Messages From Nature

Each morning this past school year, my kids and I enjoyed taking a walk as a way to balance our school day with time outside.  Not only did this provide us a chance for great conversations, it also gave us the opportunity to observe the messengers of the natural world around us.  

Have you ever strolled along the beach, when suddenly you stumbled upon a beautiful shell or perhaps a feather at the exact moment you were thinking about someone or something special?  Sometimes our lives keep us so busy that we forget to notice the subtle support and active relationship that nature has with us.  In first century BC, Cicero wrote, "Everything is alive; everything is interconnected."  The idea that we, as humans, are part of a larger picture or web of interconnection is ancient wisdom that has been passed down through cultures for many millennium.

Systemic constellation is most often used to explore the disconnection in a family system, but can also be applied to our connection or disconnection to nature and the larger system that we are all a part of--the web of life.  In 2015, I had the pleasure of attending a weekend workshop focusing on Nature Constellations with Francesca Mason Boring, facilitator and author of several books including Returning to Membership in Earth Community: Systemic Constellations with Nature.  It was fascinating to see the support and desire for harmony from all aspects of nature that surround us.  I learned the key is to be open to seeing these aspects of nature as relations, like family, to us in the larger web of life on Earth.  Chief Seattle reminds us, "Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect."  I invite you to reflect this month on your connection to nature and the support it provides for you each and every day.

This month, in our mini-constellation exercise we will explore our relationship to nature and the messages it has for us.  ​​

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