Nature Speaks

Nature Speaks

After a difficult morning, I needed to go for a stroll to clear my head and revitalize my body.

I have a favorite path that I love to walk, but while I was heading in that direction, I impulsively turned and went a different way. I realized that in the many years I had lived in the village, I had gone this way only once or twice. I remembered that along the path I would find a wood bench inviting hikers to sit and enjoy the expansive landscape.

When I reached the bench I saw that the wood was rotting, the trees and bushes around it had grown a lot, and the branches had spread out so wide that they blocked the view. Nevertheless, I sat down to rest. Since I could no longer see the view, I experienced a moment of disappointment, but then I chose to open myself to see what else was there. What else could I perceive? What else wanted to show itself to me?

 Take a stone and show to everyone the sun that is inside.

Before me appeared a universe of different shapes and forms, and a variety of green shades I had not noticed. I felt and heard the wind, watched the sunrays play, enjoyed the busy ants and bugs, and it felt as if the birds were performing a symphony just for me. I became immersed in the present moment and freed from my own expectations. My body started to relax and I felt my heart and mind open up for something new.

I remembered a teacher telling me that if I needed an answer to a question, I could just look around myself—whether I was in a room, in nature, or someplace else—because, if I looked closely, I would always find an answer.

Whatever you look at carries in itself an answer to your question. Everything speaks to you at all times.

With these wise words, I kept walking the overgrown path. All kinds of new plants were wildly growing without restriction, and I had to watch where I put my feet. I was curious, and having left my expectations behind, it was nothing but a joyful experience. Now I was connecting my walk in nature with the present moment of my soul. Nature connected me to my soul.

As I reached the end of the path another memory came back. I remembered I would come to fields and pastures I could walk through, but, to my surprise, there was a fence blocking my way. For sure I did not want to walk back to my old path, so I looked around . . . and yes! Hidden behind some bushes I found a place where the fence was broken, and I climbed over with ease.

I decided to rest on an old borderstone. The year engraved on it showed that it was placed there long ago. I reflected on what nature had shown me. I could sense a widening in my consciousness, and with this widening, time lost all meaning. Everything around me seemed to vibrate differently. The atmosphere changed into a blissful state, and so did I.

I jumped off the borderstone, and as I turned, I instantly felt embraced by the vastness of an unexpected breathtaking view, more open and beautiful than the view I had tried to find at the bench. Time stood still. A sense of being one with the universe arose.

Could it be that by just adding a ‘pinch of soul’ to a stroll intended to clear my head had made this incredible connection to the earth and the universe?

Absolutely it did!

Walking the earth, being in the present moment with nature, and leaving my past and expectations behind, had made it possible for me to have this magnificent experience. I felt so gifted, so loved and cared for, so connected to my soul.

On my way back home two of the tiniest flowers smiled up at me—so sweet and tender. These tiny flowers were perfectly placed within the vastness of the universe. They called out to me to stop, bend down, and see their beauty. These darling flowers, so small that they could easily be overlooked, lovingly reminded me of the beauty of my own soul. They were speaking to me, letting me know that they generously beam their marvelous gifts of beauty to everyone, without preferences or rejections. They never hold back their beauty. What great teachers flowers are!

Flowers are the moment’s representations of things that are, in themselves, eternal.
—Sri Aurobindo

I remembered a lovely sign I had seen in a park years ago. Instead of the usual restrictive instruction Do Not Pick The Flowers, it said: Please allow the flowers to grow and blossom.

My sign for you says:

Please allow your soul to grow and blossom and let us see all of YOUR beauty.

Betty Kraus

Betty Kraus, Soultype 8, is a student in the NEATO Level 2 – New Equations Expansion program. Betty lives in Freiburg/Black Forest, Germany. She is a Spiritual Grandmother and healer, and offers seminars and transformative journeys in Europe and South-India.