A Bird in the Bush
Our Challenges Can Set Us Free
Have you ever watched a pool of water form in the woods? Slowly but surely after heavy periods of rain, the natural blockages in the landscape dam up the flow of water and become a puddle, pond or a big muddy mess.
You could look at this mud puddle or pool as something out of place or a problem, or you could view it as some needed change. Maybe it is a vernal pool that emerges temporarily to allow new salamanders to hatch and thrive. Or maybe this temporary flood will nourish a seed that has laid dormant and needed to be inundated in order to finally sprout, flower and fruit.
Leaving the tender arms of Mother Nature and re-entering civilization can feel more like the muddy mess. But maybe, just maybe, there is something beautiful that awaits.
Density Harshes My Mellow
After two glorious weeks in stillness and allowing, it was time to move on. My son and I made our way to Fahnestock State Park to enjoy the Taconic region of southern New York while wiling away the days awaiting the return of my wife from Florida.
On the drive from the rural recesses of central New York to a park on the outer edges of the greater New York City Metropolitan area, the energy seemed to change dramatically. This had negative effects on my nervous system. I became stiffer and much more tense and driving a 24-foot long RV somehow became a task of seemingly mythic proportions.
The RV is also a little over ten feet tall and not a passenger car, and so when my GPS led me to the Taconic Parkway which is a cars-only road with a never ending stream of short bridges and overpasses less than 10 feet tall, I had to take quick and evasive action. Needless to say, my system overloaded.
When you reach peak coping capacity, all of the little things that seem to irritate you come to the fore. My love’s return, camping next to a primordial pond and playing in the woods did not quite alleviate the stress I felt. I was all blocked up and every little bump seemed to set me off.
Taking a Deep Breath
Have you ever been so stressed out that you actually forget to breathe? When you come back to yourself and finally take that first conscious breath, it feels like you are being born again. It’s like you are re-emerging from the womb and letting out that gigantic scream that announces to the world that you are here and very much alive.
There were little cues that I was not breathing - those little gasps that emerged. And as the energy built and built, I was close to popping.
What helped? It was beginning to see those blockages and stressors as a gift rather than something to be pushed away.
A long, sweaty walk in the urban jungle with my boo in which we were called to explore nooks and crannies behind strip malls along the way and found magic in everything – even dumpsters.
Grumpily spending the night in a Walmart parking lot because we were too tired to drive further, and being amazed on a stroll around the parking lot at dawn as at least a dozen different birds reveled in the new day.
Leaving the city too late once again to make our next campsite and choosing a rural parking area enroute to sleep at, only to arrive and discover that it was more serene and beautiful than almost anywhere we had visited thus far on our adventures.
These were the tiny openings to a more dynamic life.
Inhale – Exhale – Freedom
As I drifted off to sleep in that delightful parking area, I took a deep breath for the first time in over a week and felt held in the arms of Mother Nature.
In the morning, I awoke fresh and with a renewed spirit. Just after dawn, I tiptoed out of the RV and into a dew-filled field taking in the dawn chorus. I was tingling all over and felt electric. It was as if that life giving breath transformed my darkest fears and stress into the most mystical of gifts.
I slowly circled the field completely immersed in the majesty of aliveness. Through the wonder of it all, an unfamiliar song caught my attention. I felt called to witness this magnificent being. All of my sense cracked wide open as I stared at a dense bush teeming with verdant growth from which the sound was emanating. Suddenly an unfamiliar thrush emerged to say “hi.”
We locked eyes and hearts and maybe souls as I/we experienced the unity of all being. We just took each other in for what seemed like an eternity. And then time unfroze as we each returned to our own selves again and went along with our day. He was a Swainson’s Thrush and was truly magical.
These are the gifts that are always available to us in nature. If we look closely enough we can see our internal world reflected outside of us. When we come to see our struggles and shortcomings as an opportunity to be more fully alive, we can live a more dynamic life in tune with nature. That connection, can set us free.