Tag: fitness

After Christmas:  Let Boxing Day be different

 

My mind is not noisy with desires…

And my heart has satisfied its longing.                                Psalm 131

 

As I write this, deep snow has settled on the evening of December 25th.  The Christmas shopping ritual has just ended.  On my car radio, among the tinny carols, I hear Van Morrison repeat a phrase from Poetic Champions Compose: non-attachment, non-attachment.

For those of us like me, who overspent again this year, and felt retail’s hollow afterthought where our spirit should have been, the song rings like an anthem for 2017.  Non-attachment is currently best known as a Zen way of thinking about the world without clinging to it, nor to our position in it.  Yet the above Psalm, quoted by Muslim, Jewish and Christian holy men, reveals that the idea of non-attachment continues in many other spiritual traditions.

As I quietly step in, brush off the snow and hang up my coat, I find solace in the silence.  Perhaps it’s not too late to find a new path for the holidays.  I live five minutes from a supermall, and the thought of returning there for Boxing Day shopping tomorrow sickens me.  So does the thought of plowing through all the excess food and gifted goodies in my kitchen.

Boxing Day is so named because, for hundreds of years, those who had plenty would distribute their extra food and clothes to the poor.  The idea of using this day for the prosperous to accumulate yet more, is relatively recent, a nightmare invented by retailers.

As I turn off the tree lights for the night, a thought comes to me.  My local YMCA is collecting food for local shelters and the town food bank. I remember that late on Christmas Eve, I noticed that, though we are one of the wealthiest communities in the country, the box was only half-full. Tomorrow afternoon, Dec. 26, is the time scheduled for the box to be sent out.  I can still make a difference!

I shrug off the fatigue I’ve been feeling from a day of too much food, too many gifts, and swing into action.  I find a large box of my own, and fill it with tinned soups, stews and all my extra boxed cookies and chocolate.  A clear recycling bag enables me to add the clothing I’ve received but don’t need.

I have a new plan for tomorrow now.  I’m going to bypass the mall, drop off my donation, and offer to help distribute to the needy.  As William Blake, the poetic conscience of the early Industrial Age, wrote:

“ You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.”

 

WHY WE NEED NATURE: 5 Fundamental Concepts

The Nature of Your Body

The body itself is a screen to shield and partially reveal

the light that is blazing inside your presence.

 

Each of us is born into Beauty,

But we need to be walking in a garden to see it.

-Rumi  (OHBW, p.27)
Imagine your body as an eco-system.  You marvel at its streams and waterfalls, would never dream of pouring poison into the play of its waters.  The longer you spend inside this place, the more you become aware of a delicate balance between parts, of how easily you might tear the carefully strung web.  Where you seek to nourish, you might weigh down and destroy.  You learn to touch carefully here, to tune your senses to a rhythm you could once barely perceive.

Or perhaps you prefer the image of your body as a treasured pet.  A pony, for instance, that you longed for as a child.  You clean and polish the bright skin so it will gleam like your dreams. You set free the strong spine and limbs to massage themselves often with joyful movement, never allowing sad stasis to take hold.  Together you and this loved creature dance as one being, as the interplay of two kinds of life.  You begin to feel that within his strength, there is a vision as creative as your mind’s, that his beating heart will carry you much further than you could go alone.

The lovely quotes at the start of this chapter are from the 14th century Sufi poet Rumi, whose words effortlessly lift the human body into unity with Nature and the spiritual power within. For thousands of years, aboriginal tribes and religious groups have sent members into the wild in the belief that this would be a growth experience for them.

Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and many other prophets have gone into outdoor isolation for a time.  They found a truth that was solitary, but would later benefit the world.  The coming-of-age Nature ritual has also been an important part of an adolescent’s life in many cultures, often with the young person’s name changing afterwards to reflect a truer understanding of the self.  Yet, as the Australian aboriginal “walkabout” proves, the transformational power of Nature can take place at any age.

From these examples, we learn that from many different world cultures, some have gone into Nature to contemplate spiritual unity.   In each case, Nature has the effect of therapy, and these people emerge not always as visionaries,  but often as empowered individuals with ideas that nourish their lives and those of their people for generations.

WHY WE NEED NATURE: 5 Fundamental Concepts 

These are the core ideas which have supported me in making my own Nature connection.

  1. We need to pay attention to our physical selves and the world around us to survive.

Despite technological changes in our outward manner of living, ours is not an Artificial Intelligence.  We have not evolved beyond our fundamental physical state.  We are creatures whose growth and wellness needs Nature as a reference point.

2. Psychologically, If we ignore our need for Nature,we develop a deep-seated unease.

If we remain unable to make meaningful contact with our natural needs and environment,  it will impact wellness and eventually health.

From instinct, we still reach toward our natural environment according to the drives we are born with.

As Michael Hyatt recently put it: “We are hard-wired for contact with Nature.”

3. Opening one’s life to include a relationship with Nature can assist healing and the achievement of lasting wellness.

This needs to be done gradually and according to one’s own pace.   It does not require rejecting your doctor, religious faith or medication.

4. At times of crisis, rather than becoming self-destructive, we can turn to unity with Nature to fortify our self-care.

As we move closer to understanding Nature, we learn to better appreciate and care for our own bodies, thereby becoming proactive about our health and wellness.

5. We can learn from people who have a powerful personal connection with Nature, such as aboriginals, prophets and nature writers.  We can then adapt what we learn to form our own unique, personal relationship with the Earth.