Ever stared at a plant for a long period of time?
In 2 years of lockdown, the only thing I could do freely, was to look at the colour green. No matter where I walked, you just couldn’t miss the flora and fauna, smiling at us. They just kept on growing, no matter what was going on around us. It was fascinating to think about.
While we were locked up?
Mother nature was smiling down at us. Thriving, almost.
In my moments of disappointment, unease, and uncertainty, I would just stare out the window at my tiny back garden. At the weeds. At the palms and spiky yakkas. They all look still and beautiful. They were planted. Steady. Grounded even. Very peaceful in their own greenishness.
So, here’s the thing I discovered.
Plants have the power to grow and show resilience despite the chaos around us: remaining steadfastily clean and untouched. They bask in the sunshine. They give us oxygen. They remind us of new beginnings, and of life itself. In being planted and watered, their euphoric energy connects us back to our minds and spirits, enveloping us in its tranquility.
Plants remind me to be grounded. In this chapter, I wish to share with you how nature can bring us tranquillity and let us reconnect to our own thoughts and back to ourselves. It is in their stillness that allow us to sit, breathe and listen to our inner rhythms.
Are you a seed or a weed?
In fact, in the last year, I’ve adored my plants so much, that in lockdown, I discovered the joys of weeding in my back garden. Now, I had never seen a single weed in my life, let alone primp a garden before. And when I finally got the hang of bending down and digging the spade underneath the soil so I could remove their stubborn roots, I was amazed with what they actually looked like.
I couldn’t believe that what seems like just some plain looking shrubs on the outside, lies the driest, most shrivelled roots I have ever seen. Yet they were so stubborn to remove from the ground. Like pulling teeth. Like trying to drag a screaming toddler out of a supermarket aisle. These roots looked empty and frazzled, lacking any energy or substance. Just well, scraggly really.
So then I had a mindful thought about what nature was trying to tell me. About how we think, and about how our life choices come about by seed or weed thinking. Even if the world feels like it is crumbling around us. Even if we are grieving loss. We can either choose to bloom like a seed or stay stuck in the ground like a weed.
o you have thoughts that make you more evolved, that make you grow like a SEED, or is the quality of your thinking small, dry and looking a bit … erm … WEEDY?
Are you the seed … or are you the weed?
On our Odyssey, we are constantly being given the opportunity to think bigger. To get more evolved. Who are you choosing to be, or … how are you choosing to think?
Will you stay stuck in the ground, or will you choose to emerge and bloom
Why goddesses love nature
In ancient times, Goddesses were known to be magically connected to nature, feeling like the seasons had much to teach them about life itself.
So, what is it about nature and the outdoors that connects with our wellbeing?
Nature allows us to be ourselves. Nature calms and connects us back to who we truly are. It has the power to change us into something more wonderful, and more spectacular, than who we thought we were before. Every day, I like to get out in nature and go walking, looking up at the trees and to breathe in the air. In nature, I can stay uplifted and inspired by these things, for to me, where there is nature, there is magic. Through the seasons, nature swerves, evolves and changes regardless of us. It is the beautiful background of our lives, no matter where we live in the world. We cannot control it … nor do we wish to. So perhaps there is hope and beauty in that thought. Maybe life’s answers at the moment are in nature itself. Of its wonder. Of its secrets. To provide meaning in a world that craves it right now.
Island Girl
As a child, I understood this greatly. From the age of 3, I lived in San Juan, Puerto Rico, followed by moving to Montreal, Canada shortly after, where I experienced two very different sets of seasons. But I was enthralled all the same by what secrets they both shared with me … or so I imagined.
I quickly became the quintessential island girl.
The smell of the balmy sea air, the beautiful palm trees and the taste of raw coconuts all hold a special place in my heart. The turquoise ocean waters. The emerald grass. The light gold and brown sandy beaches were all infused within my precious island memories.
Days were spent at the pool and bustling around the hotel barefoot. Eating raw coconut for snacks. Watching cockroaches and crabs crawl menacingly around my feet at lunchtime in the downstairs restaurant. I was a dreamy child, engaged happily in my thoughts and my tropical surroundings, feeling grounded and connected to the beauty of nature that was starting to envelope my spirit. Like an early stage of wanderlust.
But one day, as I frolicked innocently around the hotel, something very strange happened. Something that forever remains ingrained in my memory.
One day, I decided to run off on my own for 3 hours. Somehow, I ended up at the beach, staring at the ocean. I took in the sun, the sea air, and was spellbound in my relaxation. The waves of the shore crashed and ebbed, and I breathed along with that soothing sound, in and out, in perfect rhythm. I don’t know how long I was there for, until my mother frantically found me. But all I know is, I was at ease, on the beach, alone, with the ocean sitting before me. Why was I so transfixed, and for so long, I do not know.
Why even today, is the ocean so powerful enough to draw us in so deeply to its sounds? Is it its thunderous roar? Its crashing waves? Why oh why does water pull us in, clear our senses and give us such serenity
The Ocean Invites Us In To Feel Its Power
The ocean has the power to keeps us spellbound, by crashing and ebbing its waves out to us, breathing out its supreme energy. We cannot help but breath along with that soothing sound, in and out, in perfect rhythm. This is the ocean connecting with us, inviting us to be enveloped by its vast mystical power.
The Ocean teaches us to also have a Purpose
The ocean is there to balance the earth and connect the world. To know your purpose means that you know your own strengths, and what direction you are meant to follow to achieve your goals. This brings us a sense of inner peace and self-love, to have the certainty of knowing your place in the world.
Winter Princess
A few years later, When I turned 6, my family moved to the Laurentians, an Alpine laden country town 1 hour north of Montreal, Quebec, in the eastern part of Canada. It was nothing short of a Winter Wonderland. Imagine my excitement of seeing snow for the very first time, in awe of its powdery beauty.
Looking out my window to find little snowy hills in our backyard! The excitement of putting on snowsuits. Of building snowmen. Of saying hello to Mother Nature’s magic – the essence of my childhood wonder & imagination. Very soon, White replaced aqua blue as the backdrop of my upbringing, of my new private Winter Wonderland.
Every morning, I was now a Winter Princess, saying greeting the icicles and snowflakes that would appear down my windowsill. While ice skating, I’d glide and swirl, imagining that if I could just go a little faster, that I could lift my wings and fly through the frosty air. And every time there was a storm, our home would be lovingly blanketed with white, and out I would be, lying in my front yard, waving my arms up and down in the snow, showing off my angelic wings.
Looking back on my childhood and adolescent years in Montreal, I’ve realised my Winter Wonderland was there to give me the grounding to build my inner confidence & strength. For it was there, in the cleansing of white, that I started building the blocks to becoming my own kind of Goddess – who could connect herself with environments that felt alive.
Much like the wintry Hygge Lifestyle, that, by the way, is now proven to heal our wellbeing!
What is Hygge?
The ’Hygge’ Lifestyle, is a Danish trend, that has now grown into a global phenomenon. The Hygge lifestyle is based on the art of creating ‘a mini ritual for people to enjoy friendship and the warmth of human company. Hygge (pronounced hyoo-guh) is a Danish word that loosely translates to “cosiness” or “comfort,” and it’s often used to describe a vibe or feeling that you’d get from snuggling indoors, despite living in freezing cold climates, such as the Northern European cities of Norway, Sweden, Denmark.
It can be safe to say, that the rituals of Hygge can soothe and comfort us, with its magical white winters.
So, what is it about the white of Hygge, of my White Wintery Wonderland, that I sensed was so soothing? That could weave its own kind of magic around me, in such a profound way?
White winters give us the power to be reflective
Instead of feeling bored & isolated in my room when there was a storm, I would seek peace in imagining I was a Winter Goddess, ushering in the powdered beauty before me. There is no greater thought than dreaming that you too can have the power to make beautiful things happen!
Where there is white, there is strength
When you start to question your life, or are seized by self-doubt or inner sadness, you only have to look at Mother Nature’s work for your answers. Whenever a billowing storm would recover a once cleared driveway, or footpath, I understood that it was nature’s way of showing us that it was only human to undergo inner changes too. Like the weather, we are constantly evolving, and that negative feelings, however big, can sometimes only be temporary. Tomorrow is always another day
If the tiniest of snowflakes has the right to sparkle, then so do YOU.
There were moments in life when I felt bullied or put down at school. At times, I actually felt my spirit shot. Wondering why I didn’t fit in, or wasn’t worthy of others. But again, the Wintry spirits always managed to uplift me from negativity. The answers were always outside my windowsill every single morning, as the sparkled ridden icicles and snowflakes would always appear. Showing me that it wasn’t about the ice, or the cold that really mattered- but about how they still sparkled. That if the tiniest of snowflakes have the power to sparkle, then so could I!
Mother Nature likes to breed her magic, in the most mysterious of ways. In winter, she throws her hand out to invite the harshest of conditions to us, so that we can conversely stay at home in comfort and warmth. She keeps families and friends together to connect & communicate and create gatherings of love. To give us family values that remain with us throughout life, so we always have somewhere to go to feel sparkly, safe & warm – on the inside or out.
