Last weekend I attended a Silent Retreat in North Carolina. At least twice a year I step back from the busy world and all its noise, open my heart and relax my busy mind to get back in touch with my true feelings.
If you’ve ever attended a silent retreat or even tried to meditate you’ve probably experienced moments when it’s hard to get out of that constant mental chatter in your head. Those incessant ramblings feel real: bills, work, to-do’s, internet, thoughts, worries, thoughts, things… Am I doing this meditation right? Mediate… MEDITATE! You find yourself battling with images and thoughts of past and future mind chaos and you’re disconnected from the present moment!
It can be easy to become self conscious and focused on the process of meditation rather than gently falling into the silence and letting go, which can feel strange for many of us.
Meditation helps us to open ourselves to a willingness to be with the silence. The first thing you experience is the honesty of sitting down and facing yourself in silence. You are connecting to a deeper part of your being, finding those quiet spaces within… and accessing your true nature.
This can be humbling and uncomfortable because you’re so used to doing things and distracting yourself.
One of the best ways I’ve found to quiet my mind, is to tune back into the frequency of the earth and become curious again. Nature has wisdom without words. Its powerful message can be heard deeply when you quieten your mind.
This is why so many people are drawn to walking in the woods to get away from the hustle and bustle of life. If you think about it, so much of the activity of nature happens in silence. For me, being out in nature is my way of entering silence…
How we lost our curiosity and connection to our feelings
As children we were naturally curious about nature and the magical world around us. We are born as the pure essence of love.
Maybe you experience this today through your own kids or even grandkids? Sometimes it might feel like they are playing and living in a totally different world from you: They have boundless energy, curiosity and joy, while you are far more serious because you had to grow up!
As we grow our elders teach us that our feelings are not to be trusted and there is definitely no place for feelings in the workplace. We’re taught to think because being smart is good. We learn to replace curiosity with fear, as we lose our sense of connection with our natural surroundings. We numb out and become constricted by our thinking patterns, limiting beliefs and feel disconnected and separate. We’re set adrift from our true identity and nature.
Our natural curiosity diminishes and is replaced by fear.
Our true nature fades into the background.
Nature fades into the background of our busy lives. We no longer see the bugs, animals, flowers, birds or trees around us. They no longer feel like our friends and we become separate. We might get a rare glimpse here or there, but for the most part we focus our selfish attention on our own importance, the needs of our ego – what we have to do and achieve. We are all consumed by the deafening noise of our human existence and our own thoughts.
Nature’s silent message is always there but it gets ignored and drowned out by all the external noise. We might connect to it briefly, but only when we get the time, and if we’re not too busy!
We’ve lost the magic of curiosity that we had as a child and our ability to feel. We have unconsciously separated ourselves from our natural truth.
How to hear the silent message of nature
Have you ever taken a moment to place your hands on an old tree and feel its wisdom? You can literally feel the centuries of knowing that vibrates through its bark… Try it!
Have you ever been able to let go of your thoughts completely and appreciate the stillness and beauty of what is around you?
All you have to do are two simple things:
- Open up your heart. Stopping and feeling gratitude is one of the best ways to open up your heart and attune you to a different frequency. There’s no better place than tuning into the beauty and stillness around you. Appreciate this and you’ll become it – you’ll immerse into it and breathe it in. You’ll feel your heart opening with every breath…
- Relax your mind. Stepping outside into nature is how I am able to hear and connect deeply with my own true nature. Why? Because your mind has to be quiet, and this is one of the best ways to silence the mind. It’s a place where thinking isn’t required and you can literally free your mind because you’re not paying attention to your thoughts at all – just let them pass through. You’re not trying to let go of them – they may dissolve – they may not. But it doesn’t matter because you’re simply not paying attention to them.
Being in nature is a perfect way to completely silence the mind because it can give you the opportunity to experience the feeling of awe/wonder. This is exactly what happened to me out in nature on the lake during my retreat…
AWE… When nature meets your true nature
I woke before dawn on the last day of the retreat, and walked to the boat house. As it was beginning to get light, I put my kayak into the still water. The dawn chorus of birdsong had begun around me, as I gently pushed away from the landing. I could feel the calmness and silence of the water as I gently paddled my way into the center of the lake.
There was so much space and openness on the water. There was no breeze. My heart opened to the beauty and serenity around me.
This is when I was struck by awe – The beauty and quietness of the lake was so immense and pure. It felt like a shock to my system and instantly filled me with a profusion of bliss. I couldn’t process what I was seeing and feeling. It was beyond words.
My mind was silent! My feelings took it all in.
At that moment I wasn’t surrounded by nature – I WAS nature. I became aware that I was part of something far greater than myself. Its brilliance melted the edges of my physical form and I experienced dissolving into my surroundings. This was beyond words…pure feeling.
In that moment, time stopped and I felt the essence of pure love. I was closer to the truth of anything I’ve ever felt in my life before. At that moment I was in tune with all of life and harmonizing with nature. We were merged together. Nature and my true nature were one.
I don’t know how long it lasted but slowly I began to come back together and was aware of being in the kayak in the middle of the lake. I felt lighter and expanded. It took me a few minutes before I felt I was able to pick up the oar and continue my journey.
On the lake, I got to be a kid again! I connected with wonder and curiosity. The hidden treasures of wildlife revealed themselves along the lakeside as I paddled by.
The silence of nature helped my heart to open and reveal my own true nature, if just for a moment. There was absolutely nothing to figure out! My mind was empty. I found my way out of all that thinking into knowing.
Scott Stillman, in his book Nature’s Silent Message, sums it up beautifully (I highly recommend reading this!):
“I’ll never take for granted the privilege to walk one foot in front of the other in the direction of my own choosing. The opportunity to get lost so that I might find myself again. Each time I’m surprised at what I find. Wilderness is my church, my teacher, my mentor, my psychologist, my mother, my savior. The school of life where we learn not from books, not from words, not from lectures. A classroom where we learn not from that which thinks, but that which knows. The lesson is truth itself.”
Open your heart, quiet your mind and be curious. If you just take a moment to stop, shut up and just listen – You’ll hear the silent message of nature’s pure love surrounding you. More and more people are stepping out into Nature to do this.
Are you ready to join the revolution?!
Get out of your head! 🙂
Where does the silence of nature talk to you? Have you experienced this, it might just be for a moment? I’d love you to share your experience in the comments.