dusk and dawn.

For the ant who willfully carries a heavy load, determined to persevere.

For the grandeur of the tiny snail who honors his steadfast pace.

For the dandelion who reaches for the sun in the most inhospitable places.

The sacred may be found on a mountaintop or in the depths of a canyon.

But I will always have reverence for the
small things.

~ Stacey Hayes ~

This poem is dedicated to the creatures of Ukraine who may be suffering.

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Mind the Spirals

Stacey Hayes

Nature is full of patterns, and spirals are one of my favorites. Spring is a wonderful time to look for and observe spirals in nature as new life emerges and unfurls.

I recently saw this woodland snail venture out after a long rain. What a tiny wonder to marvel at.

Spirals can also be found in seashells, pinecones, sunflowers, and fiddlehead ferns. In plants and flowers, the spiral shape allows them to maximize space and sunlight.

Spirals may symbolize harmony, rhythms and cycles, and expansion and contraction. Offering a unique wisdom, spirals can also inform and inspire our self care practices.

Mindfulness with Spirals

Looking for and observing spirals in nature can be a wonderful mindful practice. These are additional ways to mindfully connect with nature’s spirals:

~ Trace a spiral with your finger onto the palm of your hand…Notice how it feels….

~ Trace a spiral in sand or soil.

~ Be a fiddlehead fern: Use your pointer finger to slowly open (breathing in) and close (breathing out) like a fiddlehead fern. Or, use your whole self to curl up and unfurl as you breathe in and out.

Spiral Art Invitations

You may want to explore spirals further through art making:

~ Draw or paint a spiral. (Cutting along the spiral line will add a kinetic quality and movement.)

~ Arrange nature materials such as shells, leaves, or flowers to create a spiral shape.

~ Create a spiral using clay or salt dough.

~ Write a poem in the form of a spiral.

For Reflection

~ Which spiral in nature do you most identify with?

~ Where may you need to expand or contract?

~ Do you need shelter and stillness as in a snail shell, or growth and unfurling as in a fiddlehead fern?

For Further Exploration

For mathematicians: Spirals and the Fibonacci Ratio

Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman (A beautiful picture book.)

“Growth is a spiral process, doubling back on itself, reassessing and regrouping.”
~ Julia Margaret Cameron ~

All Seasons, Nature & Me

The Beach Speaks.

Stacey Hayes

The beach soothes my soul. This is what it spoke to me recently.

I have always loved the beach.

As I’ve gotten older, I especially appreciate coastal areas during the fall. I don’t see the typical fall changes such as squirrels scurrying to bury acorns or the changing of leaf color, but there is a distinct shift that happens at the coast. Plants and trees make seeds. Butterflies migrate south along coastal edges, and the weather is cooler. Recently in South Carolina, the beach spoke to me in several ways.

The Presence of a Squareback Crab

This little crab, no more than 2 inches wide, sat with me for awhile at the edge of the ocean. It offered its presence, and I offered it protection as busy beachcombers walked by. The little crab’s wisdom was to notice and appreciate the small creatures.

Abundance in Scarcity

I love shelling. There were very few shells at the beach I visited, and most were very small. However, this lack of abundance helped me to appreciate what I did find. I was also more discerning of which shells I kept. The shells reminded me to take only what I need, for the hermit crabs need shells too.

Sea Star Washed Ashore

I saw a few starfish that had been washed ashore by the tide and needed help getting back to water. A few only had four arms. I learned that starfish can regenerate; however, it can take a few months or years to regrow an arm. The starfish whispered, “You can rebuild and regrow, but it may take a long time.”

“Grandpa’s Beard”

In the coastal areas of the Southern US, Spanish Moss abounds. It is not parasitic but serves as a home for snakes, several types of bats, and spiders. Spanish Moss can be very unusual and beautiful. It said, “I provide shelter to often feared but vital creatures.”

The Moon Always Rises

The full moon rose while I was on the beach. It was October’s Hunter Moon. Its grandeur reminded me to take comfort in earth’s rhythms and cycles. The sun rises and sets. The tide flows in and out. The moon waxes and wanes. Each and every day.

Nature teaches and attunes me to my inner wisdom.
What do you notice outside your window?
Is nature whispering wisdom to you?
Is there a place or landscape that awakens your soul?