For many of us, last week was tough. In the United States, we watched as one of the most powerful political entities in our country interrogated a sexual assault victim, and then expressed rage at anyone who was concerned at the idea of placing the man whom she was convinced was her assaulter into a lifelong, powerful position on our country’s highest court.
For many of us, in the USA and outside, it reminded us of all the ways, large and small, we’ve experienced the powerful assaulting the week with impunity. More specifically, for many of us, it reminded us of our own experience of being assaulted. We are feeling raw and tender, and I encourage us to care for ourselves.
On my Facebook feed, the most common way I saw us taking care of ourselves was getting out into nature. Over and over I saw friends write: “I am going out for a hike into the hills to try and take care of myself and experience some beauty. Signing out.” I did it, too. The photos in this newsletter today are from Mitchell Canyon, east of San Francisco, where I took a blazing four mile hike into the hills to process my own rage and sorrow.
I looked out over the hills, and it is not too much to say, I saw love. Not romantic love, really, not TV how or movie love. Another kind of love that is a persistent, unsentimental reality underneath all that is real. It’s something we all feel, whether we are willing to call it love or not.
As I charged up the hills, swinging my trekking poles, I found myself getting re-stitched back together, the lost and fragmented parts finding each other once again, making me whole (or at least more whole).
Once again, I was remembering the power of physical movement + nature! Of course, that’s not the only way to do it: hugs, hot baths, music, sharing stories, cuddling with pets, taking action – all of these give us back the kind of neurological and systemic wholeness we need when old traumas are triggered. But for many, nature is a key component of that medicine.
This Saturday, I will be leading our last Nature Constellations Day of the dry season here in California. Over and over, we have discovered that something ineffable happens in nature that is different than when we do this work inside four walls. We are engaging a larger, powerful, transcendent system, very ancient, very patient, without the constraints of human morality or history. Because no matter what, in its essence, nature is always whole. Nature, where our ancestors have lived and died since the beginning of the human species.
If you are feeling tender about the last week, and you live in the vicinity, I invite you to consider coming on Saturday. And if that’s not possible, I invite you to connect with your local natural world. And share – I’d love to hear your stories of your special surroundings (mountain? stream? beach? urban park?) and how you’ve been touched by the love you experience there. I invite you to tell your stories on my blog, below. Thank you!
Leave a Reply