Joanne Muir is a master’s level nurse and certified yoga instructor. As a practitioner for many years, she brings breathwork and movement to our workshops and retreats that enhance the ability
to write from a centered and grounded place. Joanne’s writing is primarily personal journaling for insight, inspiration and clarity.
Listening to the Call of Mother Nature
by Joanne Muir, Friends for Survival member
I find myself putting one foot in front of the other, going through motions familiar but empty, devoid of life energy. I am here and my (loved one) is not. It is almost too much to bear.
It’s raining outside and I feel drawn by Mother Nature. She knows that it is time for tears. She calls me to go to the woods. I heed the call. Being in the woods in the rain provides wonderful solitude…no one is there, yet I do not feel alone.
The rain falls on the trees, the canopy protects me from getting soaked. It would not matter if I got soaked, though, not much matters today.
Turning my attention again I watch myself put one foot in front of the other and it is different here….I sense I am not separate from the Nature all around me, I am part of the Life all around me, I take in this life all around me. The trees as sentinel witnesses to all …the plants, the mushrooms, the path, the rocks, the smells of the woods in the rain, and me in my grief. Here, Mother Nature lets loose with the rain. I am surrounded by her tears, engulfed in them, held. I am crying, she is crying, we are crying together.
I walk, I cry, I am witnessed in my sadness and grief and surprised by peace, which someday might be joy but for now I am content to be consoled.
Printed with author’s permission. Written and dedicated in honor and
memory of my son, Daniel.