Supporting Community
11/06/2024
During this Autumn season of gathering, celebrating the harvest, and sharing stories of the day, we are reminded to take care of each other. Creating simple routines of daily self-care, from deep breathing to expressions of gratitude, enables us to spread care out into our communities.
Modern society tends towards isolation. Even with “social” media, we are isolated in our homes, our bubbles, in our phones, and our minds. Now more than ever, it is important to connect with our communities. Get outside, connect with nature, find a hiking club, a knitting club, a reading group, or a parenting coop, people with similar interests and ideals, values and goals.
Seek out something that brings people together for conversation and projects. What can a group accomplish that our singular households cannot?
Look to your community for support, look for those who need support.
Honoring the Dead
10/31/2024
As we move through the cycles of the year and of nature, it is fascinating to ponder the many holidays with similar seasonal themes that have developed over thousands of years of human experience worldwide.
This season, with the plants dying back, leaves falling from the trees, and the daylight hours growing shorter, brings a time of reflection and remembrance.
Many cultures honor ancestors this time of year. Our Korean friends shared that the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated around the Harvest Moon (usually September or early October), is when they traditionally take food and drink to the graveyards to honor loved ones who have passed on. When visiting an old family gravesite in Washington, my family takes time clearing weeds and tidying the area. There can be a soothing effect to this intentional honoring of those who came before us. I love these connections and similar expressions of remembrance all over the world.
Halloween, Samhain ("Sow-win"), and All Souls Day occur at the end of October and the beginning of November, a point halfway between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. It is seen as a key turning point, moving from the light of summer into the darker days of winter. During this time, when people often feel a closer connection to the dead, they can acknowledge the uncertainties and fears we hold around the spirit world and death, while also remembering and honoring those who have gone before.
The Mexican celebration honoring the dead, Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), begins November 1 and goes overnight into November 2. This celebration existed in ancient Aztec times with skull imagery and customs of bringing food and drink to graveyards in honor of the dead. Combined with All Souls Day by the Spanish Catholic conquistadors, it has evolved over time to include the elaborate parades, costumes, and sugar skulls we think of today.
For Día de Los Muertos, families create an altar or ofrenda in their homes with photos and objects that remind them of loved ones who have passed. Often, they place sugar skulls on the altar with the names of family members. These skulls can be decorated as humans or animals, with bright yellow and orange marigolds featuring prominently.
One year, my children and I made sugar skulls and placed them on our nature table. We honored our two cats that had died over the previous year. This was my girls' first experience with the death of loved ones and a good opportunity to add remembrance to our celebration. It is a lovely tradition that brings out the deeper meanings lost in our modern celebrations of Halloween.
What traditions do you have for remembrance and honoring the cycles of life and death?
Autumn - Season of Change
09/18/2024
Autumn Equinox is September 22, 2024!
This marks a point in the year - opposite to Spring - where days and nights are equal in length. With the leaves turning colors and falling to the ground, this time of year is a definite reminder that in life, as in nature, things are ever-changing.
Over the next weeks, for many of us, the final harvests will be made in our gardens. Those fall squashes and gourds are ready to become soups, pies, and festive decorations. A few flowering plants linger into the frost, but many are already dying back, adding to the compost of the earth to feed next year's growth.
Cool breezes replace the summer heat. This is a time of slowing down and taking time for ourselves. Congratulate yourself for dedicating some time to self-care this season and beyond!
What do you notice in this Season of Change?
This marks a point in the year - opposite to Spring - where days and nights are equal in length. With the leaves turning colors and falling to the ground, this time of year is a definite reminder that in life, as in nature, things are ever-changing.
Over the next weeks, for many of us, the final harvests will be made in our gardens. Those fall squashes and gourds are ready to become soups, pies, and festive decorations. A few flowering plants linger into the frost, but many are already dying back, adding to the compost of the earth to feed next year's growth.
Cool breezes replace the summer heat. This is a time of slowing down and taking time for ourselves. Congratulate yourself for dedicating some time to self-care this season and beyond!
What do you notice in this Season of Change?
Natural Cycles Design Certification
07/25/2024
This year, I had the opportunity to participate in a certification for teaching, learning, and living with the cycles of nature in a Designing with Natural Cycles Masterclass by Jon Young with several guest speakers. They took us around the wheel and the 8-Directions (click here for the simple version,) giving examples of practical applications from nature camps for children and adults, teaching and educational flow, wedding planning, corporate organization, and establishing peace and supportive roles in communities of all kinds. I have used these techniques and principles in my teaching for several years in herbal medicine, self-care, and veterinary topics, and I am excited to incorporate new ideas.
Every year in my Self-Care Through the Cycles of Nature course, I find ways to deepen this process and bring relevance to caring for ourselves, connecting with nature, and sharing those ideas in our communities and the world. Combining this with research and principles of self-care known to alleviate burnout and compassion fatigue, my intention is to facilitate caregivers in creating their own pathways to healing and resilience.
We live surrounded by these cycles, often oblivious to their influences and potential for healing. Simple activities and explorations can help to ground us and expand our perspectives, opening the possibilities for wonder, gratitude, curiosity, and caring that extend beyond ourselves to our children, elders, friends, and families.
Registration for the 9-month Self-Care course is open!
Sign up by August 15th to receive your gift packet in time for the September 1 starting date.
Every year in my Self-Care Through the Cycles of Nature course, I find ways to deepen this process and bring relevance to caring for ourselves, connecting with nature, and sharing those ideas in our communities and the world. Combining this with research and principles of self-care known to alleviate burnout and compassion fatigue, my intention is to facilitate caregivers in creating their own pathways to healing and resilience.
We live surrounded by these cycles, often oblivious to their influences and potential for healing. Simple activities and explorations can help to ground us and expand our perspectives, opening the possibilities for wonder, gratitude, curiosity, and caring that extend beyond ourselves to our children, elders, friends, and families.
Registration for the 9-month Self-Care course is open!
Sign up by August 15th to receive your gift packet in time for the September 1 starting date.
Free Mini Nature Journal Class
06/30/2024
Days 1-10 of the Mini Nature Journaling class are now available!
Starting on Summer Solstice, June 20, I have been uploading one journal prompt daily. There is a PDF sample journal for taking notes, and you can even create a mini journal if you are feeling crafty!
This has been a fun project for me. I am excited to share it and to spread some mindful connection to nature. Over 10 days we explore a variety of aspects of nature, each one opening up avenues for deeper dives into learning and appreciating the wonders of the outside world.
I happened to be visiting my 86-yr-old mother in Arizona during this time. She was an attentive student, sharing her observations every day, writing in her journal, and teaching me lessons she learned from her tracker father.
I see this project as something that can be shared with children or elders, family, and friends, to encourage people to get outdoors and experience our interconnections with nature.
This free class is available year-round.
Sign up any time!
Nature Connection for Therapy and Wellness
05/28/2024
Recently I had a veterinary appointment with a long-time client who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease a few years ago. She is still able to live at home with her partner and cat. She recognized us and understood why we were there in this familiar veterinary home visit that we have repeated for many years. She has difficulty finding words now, and conversation is limited, but our long-time connection helped her to be at ease.
We had a lovely conversation about the birds at her feeder. As she was telling me about a bird she had seen, she pointed and said, “That one but more red.” I supplied the words – cardinal, red male – and she said “YES!” with a big smile as the words and thoughts returned for a bit. She told me how much she loves birds and horses, which we have always talked about on our visits. And she mimed and pointed to her favorite things in her garden. She has a lifetime of nature connection that she is pulling from, and it continues to bring her joy. The way her partner intentionally provides these opportunities for interaction with the world around her and stimulation for conversation is beautiful.
My father had Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia and was in memory care for the last part of his life. He was also a nature lover and the facility provided visiting goats and horses along with a raised herb garden perfect for wheelchair access. He enjoyed exploring the plants and interacting with the animals, even when human interactions became more challenging.
Nature connection, for many of us, is a balm, a salve for our wounds inside and out. I find that intentionally developing a deeper connection to nature and an understanding of the interrelationships we have with all living things feeds my soul. In times of difficulty, the comfort of that larger world is there to reassure that nature is tenacious, life returns, possibly in a different form, and it is worth protecting, nurturing, and connecting with. Creating natural areas for elders and children, in workplaces and homes, and preserving wild areas for our fellow beings is a satisfying way to care for ourselves and others.
What Nature do you Nurture?
We had a lovely conversation about the birds at her feeder. As she was telling me about a bird she had seen, she pointed and said, “That one but more red.” I supplied the words – cardinal, red male – and she said “YES!” with a big smile as the words and thoughts returned for a bit. She told me how much she loves birds and horses, which we have always talked about on our visits. And she mimed and pointed to her favorite things in her garden. She has a lifetime of nature connection that she is pulling from, and it continues to bring her joy. The way her partner intentionally provides these opportunities for interaction with the world around her and stimulation for conversation is beautiful.
My father had Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia and was in memory care for the last part of his life. He was also a nature lover and the facility provided visiting goats and horses along with a raised herb garden perfect for wheelchair access. He enjoyed exploring the plants and interacting with the animals, even when human interactions became more challenging.
Nature connection, for many of us, is a balm, a salve for our wounds inside and out. I find that intentionally developing a deeper connection to nature and an understanding of the interrelationships we have with all living things feeds my soul. In times of difficulty, the comfort of that larger world is there to reassure that nature is tenacious, life returns, possibly in a different form, and it is worth protecting, nurturing, and connecting with. Creating natural areas for elders and children, in workplaces and homes, and preserving wild areas for our fellow beings is a satisfying way to care for ourselves and others.
What Nature do you Nurture?
Spring Awakening!
03/25/2024
Living in a place where the winters are well-defined, dormant, cold, and requiring a completely different wardrobe to go outside, the coming of Spring is a magical time. Since moving to Iowa from Arizona 26 years ago, Springtime has brought a feeling of rebirth after the previously unimaginable cold of winter.
My childhood winters meant maybe putting on a jacket and wearing pants. Fifty degrees Fahrenheit was chilly, and we Desert Rats complained. Snow was a twice-in-a-lifetime fairy-like experience that was gone within a few hours.
Returning to Arizona, I have an enhanced appreciation for the spring wildflowers, including the California poppies that appear in special places, some years en mass. The Palo Verde trees that cover the landscape in splotches of tiny yellow flowers and the many cacti in bloom were always pretty, but now they hold a unique place in my childhood memories. I didn’t realize how unusual Saguaro cacti were and how grand their blooms and fruits were until moving away. Like the cornfields in Iowa, Saguaro were the sign that we were almost home at the end of a road trip.
Springtime can be subtle in places where the temperatures stay mostly above freezing. There are still spring flowers, baby animals, and migrating birds. The signs of Spring are there if you look for them!
What is sprouting where you live?
Welcome New Year!
01/10/2024
It is exciting to move into a new year that is fresh and clean and full of possibilities. What tracks do you want to make in the sand in the coming year?
I like to approach the New Year with gentle positive intentions rather than rigid or restrictive Resolutions that are hard to keep. It feels more supportive and stays with me longer to have a positive focus or a single word that inspires me.
The word Curiosity has been with me for the last few years as I learn to navigate a new phase in life. It has helped me to stay open to possibilities and to find ways to thrive in my own way.
Self-improvement is a lifelong project that requires kindness and compassion at least as much as commitment.
What lessons did you learn in 2023? What would you like to see in your future? What are you curious about?
Check out my new course for reflection, review, and renewal - Planning with the Seasons
Happy Winter Holidays!
12/20/2023
Midwinter's day is upon us - December 21st is the Winter Solstice! It is the shortest, darkest day in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the day that we turn the corner and start heading back into the light of spring and summer.
The winter season is full of holidays that bring light into the cold, dark days. It is fascinating to me how many cultures have traditions of winter celebrations that center on light, fire, candles, and stars. Our ancestors all over the world lived in close connection with nature and the changing of the seasons. They felt the cold and darkness more deeply than those of us with shelter, food, and electricity. Those sparks of light must have been inspiring, bringing the promise of warmer, brighter days to come.
This winter I am grateful for the comforts of home and connections with friends, family, and nature. It concerns me that in our modern, enlightened world there are still people who do not have those simple needs met. I find myself sending out a message of love in hopes that it will land where it is needed.
However you may be celebrating this year, whether lighting a candle on your own, or reveling with others, I wish you Peace and Love!
Finding Compassion Through Gratitude
11/22/2023
Gratitude is a powerful way to combat feelings of overwhelm, anxiety, and depression. It has been proven to help lower heart rate and blood pressure, reduce stress, and improve sleep. Even knowing all those benefits, the act of finding something to be grateful for can be challenging when things feel hopeless. Sometimes all it takes is a smile from a person at the grocery store or a hint of birdsong through the trees.
Gratitude is not a form of “toxic positivity.” It does not gloss over the horrible things happening around us. In fact, expressing gratitude can be a conscious effort not to be blinded by the trauma of all the imperfections and negative images surrounding us. It helps us to see beyond to the good that is still out there quietly carrying on.
Around the world, people are persecuted, treated unfairly, and judged for who they are, whether it is their race, culture, sex, sexual orientation, religion, or other differences. Understanding that there is past trauma and hurt behind so much of this behavior can help but does not excuse it. Focusing on these differences removes the humanity, the connections, and the feelings we all share.
I do not pretend to understand the complexities of political and historical injustices. It is painful to witness and of course so much more painful for those personally affected. It is important to acknowledge that grief and loss and not to brush over it.
Witnessing so much struggle is exhausting. This lack of compassion spreads to the earth and impacts the treatment of animals, plants, and the environment. People just don’t seem to have the strength to care. It feels like a global case of compassion fatigue that affects our home and our living conditions as it impacts all the other creatures on this warming planet.
What can we as individuals do? How can we cultivate compassion for the earth and for our fellow human beings?
Acknowledging our own feelings of trauma, past experiences, and grief is a place to start. If we hold these feelings in, they can fester and explode causing more trauma and destruction. Self-compassion for all that we have been through can reduce some of that strain. It may not be necessary or helpful to re-live these experiences, only to recognize that they occurred in the past. This can be a difficult process and therapy is highly recommended to help support and guide this self-exploration. We may not be able to change the world on our own, but we can work to improve our personal sense of peace through practicing self-compassion and bringing moments of gratitude into our everyday lives.
I certainly have my own pains and struggles. It is nothing like what is being experienced in large parts of the world. I can only be witness to this greater pain, to listen, to try my best to understand and see the many perspectives that complicate and yet also enrich our existence.
Gratitude is a way of seeing through all this conflict and negativity. Seeking out the beauty and compassion that still exists - the constants as we continue our daily journey around the sun. For me, connecting with nature brings me back to what is real. The basic building blocks of life are all around us. Yes, there is conflict, predation, and destruction in nature, but there is also creation, rebirth, and beauty. Humans can be excessively destructive. We also have the power for incredible innovation and creation. To see both sides and seek that counterbalance to the constant negative news cycles brings me hope and is a reminder of the possibilities for new growth.
Gratitude brings us back to the present moment, providing a break from concerns of the past or future. With gratitude comes compassion and connection, something this world could use more of. Sharing feelings of appreciation can go a long way to planting seeds of peace in our communities and greater circles.
As we move into the holiday season, I am grateful for the support of friends and family, the beauty and interconnectedness of the natural world that helps to keep me grounded, and the possibilities of expanding my knowledge and experiences in this wonderful life.
Wishing you gratitude in this season of introspection. May we all find more wisdom, compassion, and understanding.
Gratitude is not a form of “toxic positivity.” It does not gloss over the horrible things happening around us. In fact, expressing gratitude can be a conscious effort not to be blinded by the trauma of all the imperfections and negative images surrounding us. It helps us to see beyond to the good that is still out there quietly carrying on.
Around the world, people are persecuted, treated unfairly, and judged for who they are, whether it is their race, culture, sex, sexual orientation, religion, or other differences. Understanding that there is past trauma and hurt behind so much of this behavior can help but does not excuse it. Focusing on these differences removes the humanity, the connections, and the feelings we all share.
I do not pretend to understand the complexities of political and historical injustices. It is painful to witness and of course so much more painful for those personally affected. It is important to acknowledge that grief and loss and not to brush over it.
Witnessing so much struggle is exhausting. This lack of compassion spreads to the earth and impacts the treatment of animals, plants, and the environment. People just don’t seem to have the strength to care. It feels like a global case of compassion fatigue that affects our home and our living conditions as it impacts all the other creatures on this warming planet.
What can we as individuals do? How can we cultivate compassion for the earth and for our fellow human beings?
Acknowledging our own feelings of trauma, past experiences, and grief is a place to start. If we hold these feelings in, they can fester and explode causing more trauma and destruction. Self-compassion for all that we have been through can reduce some of that strain. It may not be necessary or helpful to re-live these experiences, only to recognize that they occurred in the past. This can be a difficult process and therapy is highly recommended to help support and guide this self-exploration. We may not be able to change the world on our own, but we can work to improve our personal sense of peace through practicing self-compassion and bringing moments of gratitude into our everyday lives.
I certainly have my own pains and struggles. It is nothing like what is being experienced in large parts of the world. I can only be witness to this greater pain, to listen, to try my best to understand and see the many perspectives that complicate and yet also enrich our existence.
Gratitude is a way of seeing through all this conflict and negativity. Seeking out the beauty and compassion that still exists - the constants as we continue our daily journey around the sun. For me, connecting with nature brings me back to what is real. The basic building blocks of life are all around us. Yes, there is conflict, predation, and destruction in nature, but there is also creation, rebirth, and beauty. Humans can be excessively destructive. We also have the power for incredible innovation and creation. To see both sides and seek that counterbalance to the constant negative news cycles brings me hope and is a reminder of the possibilities for new growth.
Gratitude brings us back to the present moment, providing a break from concerns of the past or future. With gratitude comes compassion and connection, something this world could use more of. Sharing feelings of appreciation can go a long way to planting seeds of peace in our communities and greater circles.
As we move into the holiday season, I am grateful for the support of friends and family, the beauty and interconnectedness of the natural world that helps to keep me grounded, and the possibilities of expanding my knowledge and experiences in this wonderful life.
Wishing you gratitude in this season of introspection. May we all find more wisdom, compassion, and understanding.
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