Summer Lessons, Gifts, and Blessings

I am lucky to live in Monmouth County, New Jersey, where parks and nature are abundant, reminding me of the lessons, gifts, and sacred blessings Mother Earth brings us each day. In Chinese medicine we are considered the bridge between heaven and earth. Trees that inhabit the environment around me demonstrate this — they are deeply rooted in earth while they reach up through their long, tall bodies for light from the sun above. My lesson this summer is a recurrent theme: make time to go outside and “be” in nature, reconnecting with my heart and my human nature.

The other day I passed a farm where sunflowers were growing. I stopped and remembered my intention to “be” in nature and receive her gifts. The sunflowers, like the tall trees, were rooted and reaching toward the sun, their height, strong stems, and beauty a true feat of nature. These tall blossoming wonders reflected Mother Nature’s harvest. Their bright yellow blossoms and seed-studded centers give us delicious sunflower seeds, rich in selenium, magnesium, and vitamin E, and provide food for the huge variety of birds that inhabit our environment.

The sunflowers’ strong stems reminded me of what keeps me spiritually strong, grounded, and connected — meditation, mindfulness, movement and dance, music, nourishing whole foods, drinking lots of water, family, heart-and-soul friends, play, laughter, and giving and receiving love, service, kindness, and compassionate presence. Self-care practices are the sunshine, water, and tending that keep me strong, nourished, and in alignment between heaven and Earth. They help me to consciously walk the mystical path with practical feet. My lesson and challenge is to use and “be” with these practices to remember, when I forget, who and what I really am.

What lessons and insights have you become aware of this summer? What Self-care practices do you use to nourish and tend your heart and soul?