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Welcome! This is a place to share how we celebrate & deepen our relationship to Nature. Here you will find stories, images, & ideas about wilderness, human nature, & soulfulness. Drawing from the experiences of everyday living, the topics on this blog include: forays into the natural world, the writing life, community service, meditation, creativity, grief & loss, inspiration, & whatever else emerges from these. I invite you on this exploration of the wild within & outside of us: the inner/outer landscape.



Friday, June 12, 2020

Anew

             I found this piece from a year ago. As I reread it, I noted how it doesn’t take every one 

of these listed items in order to have a “conversion” (change of heart, inspired moment, greater sense of wholeness, refreshed perspective…). All it takes is one small noticing – with deep presence … a dragonfly passing by your window, a shift of breeze, sunlight as warmth, shade for respite. When I write "conversion," I'm not intending that a beautiful moment in nature is a cure-all for the huge, protracted issues we face personally, systemically, globally. But I do suggest that we need to refill our inner well in order to continue on the paths of service to which we are called; nature's healing power can offer that to us. 

 

the thick scent of wet Earth: conversion experience anew


banana slug on path

the perfectly-rolled, dried-up maple leaf and the other huge, perfectly-flat-open, supple 

maple leaf

two dozen fat figs ripening on the branches

aching muscles and heaving breath from trail-running

a breeze that suddenly arises, strong, and then quickly fades

the squirrel on the tree trunk who screeches loudly as we pass by

garden lettuce and strawberries warmed by the sun picked sixty seconds ago and now in 

my dinner bowl 

            fresh moss in piles along the edges

            a sage-green, agate-white, mousse-black wad of lichen

            fur-fortified coyote scat

            thin threads of redcedar bark, vertical bliss climbing high overhead

two halves of a day stereotypically blue sky, white clouds, green fir trees, yellow sun: 

cleaved by an abrupt torrent of chunky rain for thirty-two minutes

rose petals, snapdragons, peonies, lilies, petunias

and one hairy bee climbing inside pansy after pansy, emerging from each with 

ever-thicker golden pollen-socks


the sweet images of burgeoning Earth: conversion experience anew


Having read this, may you consider how you can take a moment for yourself to rest 

briefly in the healing world of nature. 





All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2020 Jennifer J. Wilhoit/TEALarbor stories. All Rights Reserved."