Pause.

Year End always brings a flurry of activity. Planning and shopping for holidays and celebrations with family and friends. Adjusting to the continuing change in weather. Planning end of year business strategies. It is all too easy to feel like everything is spinning! Pause. This is my reminder-to-self when I feel inundated: Pause. Take 2 […]

Tree Talk

Tree roots extend more than twice the spread of the crown. Roots of neighboring trees inevitably intersect. Thin filaments of fungi also penetrate the ground, operating like fiber-optic Internet cables. They transmit signals from one tree to the next, helping the trees exchange news about insects, drought, and other dangers. www = Wood Wide Web […]

Frogs

Gero…. Gero….

Wage Peace

This week, I’d like to share with you a lovely poem I’ve found. It’s filled with the power of being positive.

Prayers for Peace

Last Sunday, we came together to send prayers for peace out on the winds: May peace prevail on Earth. May peace be in our homes and countries. May our missions be accomplished.

Getting Grounded

Touch is a significant way to connect to the Earth.

Forest Bathing in the Rain

Last Saturday it was wet in the Forest. Very wet. And—it was magnificent. The rain brought out different smells—fresh and lively. Deeply earthy. The branches called me to drink water from the leaves. Looking up, the falling drops were a myriad of sizes and speeds. And we made a lovely little discovery: a hummingbird nest. […]

Honk. Honk.

Above: Canada Geese taking their goslings for a stroll down the Pond Path

Delicacies of Spring

The new growth on the Douglas is bursting forth this week. It’s lovely…and it’s a special treat for the palate! The limey-green tips are tender and have a delicious citrus-pine flavor. Gather them once the papery brown bud sheafs fall off and they are about ½ to 1 ½ inches long. (Note: they are easy […]

Emptiness

One of my favorite writers on spirituality is Thomas Moore. His discussions on emptiness and mystery in “The Soul’s Religion” are particularly compelling. Moore writes, “It might be good to approach the spiritual life without the need for understanding and clarity. In this area it is appropriate to be less certain, to be forced into […]

May You Grow Still

May you grow still enough to hear the small noises Earth makes in preparing for the long sleep of winter, so that you yourself may grow calm and grounded deep within. May you grow still enough to hear the trickling of water seeping into the ground, so that your soul may be softened and healed, […]

The Earth Remembered Me

I thought the earth remembered me, she took me back so tenderly, arranging her dark skirts, her pockets full of lichens and seeds. I slept as never before, a stone on the riverbed, nothing between me and the white fire of the stars but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths among the branches […]

In Nature, All is Accomplished

Just two days ago, I was enthralled by these fuzzy buds which called me to touch and stroke their soft, feathery casings in the cold winter air. And today, as we approach Solstice, here in the Pacific Northwest we are being blanketed in snow. Yet these furry beings remain unchanged in the cold snowy weather, and this amazes […]

Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice marks the change in the solar cycle. The Northern Hemisphere is tilted the farthest away from the Sun. The Sun has the least angle to the Earth and thus we receive less sunlight and warmth. I tend to think of Winter days being the shortest, and the least light. But actually, it is […]

Retreat into Nature

Whenever we touch nature we get clean. People who have gotten dirty through too much civilization should take a walk in the woods, or a bath in the sea. Entering the unconscious, entering yourself through dreams, is touching nature from the inside and this is the same thing. Things are put right again. Carl Jung

Mindfulness

Try to be mindful and let things take their natural course. Then your mind will become still in any surroundings, like a clear forest pool. All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool, and you will clearly see the nature of all things. You will see many strange and wonderful […]

Forest Bathing

Qing Li, a physician and researcher on the healing properties of forests, has written a book Forest Bathing which offers a thoughtful introduction to the scientifically proven benefits of spending time among the trees.