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Last week I talked about what I mean by be wild: “to live in a natural state. Not domesticated or tamed.”
At a certain point in my life, I realized that I had been domesticated or tamed and told to jump through certain hoops…that’s when I woke up and began to think about what I wanted to do with my life. That’s what I encourage everyone to do. To get back to their natural state…or as I like to say, “The way you were, before you were born.” One way I do that, is to take my daily walk. It’s my form of meditation. I just walk – and even though I may have thoughts, I just let them swirl and don’t attach to any one of them. I pay more attention to what’s around me. And often I see animals – and when I don’t – I just enjoy being in Nature. I’m a big fan of Animal Wisdom and look up any creatures I see in my book when I get home, to see what my “message for the day” is. Animal Wisdom is like a lot of other “sources of inspiration”, like the IChing or Taro Cards. To me these are all ways to connect to our own Higher Wisdom. After all, it is we who interpret the message! It’s often uncanny the messages you’ll receive, if you are willing to listen! Today was no exception! But my message didn’t come from an animal today. When I got home from my walk, I wanted to write in a journal, and looked for an old one with room to write in it. When I opened the little book, I saw something I had written years ago – describing the Tao philosophy of Nature! (Nature and being wild has been on my mind a lot lately, as you know!) This gave me pause to think that the main difference between human beings and “other” being/animals on the planet, is that we humans, have intention. We can project ourselves into the future, we can think about the past. We have goals. We want to do more than just survive…we want to thrive! |
All animals come “pre-programmed” for survival – including us! But humans take it a step further. We build our lives around thriving…because we want to do something more with our lives…not simply survive.
So what is an example of man-made or Nature with intention? Clothing! Clothing is cotton, with intention. Furniture is wood, with intention. There are a lot of beautiful things that can happen with intention. But sometimes, those intentions can get the best of us. They can take over. And just as Nature “wears a mask” in the form of clothing, we sometimes wear masks in our lives. The masks are appropriate in many ways. We can’t always be natural and vulnerable with everybody, all the time. Sometimes it just isn’t appropriate. But there are times when we need to get away from our everyday lives, from all our intentions – and “get back to Nature.” Why? Because when we are in Nature (which is “mask-less”) it gives us permission to take off our masks. It’s so rejuvenating to just relax and “let it be.” The Taoist philosophy says we need to “live life in accordance with the ways things already are.” And when we are in Nature, that’s what we do. So today I want to leave you with an invitation: GO OUTSIDE, take off your shoes, run around in the grass, and get back to Nature – get back to your Wild Side – get back to who you are, without the mask! (It’s OK…no one’s looking!) And if you really want to get wild…join me on the next Wild Thing Expedition! See you there! |
