The Nature of Nature

Lately, I’ve been noticing the patterns of nature on my daily walk in the forest and by the water.

I’m fascinated by how nature holds both order and randomness at once and is always changing.

Branches reach in every direction yet somehow form a whole. Sometimes steady, sometimes bending, or even breaking, in strong winds.

Water flows with its own rhythm. At times, calm on the surface, and at others, there are waves thrashing to the shoreline.

And I notice roots.

They don’t grow in straight lines. They are gnarled, tangled, uneven. and are still strong, steady, enduring, even when exposed.

The nature of nature. And maybe, the nature of us.

Because so much of life feels like this, too. Chaotic, messy, nonlinear, unpredictable.

One moment, we feel calm, comforted, even happy. And then something shifts, and we feel unsettled, needing to catch our breath.

And yet, underneath it all, there is something steady. Something holds us.

Roots we don’t always see but feel. Roots to who we are.

The nature of our nature.

Notice what anchors you, even if you can’t see it.

For me, it’s my daily meditation, yoga, and writing practice.

It’s walking in nature with my dog, Bounty.

It’s deep conversations with my closest friend and connections with people who get me as I am, not what they want me to be.

It’s small acts of kindness toward myself as if I were my own best friend.

I’ve also started keeping a list of things I love and light me up. For the good days and especially for the harder ones. It’s small acts of kindness toward myself as if I were my own best friend.

I’ve also started keeping a list of things I love and light me up. For the good days and especially for the harder ones.

I think of it as an emotional first aid kit for the soul.

What’s in yours?

To hold the nature of your nature, and the beauty of you as you are. In all weather.

You are the sky. Everything else—it’s just the weather.

— Pema Chödrön