Healing and Nature

I write this today a few days ahead of the massive climate walk-outs being planned this Friday across my country. For the past several weeks we’ve had temperatures in the mid-nineties. I’ve been at a point of panic about our environment and experiencing a bit of hopelessness. Today’s blog is about how I approach these topics in balance with my spiritual life.

When I first had my experiences of God and light, nature became much more alive to me. I was raised in a culture that disregarded nature. As a child I loved nature but had no language with which to approach it, and eventually stopped noticing it or feeling a part of it. My experience changed all of that. Nature pulsed with the beauty of God. I remember seeing a green aura flash out from a tree right before it toppled over and died while I was visiting my mom in the country. I felt deeply connected to animals, especially after meditating. I even lived in a cabin on 100 acres of woods for several years after my experience. Nature felt like home to me. As I became alive to God, nature became alive to me.

Now I’m learning how to balance my beautiful experiences with God and nature with meaningful action. I do many things personally to mollify myself and my family’s environmental footprint, such as composting, using reusable coffee cups, water bottles, and grocery bags, installing rain barrels to water the garden with, putting out bird and hummingbird feeders to feed our local birds, and planting native plants, to name a few. These things help me feel connected to caring for our planet, but I also feel so alone in them, and not everyone is in a place to take these kinds of actions. We need change on a larger scale to help stem the tide of climate change. We need all businesses on board. We need a shift in our mindset about how we treat and relate to the earth. We need to change the way to get from one place to another. We need to care for our most vulnerable communities.

Climate change is not a judgment from God, but a visible result of actions taken by humans. When I begin to despair about our planet, I try to remember that we can change our course, and that we can do it from a place of love for each other, for the animals, for the plants, and for the planet. Nature needs us, and we need nature. It’s part of why true spiritual awakening on the part of each human is so important. Humans in touch with their true divine nature and living into the unity of all life would not harm the planet or each other for profit.

How are you feeling about our environment? What actions do you take to live in accord with nature? What’s your favorite experience in nature? I’d love to hear about all of it! Comment below or message me on the contact page.