mother nature
october 8 | weekly warm-up
image by: @peterlaster
Write a love letter to nature. After you write your love letter, look for the parallels and disconnects you notice between your reflection on nature and your perspective on your own life. In what ways, when you are writing about they sky, are you also writing about yourself? You can ask yourself, when you are writing about your favorite animal, what truths are you also revealing about yourself? How do your cultural background, personal beliefs and history inform what you say?
Experiment with using figurative language to describe the connections between human nature and the universe we call home.
The letter-writing series may have brought up some painful experiences and difficult emotions for you. This week, I wanted to share an exercise to foster some healing. Writing about nature can evoke wonder and gratitude and reverence, so let’s explore this approach and end this series on a hopeful note.
Our inspiration is a letter, actually there’s a collection of ten love letters that you can read, written by Thich Nhat Hanh. I’m sharing just one of the love letters below.
Thich Nhat Hanh was a Vietnamese Buddhist and one of the world's most influential zen masters, who campaigned for peace and the practice of mindfulness meditation. He was also a moving storyteller and creative inspiration in his own right, his body of literary works rich with the influence of his spiritual beliefs and full of figurative language that bring intangible sentiments to life.
As you read Hanh’s letter below and think about writing your own, keep in mind that often what you think you are writing about is just the tip of the iceberg. After you write your love letter, look for the parallels and disconnects you notice between your reflection on nature and your perspective on your own life. Because we are all made of the same divine stuff as everything in nature. So, in what ways, when you are writing about they sky, are you also writing about yourself? You can ask yourself, when you are writing about your favorite animal, what truths are you also revealing about yourself? How do your cultural background, personal beliefs and history inform what you say?
. . .
Letter #1: Beloved Mother of All Things
Dear Mother Earth,
I bow my head before you as I look deeply and recognize that you are present in me and that I’m a part of you. I was born from you and you are always present, offering me everything I need for my nourishment and growth. My mother, my father, and all my ancestors are also your children. We breathe your fresh air. We drink your clear water. We eat your nourishing food. Your herbs heal us when we’re sick.
You are the mother of all beings. I call you by the human name Mother and yet I know your mothering nature is more vast and ancient than humankind. We are just one young species of your many children. All the millions of other species who live—or have lived—on Earth are also your children. You aren’t a person, but I know you are not less than a person either. You are a living breathing being in the form of a planet.
Each species has its own language, yet as our Mother you can understand us all. That is why you can hear me today as I open my heart to you and offer you my prayer.
Dear Mother, wherever there is soil, water, rock or air, you are there, nourishing me and giving me life. You are present in every cell of my body. My physical body is your physical body, and just as the sun and stars are present in you, they are also present in me. You are not outside of me and I am not outside of you. You are more than just my environment. You are nothing less than myself.
I promise to keep the awareness alive that you are always in me, and I am always in you. I promise to be aware that your health and well-being is my own health and well-being. I know I need to keep this awareness alive in me for us both to be peaceful, happy, healthy, and strong.
Sometimes I forget. Lost in the confusions and worries of daily life, I forget that my body is your body, and sometimes even forget that I have a body at all. Unaware of the presence of my body and the beautiful planet around me and within me, I’m unable to cherish and celebrate the precious gift of life you have given me. Dear Mother, my deep wish is to wake up to the miracle of life. I promise to train myself to be present for myself, my life, and for you in every moment. I know that my true presence is the best gift I can offer to you, the one I love.