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Writer's pictureShirley Riga

Adapting to Nature

Updated: May 5, 2021


I’ve adapted to the pandemic, masks and distances, living with the uncertainties, the outside versus the inside, all of it part of daily life. The sufferable silence of those who struggle. The cacophony of life going on no matter what.


Here we are with bursting blossoms and unfurling green, warmer weather and rain showers, the familiar signs of rebirth, of spring. I welcome the ease of warmth. I relax in the uncertainty.


Nature is the steady guiding hand through each hour, each day. Nature offers comfort in one moment while threatening mood swings the next. Always there like the eyes gazing back at me in the mirror. I am there, present, wanting to meet me fully. I am willing. I am steady.


Sometimes I get in the way. Sometimes I cooperate. I learn to trust. I patiently gaze. I breathe in the presence of me in the backdrop of nature, like the Universe’s parent, guiding and supporting. My eyes are the windows of my soul. I’m seeing nature.


I am the tree and the bird and the fish in the sea. I am part of you and you are part of me. It’s all a matter of acceptance and trust in believing we are one. Nature welcomes me.


The sky is calling me again. It’s an invitation of numinous sorts. The evening’s oranges blend with the pinkest pinks. While morning’s halos of grays serendipitously let me think.


Not ordinary, they seem to say. You’re okay being who you are. Clearing space to be whatever it is that asks you to explore.


Such as essential truths, known from the beginning of time, punctuated with synchronistic incantations. To me, these feelings are reassuring as much as life’s stages mirror the seasons.


Winter swells below the sea. Spring lights lightly on lemon-green leaves. Summer’s sorcery fires her fiery veracity. Autumn channels foliage likened to a soul’s key.


And as if this isn’t enough there’s always more. The abundance of intricate interpersonal connections which stymie, invigorate, and titillate helping us to see how the facets of our totality are an epic holiness revealing our inner profundity.


Participants' Reflections:

  • Thank you so much. It’s such a wonderful reminder that there’s a whole world out there. I was joking with a friend yesterday that I haven’t been out of the house in a year. It’s practically true. I go outside to have breakfast on the deck and I’m shocked that there is air outside, so alive and full and nurturing. Your reading is a reminder to me to not just fight for the life of our planet but to actually experience it and live in it as well. Staying cooped up in the house just stuffs up my nose, so it’s a cleansing thing to go out into nature. I love the reminder of that. Thank you.

  • Talking about nature, I always leave my front door open in order to look out. We have a beautiful cherry tree that is in full gorgeous bloom, and the rain and that color of rain where everything is green. I thought immediately of my daughter who is so joyous in life. She bubbles with life and since she was a child she loves to go out in the rain, to go out and feel it. You reminded me of how wonderfully beautiful life is and how lucky I am to have such a joyous entity in my sphere.

  • I came in late because I was doing some cleaning. Something kept telling me to come here because when I come here, I hear messages. I ask questions and if I put myself in places to hear answers, I do. Often, this is the group where I hear answers. My question was related to my plans for today. I am supposed to travel to visit a friend but I woke up feeling I didn’t want to do that, that I want to continue to isolate and stay home. I came in late so I only heard the last piece which was about getting out and being in connection with people. I smiled and said thank you. It’s all I needed to hear, and it set me off in meditation to remember go inside and understand what is happening for me. Being on Zoom is great, and reading is great, and when an opportunity for real connection happens, grab that. It’s going to be unfamiliar but notice my feelings of anxiety and let them go. Thank you.

  • Your reading resonated with me so much. Nature and animals are my constant comfort. It can be painful too. I don’t know what I would do without nature and animals. I don’t swim, but I float in it. When I used to go into buildings to work, which were all steel and industrial and had a total lack of nature, it was hard. I am so grateful to be in nature. I put a package out for UPS to pick up yesterday, and I added a note on it. I drew a tree with color pencils and wrote thank you, hope you have a good day. I didn’t care what anyone else thought if they saw it. I enjoyed it and hopefully it will bring a little smile to the person who picked it up because I know they work hard.

  • I can imagine that note hanging on someone’s refrigerator reminding them they are appreciated because they are proud of what they do.

  • I love what everyone is saying. It seems like your readings have a synchronicity for me, as probably for everyone. I live near a bay and last night I walked down to the water to see the sunset. I love sunsets and I even grade them now. This one wasn’t that great. I also love to take pictures but it wasn’t worth taking any last night. But then I saw a blue heron on the shore fishing. When I saw him, I felt so alive and started running. I was so excited, and I don’t understand why I get so excited. I get this exhilaration. You said something about being the bird. I get that connection. I knew I had to get back into my house but didn’t care. On my way back I came upon huge dragonflies that were swarming. I was feeling so great to be experiencing these things. Then I shut myself down by asking myself what is wrong with me that I get so excited about this. I woke up this morning wanting to appreciate myself for loving me the way I am and choose not to put myself down.

  • I’ve been using the earth as a healing modality. I take my shoes off and walk on the earth to ground myself. I walked along the shore yesterday. Today’s reading was perfect. Nature has a steady hand and welcomes me. I feel that. Life’s stages mirror the seasons in some way. You go through the turbulent times like I am right now. Thank you for listening.

  • It’s so true. The words nature and synchronicity are used over and over in this group. We lean on nature. It helps us deal with whatever we are dealing with.

  • It makes you feel better. I once saved a cricket from being caught in a bathroom. I was able to get him out and put him under some bushes. I appreciate nature and value the cricket not wanting him to die in the bathroom. The thrill of a blue heron sounds amazing.

  • It’s quite a journey when we can recite the visceral experience we have in nature. It gets in touch with our true beingness. That is the emotions one feels when leaving the body. It isn’t sadness or loss. It’s the utter joy and love that is beyond what we can understand as humans. We can touch into it with nature. It is like touching into real life. Thank you all for sharing. The little gems live with us throughout the day. It’s helpful because life is challenging.

  • Appreciation for the wisdom carried by the next few generations is evident in many of their words and actions. Nature is their friend and companion. Ours, too. A few years ago, my son called at a time when I could barely speak through my tears. He told me to get outside every day. Another time, my daughter’s family had a crisis and she suddenly was single-parenting her children. I had to be with my older sister who was also in crisis. Daily, I sent my daughter photos of yellow roses. She sent a video of them reclining by a river in the mountains. Nature is a friend and companion.

  • Thank you for joining me. Thank you for allowing yourself to sit in silence, to treat yourself with the act of showing you are worth it because you are. I am grateful that we all take the time to prove to ourselves we are worth it. It makes for a rich community. I hope you all have a gentle day and enjoy the weather, the rain or the sun and safe travels.

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