Hey… You know what?… I’m busting out a bit. I am really feeling full of joy – not happiness – joy. Joy is a lower level feeling of elated contentment. Happiness is more superficial and situational. Joy radiates and originates in a feeling of connectedness. The two biggest sources of my joy this season is my new screened porch and being a member of a CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture). I’ve wanted a screened porch for years, and finally I’ve got one. I eat every meal, do a majority of my computer work, entertain and see clients outside. I love it! Through the CSA, I get a weekly bag of farm fresh produce, many of which I’ve never eaten before. It’s helped take my cooking and taste buds to a whole new level. Through both, I’ve been able to grow into a deeper level of connection to an energy as genuine and powerful as it gets…nature. While I’ve always loved being in nature, recently I crossed a connection threshold into continuous joy. Since the inception of air conditioning we’ve become increasingly invested in being indoors. Many of us rarely go outside, except to get to our cars. We’ve grown averse to our natural habitat. As we’ve disconnected from nature we’ve been left with a huge void, which we’re trying to fill with technology. Yet Facebook and Google are never going to be natural energy sources. In order to spiritually realign we need to reconnect with our natural habitat.
Since we’ve been hardwiring ourselves away from nature, it will be a slow grow back into it. If you rush, you’ll overwhelm your sensory circuits. Seriously, take it slow and only as your spirit craves. This should be an adventurous journey of reconnection. It should be about fun exploration, not obligitory necessity. So I want you to read my suggestions for reconnection like a menu from a great restaurant. Only select what seems enticing. These ideas are so simple they are revolutionary.
- Open your shades…start half way…and grow into opening them all the way. If you close your shades to keep heat out, do a midday shade shift.
- Open your windows. With all your windows open, it will feel like you’re living in a screened porch. When was the last time you slept with your windows open? It’s heaven. When it’s too hot, sleep with a window cracked enough to hear the cicadas, crickets, owls…and then morning birds.
- Open your car windows even a crack.
- Situate your desk by a window. Which you can open in good weather.
- Sit outside. You don’t need a fancy porch or deck. I used to spend hours sitting on a front stoop. Invest in furniture more comfortable than cheap white plastic chairs. You might start taking your phone with you. In time you’ll grow your tolerance for techno-free chilling, reading, napping, entertaining.
- Eat outside. I heard somewhere that something like 80% of children have no idea what the word picnic means. An even higher number have never experienced one. If bugs are an inhibiting factor, make it a spring or morning tradition.
- Do something outside besides mowing grass. We have a negative association between doing outside and having to exercise. Strolls at morning or dusk are wonderful.
- Get some plants. Don’t overwhelm yourself with huge projects you won’t want to finish. Start with a or some pots. Start with the indestructible. Do a small bed, then add on as you feel a yearning to. If watering become cumbersome, get an irrigation system installed. If you feel uncomfortable in dirt, start with gardening gloves. Start buying fresh flowers for inside.
- Use less sunscreen. I think there’s acknowledgment in the medical profession that we’ve gone a little overboard with sunscreen. Allow time for your skin to drink some sun in.
I know these suggestions may seem obvious enough to be insulting. However, when you take a look around your neighborhood, you’ll see that most of us don’t do these simple things. It’s so easy for us to slip into a cave like existence. I believe our country’s disproportionate fear of peeping Toms and theft has us self imprisoned. Fear feeds on itself. We can’t deal with bugs, sun, temperatures over under 70 or over 80 degrees. We get tired of rotating shades, so we believe it’s just easier to keep them closed all the time. Natural light puts a glare on the TV and computer screens. But we know not what we do.
If you already are outside quite a bit, you might consider finding a deeper meaning in all that’s around you. While these two suggestions might seem a “little out there,” just try to be open to the possibilities.
- Animal visitations. Have you ever had a cat keep following you no matter how much you ignore it? Had a season inundated with butterflies, bunnies, or flys? Did you get a rat, racoon or mouse in your home? Most likely you could use a little guidance and an animal is here to help. You’ll know you’ve been visited because your interaction is obvious and personal. Many times the animal will continue to try and get your attention. I was actually punched in the gutt by a squirrel once…literally. If this happens – google “animal name + symbolism.” See what you find.
- Tree Wisdom. On a more surface level, when struck by the beauty or obsurity of a plant or tree you can google it’s deeper meaning just as you would an animal (ie. “magnolia symbolism”). A deeper means of connecting with trees is by laying hands on them. Each tree has a different personality and energy…and can be sources of learning. Approach the tree from the south, lay a hand on the bark and ask the tree if it’s open to communicating with you. Then hone into the tree’s energy. If you don’t get anything, try touching different places. Be open to a feeling, thought…anything. Some trees aren’t open, but most are…especially ones we are drawn to. If a tree communicates with you, make sure to thank it.
The next menu offering gives an idea so profoundly simple it borders on religious.
- Go barefoot outside. Grounding into the earth is one of the most profoundly natural things we as animals (yes, animals) can do. Yet, for many of us, this experience is literally intolerable. If you’re curious about this, you may need to start by sitting with your shoes off, and then by walking very short distances…building up over time.
Along this same line…
- Go swimming. Start in the pool, but then move into lakes and ocean. If the discomfort or fear of touching bottom is stopping you, allow yourself water shoes or sandals. Once you get to full submersion, you will feel a truly spiritual….ahhhh. Try to do this at least once a year. If you have the opportunity to skinny dip (swimming naked), it’s uncomfortably wonderful… and rebelliously sinful.
- Go on outdoor vacations and excursions. Too many of us are skipping vacations. Which do your crave, mountains or ocean? Get to it. Build up to the idea of camping. There are probably sites within an hour of your home, which are convenient and fun.
Let’s now move into the next course on the Nature Connection menu – food. My love affair with food and cooking has been compounding since my son was born three years ago. After long days of being a mommy, I savored time in the kitchen where I could focus and follow through on a project without interuption. Over time I’ve just followed my curiosity and cravings…awakening out of incremental levels of food ignorance.
- Find out fruit and vegetable seasons…and eat what’s in season. Like most, I seriously didn’t know when fruits and vegetables were in season - except corn and strawberries. Since apples are always in the store, I was a little fuzzy on that too. When a produce specialist told me that the apple I was buying came out of a food preservation locker…I put it back. I found over time that by eating in season, I had a greater anticipation about the calendar. When you only eat strawberries in spring and early summer…you really savor and appreciate them more. Freezing and preserving makes me feel like a pioneer.
- Read a book or watch a documentary on meat processing and/or processed foods. I know you don’t really want to do this. And even though it will be very disturbing and depressing, your spirit will thank you. Think of it as a culinary colonoscopy or mammogram, except a whole lot more interesting. I read Fast Food Nation… which realigned my thinking about food back to what is natural. When I realized my chicken had bigger breasts than I did, I got a little sick when it was served. Now I have a couple of different shopping sources for local meat and fish. It’s made me love my meat again.
- Honor your body’s yearnings. (different than stress cravings). Is your body wanting less meat? No meat? More meat? Fish? Switch off your convenience auto pilot button and listen.
- Start cooking more. Don’t be intimidated. Once familiar, most dinners only take 2o minutes. Know that most recipe books that tout convenience aren’t going to have the yummiest recipes. Most great chefs whip up dishes. People who love cooking, also love playing. Pour a cocktail or a glass of wine, relax and don’t be scared to screw up. Again, follow your body’s natural cravings…from tofu to butter.
- Shop at the Farmers Market.
- Grow some herbs and veggies at home. Herbs are the easiest since they’re fairly indestructible. Once comfortable you might consider a tomato plant. Have fun picking up a veggie plant from the nursery to stick where you have space. You don’t have to have a full vegetable garden. If you do want to grow more but don’t like hard labor, have a handy man build raised beds for you, or a landscaper to clear and till. Many people in my neighorhood with big trees in the back, have started growing in their front yards.
- Research a CSA. Community Sponsored Agriculture are small farms that offer seasonal subscriptions. Many drop your weekly bag of fresh vegetables off at your home or other location. If there isn’t a convenient drop off, talk to your employer, school or daycare about becoming one. What I love is that it gets us eating veggies out of our habitual zone and learning what’s in season.
- Get out to an actual farm. Go strawberry, blueberry, apple, pumpkin…picking. You’ll feel like a kid again. Then in time go to a local farm and begin to get familiar with what the plants or fruit trees look like. Most local farms would love to have you roam around. Find one to build a relationship with. Maybe its one that sells at your farmer’s market. Another idea is to be open to pulling over on country roads. If you see a crop you’ve never gotten close to before, get out so you can really look and touch.
Your love affair with food will naturally compound upon itself. The more you cook with grocery store herbs, the more curious you will be to experiment with fresh. Once you buy fresh, you become more comfortable with the idea of growing your own. In time you start noticing articles that pop up on which brand of canned tomatoes taste the best. You go on your first outing to the farmer’s market and are intimidated by the choices. You might not buy anything at first, but allow yourself to grow familiar with the setting. Later you go back and only buy what’s familiar. But your interest in cooking is further peaked. Processed and cheap take out doesn’t taste as good as it used to. Your neighbor tells you about a CSA, and it seems convenient. You get your first box with red russian kale in it. Cooking begins to feel more like an adventure. Over time, the more you cook, and with more fresh ingredients, the less tasty you find take out food… When you eat out less…you can then afford my last suggestion…
- Eat at better restaurants. Start eating your way up the restaurant quality food chain. The inspiration you’ll find will be well worth the money…that many of us can afford. Last year someone gave me a gift card to Red Lobster. I was shocked when I got the bill. I paid the same amount I do at a local restaurant run by a talented chef. Eating really good food will inspire your cooking, and get you craving better ingredients overall. The better you eat, the less you will eat out…which gives you more money to eat out well. Google restaurant reviews and only go to places that use the best ingredients. You’ll be surprised, one may be a local burger or bbq joint. A truly great burger will get you craving higher quality meat at home.
In sharing all these ideas with you, I now realize more specifically why my summer has been so great…
- I made homemade ranch dressing for the first time.
- I had a mind blowing meal of perfection, from which I went home and copied their fried green tomatoes, with homemade pimento cheese, dribbled in jalepeno glaze (all found on the web and completed together in a half hour).
- I tried to fly a kite for the first time in 35 years. It didn’t work, but I laughed my ass off in the process.
- I laid hands on an 800 year old tree, which blew my circuits…clearing my spiritual vision like a laser to cataracts.
- I spent less time on the deck and more time in the water when on vacation.
- I learned to infuse vodka with jalepenos and also fresh peaches.
- I’ve been strawberry, blueberry and apple picking.
- I laid weed guard paper under my mulch.
- With an irrigation system put in last year, I’m enjoying my time in the garden more.
- I’ve made an acquaintence with a chipmunk.
- Without worry to the electric bill, I crack my window open each night and fall asleep to the sounds of cicadas.
There is wonderment as to where my body’s and spirit’s cravings will take me. As I grow more aligned with nature, the universe just brings me more opportunities to go even deeper. Right now I have an aversion to eggs laid that don’t come from a grocery store. With a lift of a chicken ban, more of my neighbors have them, and are offering their eggs. When I went to the farm who sponsors my CSA, I felt totally ignornant in my inability to recognize 90% of what was in their fields. But, I’ve set the intention to change that in time. I literally get anxiety attacks when I walk barefoot outside for more than five minutes. This may be a few years in the coming or maybe it never will come. Instead maybe I’ll buy a bike and learn to cruise down the street, with wind in my hair, arms outstretched… Going no handed would be feel like flying. Pure unadultated joy…
Resources that may give you a push start (further) into your own exploration into our inherent habitat of nature… Only read, watch or explore what calls you… If none of it does, then set an intention and see what comes… (click any of interest for details).
The Last American Man, by Elizabeth Gilbert
Last Child in the Woods; Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. A great book even for those without kids.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingolver
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George (I know this is youth reading…but I somehow had a craving for it last year… I loved it all over again).
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All American Meal by Eric Schlosser (also made into a movie)
Food Inc Watch this free online via YouTube (also a book Edited by Karl Weber)
Super Size Me by Morgan Spulok. Watch this documentary teaser from YouTube and then search for more.
My Life in France by Julia Child. Julia’s unabated joy in cooking and life is absolutely contageous.
Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck. The intention these ladies had for this book was for it to be a cooking class. I’ve only done a fraction of the recipes…and am now totally able to cook freestyle. I will acknowlege my absolute unabashed love affair with butter. Butter has allowed my cooking to regularly be on par with restaurant quality.
www.Whats-Your-Sign.com My favorite source for discovering animal, plants, number… symbolism.
Timberwood Organics If you are local to the Triangle region of NC, you may want to take a look. They have drop offs around the area, and the veggies are cleaned for you. They send a weekly news email and are open for visitors out on the farm.