I want you to embark this journey with an open mind and a child’s smile. Take my hands, remove your shoes, enter the void as an ecstatic being.
Well, if you are confined in between walls I’ll ask you to stretch the boundaries of imagination..but if you have a garden, a small piece of Eden here on Earth or an easy access to woods..
Get out and get immersed in Nature’s breathe, then breathe Nature in exchange.
How does it feel to be barefoot and sense the consistency of soil under your naked feet?How does it feel to have trillions of invisible microorganism behind a layer of dirt and minerals and fossils?
Feel the breeze on your skin, water flowing, wildlife sorrounding you. Leave home your fears, embarassment and pre-concepts. Feel the presence of the micro and the macrocosm all around and all inside you.
Nature speaks. She´s gently caressing your hair, reshaping your mood, influencing your heart beat. Nature breathes in every tilt of the axis, in every wave of sound perturbing the air, in every scent of decaying matter or blooming flower.
First exercise: enhance your senses in Nature. Experience the sense of smell, trying to decript and separate different scents and give them names. See if they make you recall memories, images of childhood or simple thoughts. Take a mental note of them.
Experience the sense of touch by caressing the soil, the blade of a leaf, the profile of a rock. Immerse your fingers in water and memorize your feelings.
Experience the sense of hearing, pay attention to all the sounds around you. Try to condense them into a wider picture. You should be able to visualize all the frantic activities, the purposeful life at work and the leisure times. The busy bee, the dancing spider, the unfolding fern. This is organic music, another way Nature can talk to you.
Are your eyes open? Give them a new perceptual strenght. Observe the shades of colours from leaf to leaf, the tiny details of a moss rooted on the wall. Look for patterns, recurrent motives, invisible at first.
Is it more important a ladybug or a bacteria? A tick or a bumblebee? You know the answer is not laying in hierarchy but in diversity. Different purposes make all forms of life intertwined not only in a food chain but in a web of equilibrium forces.
Experience now the sense of taste. Hard enough? Try to taste the nectar of a wild flower, the juice of a berry hanging from a tree..not sure if you can eat it? Scared to be poisoned?
That’s why you should read the next steps. Be aware and be informed. If you want to empower yourself in Nature and to be confident you need to learn. No shortcuts.
Ready for the second step?