One sounds so wise as they wax eloquently about the meaning of the patterns of the leaves, the shapes in the clouds, the power of the 
water flow.
Yet rather than being busy doing in my mind, I endeavor to let it all go and become one with the singing water, the dancing trees, the blue and white fluffy sky.
I’ve given up asking for meaning (today). It’s become so obvious without formed words in my heart. My heart opens and I simply absorb the beauty of this amazing life of the natural world. And I belong. Peace fills me.
Now I am ready to take this Divine energy back to my work, my community, my daily doing life . . . without words
????When before the beauty of a sunset or a mountain, you pause and exclaim, “Ah,” you are participating in divinity. Joseph Campbell
Okay, that was one day on a river hike.
I teach people how to listen to nature, how to have conversations with trees, how to look for symbols. Elements of the natural world speak to me and I often hear and learn. Yet when I try to find meaning, the real wisdom slips away.
It is a practice like anything else that takes presence. Am I really listening? Am I projecting? Can I just let it happen?
Beauty in itself is healing. There is such an abundance of beauty in the world – simply opening to it, basking in it, and letting it wash through is an honorable healing practice benefiting all life.
Internal strength is an absorption of the external landscape. We are informed by beauty, raw and sensual. Terry Tempest Williams
May you find peace and healing in the beauty all around you, and in the radiance of the full moon!
Carolyn
PS And for that personal note: I will miss you in July as I will be unplugged for 5 weeks! (And in August I’ll be in IL at my 40 year high school class reunion on the full moon.)
During the month of July I will in a month-long Wilderness Guide training with the School of Lost Borders in the Inyo Mountains of California. http://www.schooloflostborders.org/content/month-long-training
I will definitely be basking in the beauty of the natural world with the humble intention of bringing it back to my people; as I know we all can and often do when we focus on the natural healing beauty available to us.
I thank you in advance for your light and prayers on my wilderness solo July 23-27.
In gratitude, love and beauty,
Carolyn
all photos taken by Carolyn Ringo – beauty encountered on various walks in the wilds
Blessed be, Carolyn, for your solo and the entire month-long training with SLB.
Speaking With Trees
I was struck by your comments re: communicating with nature. I discovered this rapport first with trees nearly two decades ago and it is as you say. I can hold an intention to communicate with a plant or an animal but I cannot WILL it. Just as with the mirroring process with other people, the key for me is to “get out of the way”. My conscious mind is too eager to conclude that such conversations are not possible, all in my mind or just plain nuts. Fortunately, I have been able to set those worries aside, especially when I am alone with all my relations, deep in the forest, on a beach or sitting by a riparian stream.
One of the curiosities I have experienced is that of being able to sense the desire of the tree, bush or stone. They have as great a range of personality as people. Some are downright angry at the abuse thrust upon them by dead-headed humans. Most seem to be content to be silent. And a few are downright talkative. I recall a young oak growing alongside a fire road on a ridge top where I used to walk frequently. The precocious oak practically reached out and pulled me to her trunk. We spoke of birds that disappeared into her branches and foggy breezes that wrapped him in a cloak of silence. For years, until I moved out of the county, I relished my relationship with this oak. What could I say when she despaired with me? Dozens of people walked by daily and she called out to each of them but I was one of the few who “heard” and came over to “talk”. This tree confessed that she was lonely and indeed, the bulk of the forest was some distance from his rooted home. Her solution was to accept attention from whoever had the wisdom to recognize her. Nearly every dog on the path would stop and sniff her, their owners ever oblivious to the obvious.
Trees are remarkable in their ability to communicate over distances without technology. So as I sit here writing, it came as little surprise to me that she recognized herself (in my thoughts) and touched in to say “hello”. How delightful it is to hear from my old friend.
Love… Scout
Thank you for your lovely response Scout. I loved hearing the story of your oak friend.
Some of those trees do indeed call us. I was hiking with my husband once in a deep wash in Escalante and we both felt drawn to a very large (for the area) conifer of some sort. As we walked over my husband went under her low branches and put his hands on her trunk. I had grabbed onto a dead-looking lower branch and felt compelled to stop there. We just stood in silent meditation with her awhile and then moved on in gratitude. He told me that he heard that I was to come no closer because the energy was too strong for me (I was just recovering from major illness.) I got the same message and got plenty of energy from my little branch. It was a lovely exchange.