Sharing Nature Meditation 2
On the Power of Stopping and Sitting Quietly, and All Flowers Talk to Me.
On the Power of Stopping and Sitting Quietly
If you will sit motionless for 20 to 30 minutes or longer, the natural world will once again return to its normal, harmonious routine. As you quietly melt into the landscape, its inhabitants will come to accept you. Your peace and joy will grow as you become part of their lives and world.
One of my most endearing nature encounters happened one spring afternoon in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I had been sitting peacefully enjoying the forest stillness. Thirty feet away, two young pine martens poked their heads out of their den. (Pine martens are weasels, about the size of a small domestic cat.)
The martens were only a couple of months old and very inquisitive. At first they were cautious about leaving the safety of their den, but soon they lost their fear and began wrestling and chasing each other.
One of them finally noticed me, and with curiosity overcoming its native caution, came forward to find out what I was. The other young marten followed, stopped, and gazed intently at me from just a few feet away. Meanwhile, the braver and more inquisitive one came right up and began sniffing my left leg.
Mother, who apparently had been busy elsewhere, came back at this moment and was greatly alarmed to see her offspring so close to me. She rushed forward, barked a come home at once!, and herded her two kits into the den.
I was profoundly moved by the innocent trust of those two young pine martens, and by the joy I felt when looking into their beautiful, curious eyes. I’m sure I was the first human they had seen.
Their lack of fear deeply touched my heart and made our meeting all the more memorable. I would never have felt such a bond with the martens—or probably even seen them—had I not stopped and sat quietly in marten’s forest glade for a long time.
All Flowers Talk to Me...
“The hours when the mind is absorbed by beauty are the only hours when we really live.” — Richard Jefferies
When George Washington Carver was a little boy, his older brother, Jim—seeing George cultivating some yellow roses—asked him, “What are you doing to them flowers?”
“Loving them,” replied little George guilelessly.
George Carver grew up to become a renowned scientist, educator, and inventor. Throughout his adult life, he continued his boyhood practice of loving and talking to plants. He said, “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station…If You Love It Enough, Anything Will Talk to You...All flowers talk to me and so do hundreds of little things in the woods.”
1. Observe a plant or animal and note its special qualities, and offer your love and appreciative thoughts to it.
2. Continue to mentally converse with your companion, if only for a little while.
3. Please feel free to make notes in your journal about your experiences.
On the Power of Stopping and Sitting Quietly, and All Flowers Talk to Me.
On the Power of Stopping and Sitting Quietly
If you will sit motionless for 20 to 30 minutes or longer, the natural world will once again return to its normal, harmonious routine. As you quietly melt into the landscape, its inhabitants will come to accept you. Your peace and joy will grow as you become part of their lives and world.
One of my most endearing nature encounters happened one spring afternoon in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I had been sitting peacefully enjoying the forest stillness. Thirty feet away, two young pine martens poked their heads out of their den. (Pine martens are weasels, about the size of a small domestic cat.)
The martens were only a couple of months old and very inquisitive. At first they were cautious about leaving the safety of their den, but soon they lost their fear and began wrestling and chasing each other.
One of them finally noticed me, and with curiosity overcoming its native caution, came forward to find out what I was. The other young marten followed, stopped, and gazed intently at me from just a few feet away. Meanwhile, the braver and more inquisitive one came right up and began sniffing my left leg.
Mother, who apparently had been busy elsewhere, came back at this moment and was greatly alarmed to see her offspring so close to me. She rushed forward, barked a come home at once!, and herded her two kits into the den.
I was profoundly moved by the innocent trust of those two young pine martens, and by the joy I felt when looking into their beautiful, curious eyes. I’m sure I was the first human they had seen.
Their lack of fear deeply touched my heart and made our meeting all the more memorable. I would never have felt such a bond with the martens—or probably even seen them—had I not stopped and sat quietly in marten’s forest glade for a long time.
All Flowers Talk to Me...
“The hours when the mind is absorbed by beauty are the only hours when we really live.” — Richard Jefferies
When George Washington Carver was a little boy, his older brother, Jim—seeing George cultivating some yellow roses—asked him, “What are you doing to them flowers?”
“Loving them,” replied little George guilelessly.
George Carver grew up to become a renowned scientist, educator, and inventor. Throughout his adult life, he continued his boyhood practice of loving and talking to plants. He said, “I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station…If You Love It Enough, Anything Will Talk to You...All flowers talk to me and so do hundreds of little things in the woods.”
1. Observe a plant or animal and note its special qualities, and offer your love and appreciative thoughts to it.
2. Continue to mentally converse with your companion, if only for a little while.
3. Please feel free to make notes in your journal about your experiences.
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