I've been taking lessons from wildlife lately - the deer, geese, birds. Living in the present moment. From the wise Mary Oliver: "Consider the other kingdoms... the creatures, with their thick fur, their shy and wordless gaze, their infallible sense of what their lives are meant to be. Thus... you, too, grow rich, grow sweetly wild, as you too were born to be."
So, when you ask, “How can I be kind and gentle to myself,” certainly you should examine things like guilt because you’re not working hard enough, all the ‘oughtas’ and ‘shoulds’ you drive yourself on ruthlessly with, all the feelings of not being good enough, or that you oughta be more spiritual or conscious or something more than you are, examine these. I think just an appreciation for the perfection of the universe, which includes you, that you have a right to exist just the way you are, and that you’re at the absolutely optimum place at this moment, and that if you are fully enlightened you wouldn’t have taken birth in the first place, that this isn’t error, you are not an aberration, you’re not an error or mistake, nobody blew it, realizing that no matter how bizarre you feel from the inside, and appreciating that it is an unfolding process, and your curriculum, this is the best you can do for yourself.
Oh, I have been thinking of this so often lately! How, if only we were able to let go of all the ideas of how life should be unfolding and instead let it unfold as it inevitably will anyway, we could perhaps enjoy it for once rather than constantly try to improve it. I also watch the flowers, the birds, my dog, the ants, the snails, and the ocean waves doing precisely what they're meant to do and how they're meant to do it. And they don't seem troubled with it ever; they know their own nature, and they follow it without fail. Meanwhile, for myself, I find that I often struggle against my own nature rather than learning to cooperate with it, and maybe even enhance it through my actions.
Thank you for this beautiful reflection, Sydney! And, as always, the wonderful photographs :)
So well said, Justyna, thank you for sharing this. You've described my life right now in one paragraph, and added the comfort of knowing I'm not the only one! 💕
Great point Sydney about Nature and how "everything is always doing just what it’s meant to be doing at any given moment."
This is something I think about and helps me appreciate the present moment so much more on my own encounters in Nature. Seemingly small things like a bumblebee buzzing past me or the way a squirrel chews off the buds of pine trees so the fall to the forest floor: Natural perfection. Thanks for sharing and I especially like that image of the Catchfly blossom - awesome colour.
Thanks so much, Neil! Yes, I know we’re kindred spirits in this. And no matter how often you contemplate it, considering it again in each new encounter is always enlightening.
And thank you on the Catchfly! I really have to get them in the evening, something about that cool, lower light lets the pink fully register 🤷🏼♀️
I learned from this essay that nature always knows what to do, and everything in nature is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing without worrying or doubting itself. Like how birds just fly and plants just grow, they don’t stress about if they should be doing something else. It made me think that maybe I don’t need to worry so much about whether I’m doing the right thing all the time. If I do my best, that’s enough. The essay reminded me that sometimes, I need to trust myself and feel peaceful like nature does. 🌸🦋
Yes, Mohika, this is just what I felt, and exactly what I hoped to express! So glad to be able to connect with you on this, and to know that we'll both be going about our everyday activities with this little reminder tucked away in our hearts 💕
A wonderful nudge, Sydney. Thank you for this post. It’s exactly the message I needed in this season of my life. Nature, the great teacher. We’re exactly where we’re meant to be.
Sydney, your words remind me to find peace in my own decisions, to embrace the simplicity of just being, and to trust that, like the natural world, I am exactly where I need to be. Thank you for this gentle nudge towards self-assurance and clarity.
I love hearing you read the funny thoughts of the cast you've assembled. It's hard to imagine the tide fretting about coming in too high or too low. This puts worry right in perspective. "Be as the lilies of the field" - worried about getting pollen stains off their white collars?? I think I will worry less today. Thank you. :-)
In Buddhism we talk about 'being in the moment' and 'right now, just as it is.' You have beautifully expressed this idea with examples from nature. As far as we know, animals and plants live entirely the moment. Only humans are blessed and cursed with concepts of past and future.
Thanks so much, Stuart! It really unlocks a fascinating thought process when you start considering things from the point of view of the wild life...For example, though the wild creatures live only in the moment, they often prepare their winter homes differently because something nudges them about whether future conditions will be more or less harsh. What is that like, to have a nudging that reflects the future, yet only perceive and act in the present? Pretty interesting to consider what it might look like if we took our unique capacity to consider past and future, and yet were more like the wild creatures in that those considerations were nudgings guiding our concentration in the here and now...Great contemplation for a snowy Sunday, thanks for sending me down that rabbit hole! 🤣
That is interesting. I guess I never gave it much thought, but animals born in the spring know how to prepare for a winter they have never experienced. There is a social element to this, at least in some species, as the young animals learn from older ones. There is also instinct, that nudge to behave a certain way in the present moment. That behaviour has a future benefit, but it does not come from contemplating the future. It comes from being aware of the present. Isn’t it grand the way Nature takes care of her creatures?
It really is, Stuart! And I appreciate the way that the more we wrap our minds around all the little details and nuances of the way Nature takes care of her creatures, the more we learn about our own humanity :)
Such a beautiful (and important) reminder in this fast paced world! I often get too caught up in trying to tick off everything off my to do list at once but sometimes the most important one I have on that list is to just go outside and just like you said, learn from nature that what we're doing is enough, one day at a time. Also love your photos!
Thank you so much, Amaranta, so happy to connect with you here! You're right, it's a reminder I have to give myself over and over again, to put the list down and take a deep breath outside, and probably a lesson I never learn quite thoroughly enough 🤣
I've been taking lessons from wildlife lately - the deer, geese, birds. Living in the present moment. From the wise Mary Oliver: "Consider the other kingdoms... the creatures, with their thick fur, their shy and wordless gaze, their infallible sense of what their lives are meant to be. Thus... you, too, grow rich, grow sweetly wild, as you too were born to be."
Beautiful, Joni, thank you for sharing. "their infallible sense of what their lives are meant to be" - it's so endlessly instructive for us!💕
Saw this from Ram Dass the other day. Same same:
So, when you ask, “How can I be kind and gentle to myself,” certainly you should examine things like guilt because you’re not working hard enough, all the ‘oughtas’ and ‘shoulds’ you drive yourself on ruthlessly with, all the feelings of not being good enough, or that you oughta be more spiritual or conscious or something more than you are, examine these. I think just an appreciation for the perfection of the universe, which includes you, that you have a right to exist just the way you are, and that you’re at the absolutely optimum place at this moment, and that if you are fully enlightened you wouldn’t have taken birth in the first place, that this isn’t error, you are not an aberration, you’re not an error or mistake, nobody blew it, realizing that no matter how bizarre you feel from the inside, and appreciating that it is an unfolding process, and your curriculum, this is the best you can do for yourself.
So true, Sarah, and such good timing! Thanks for sharing this 💕
Ram Dass has taught us so well, so much wisdom. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Agreed and of course! It comforts me so much.
Oh, I have been thinking of this so often lately! How, if only we were able to let go of all the ideas of how life should be unfolding and instead let it unfold as it inevitably will anyway, we could perhaps enjoy it for once rather than constantly try to improve it. I also watch the flowers, the birds, my dog, the ants, the snails, and the ocean waves doing precisely what they're meant to do and how they're meant to do it. And they don't seem troubled with it ever; they know their own nature, and they follow it without fail. Meanwhile, for myself, I find that I often struggle against my own nature rather than learning to cooperate with it, and maybe even enhance it through my actions.
Thank you for this beautiful reflection, Sydney! And, as always, the wonderful photographs :)
So well said, Justyna, thank you for sharing this. You've described my life right now in one paragraph, and added the comfort of knowing I'm not the only one! 💕
Great point Sydney about Nature and how "everything is always doing just what it’s meant to be doing at any given moment."
This is something I think about and helps me appreciate the present moment so much more on my own encounters in Nature. Seemingly small things like a bumblebee buzzing past me or the way a squirrel chews off the buds of pine trees so the fall to the forest floor: Natural perfection. Thanks for sharing and I especially like that image of the Catchfly blossom - awesome colour.
Thanks so much, Neil! Yes, I know we’re kindred spirits in this. And no matter how often you contemplate it, considering it again in each new encounter is always enlightening.
And thank you on the Catchfly! I really have to get them in the evening, something about that cool, lower light lets the pink fully register 🤷🏼♀️
I learned from this essay that nature always knows what to do, and everything in nature is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing without worrying or doubting itself. Like how birds just fly and plants just grow, they don’t stress about if they should be doing something else. It made me think that maybe I don’t need to worry so much about whether I’m doing the right thing all the time. If I do my best, that’s enough. The essay reminded me that sometimes, I need to trust myself and feel peaceful like nature does. 🌸🦋
Yes, Mohika, this is just what I felt, and exactly what I hoped to express! So glad to be able to connect with you on this, and to know that we'll both be going about our everyday activities with this little reminder tucked away in our hearts 💕
I love your photography Sydney.
Thank you so much, Teyani!💕
So much wisdom here. Yours, and nature’s. Thank you, Sydney.
Thank you so much, Rebecca! Glad to have you here to share with 💕
A wonderful nudge, Sydney. Thank you for this post. It’s exactly the message I needed in this season of my life. Nature, the great teacher. We’re exactly where we’re meant to be.
Oh yay, Stella! So glad to have shared this at a good moment 💕
Sydney, your words remind me to find peace in my own decisions, to embrace the simplicity of just being, and to trust that, like the natural world, I am exactly where I need to be. Thank you for this gentle nudge towards self-assurance and clarity.
Thank you so much, Mo! Sorry I overlooked this comment here, but so glad that you joined me in this nature moment :)
Thank you, Sydney. I enjoyed your sweet voice!
Wonderful to see you’re knowing “ I too am a part of everything that is always doing just what it’s meant to be doing at any given moment!”
“All separation, every kind of estrangement and alienation is false. All is one. This is the ultimate truth…”
All the things in nature are together in one place.
Each thing is moved by nature’s pattern.
Signals give direction.
The whole divides in to parts. 🧬
The parts move around and in and out of each other.
Like water flowing in rivers 💦 and oceans 🌊 and changing into vapor 💨 and snow ⛄️❄️and ice 🧊.
The water flows in and out of creatures 🐿️ and plants 🌱.
Every part is circulating, round and round. 💫☄️🪐⛈️🦠🧬🌪️
Things unFold 🌱 then enFold 🍂 .
Everything in the UNIverse fits 🧩 because each part belongs to the ONE whole cosmic song 🎶 and dance 💃🏻.
What a beautiful comment, L.M., thank you so much for this!
I love hearing you read the funny thoughts of the cast you've assembled. It's hard to imagine the tide fretting about coming in too high or too low. This puts worry right in perspective. "Be as the lilies of the field" - worried about getting pollen stains off their white collars?? I think I will worry less today. Thank you. :-)
Thanks so much, Tara!🤣 “Be as the lilies” - great point, I didn’t even make that connection, but that’s exactly right 💕
In Buddhism we talk about 'being in the moment' and 'right now, just as it is.' You have beautifully expressed this idea with examples from nature. As far as we know, animals and plants live entirely the moment. Only humans are blessed and cursed with concepts of past and future.
Thanks so much, Stuart! It really unlocks a fascinating thought process when you start considering things from the point of view of the wild life...For example, though the wild creatures live only in the moment, they often prepare their winter homes differently because something nudges them about whether future conditions will be more or less harsh. What is that like, to have a nudging that reflects the future, yet only perceive and act in the present? Pretty interesting to consider what it might look like if we took our unique capacity to consider past and future, and yet were more like the wild creatures in that those considerations were nudgings guiding our concentration in the here and now...Great contemplation for a snowy Sunday, thanks for sending me down that rabbit hole! 🤣
That is interesting. I guess I never gave it much thought, but animals born in the spring know how to prepare for a winter they have never experienced. There is a social element to this, at least in some species, as the young animals learn from older ones. There is also instinct, that nudge to behave a certain way in the present moment. That behaviour has a future benefit, but it does not come from contemplating the future. It comes from being aware of the present. Isn’t it grand the way Nature takes care of her creatures?
It really is, Stuart! And I appreciate the way that the more we wrap our minds around all the little details and nuances of the way Nature takes care of her creatures, the more we learn about our own humanity :)
So true!
Such a beautiful (and important) reminder in this fast paced world! I often get too caught up in trying to tick off everything off my to do list at once but sometimes the most important one I have on that list is to just go outside and just like you said, learn from nature that what we're doing is enough, one day at a time. Also love your photos!
Thank you so much, Amaranta, so happy to connect with you here! You're right, it's a reminder I have to give myself over and over again, to put the list down and take a deep breath outside, and probably a lesson I never learn quite thoroughly enough 🤣
Dear Sydney,
How beautifully expressed.
Brava
Thank you so much, Rodrigo, so glad to have you here!
Thanks for this gorgeous reminder Sydney. It’s far too easy to be caught up in the rush of daily living and being stuck inside our heads.
So true, Donna, thank you!