Life lessons from nature

I love to write about going to Nature School.  Equally as much as I value the spirits and forces in nature who guide my Journey Oracle readings.

Here are four life lessons from the wild creatures and places who are my teachers.  Each lesson at first may sound peculiar, but I am sure you will find its deeper meaning as soon as you go outside.  I am illustrating these lessons with my acrylic paintings, whose images are often the final exam showing that I have understood the teaching.

Everything needs a house and food to eat.

We all need a home where we can be sheltered from what makes us too cold and too hot.  We all need to rest in a safe place, and have food that nourishes us.  We all need to sustain that which defines us.

Even the stones, which so many humans do not think of as alive, need stability and moderation where their eon-spanning lifetimes might unfold in peace.

Being out of phase is dangerous.

We all need to be living according to our nature. The predator is tuned to notice the creature who is behaving "out of phase," that is, out of its true nature.

When the deer places each hoof separately so that not even the scent of a crushed flower betrays the dappled secret of the deer's presence to the wolf, then the deer is living according to its nature.

Never show off.

For every intention and its action there is a goodness of fit.  Too much is still too much--even of a good thing.

While we are enthralled of our moment, we can never be certain who is watching.  And someone is always watching.

There is no word for "it."

Nature has no generic words for its wild creatures and places.  There are no trees or ponds.  There is this particular tree with its special name.  "The-one-with-leaves-moving-like-green-lightening" when the light is shining at just this angle.

 There is this particular watery place whose name is Face-wearing-patterns-of-gold.

Thinking in abstract categories about the myriad beings that share the earth with us reflects a flawed grasp of the power of names.  As indigenous people have always known, the Mystery can only be repeated--in story, song and sacred drama--it can never be labeled or explained.