This Sense-sational Life is a blogging series that explores the senses as a way of cultivating a more mindful, connected life. This post features guest blogger Amy Putkonen, the heart and soul behind Tao Te Ching Daily. I am thrilled to know Amy. She and I are working on the upcoming Soulfully Connected Telesummit that goes live at the end of September!
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A Sense of Nature with Amy Putkonen
In our modern urban lifestyles, there is something missing.
Although we have all of the modern conveniences, we are missing a deep understanding of the natural world. We mostly live indoors. We often don’t know where our food comes from. We forget to look up at the moon, or notice when its full. There’s a void, an emptiness. We have that feeling that something is missing…
We are lacking a sense of nature.
Developing a sense of nature is important for our spirit. When we go outside, when we breath in the fresh oxygen in a forest, or we browse through the garden and smell the flowers or sit out on the deck and listen to the birds, something is restored inside of us. We breathe deeper. We slow down. Things start to make more sense.
Nature teaches us about life.
In an ancient book called the Tao Te Ching, which is what I write about in my blog, Lao Tzu talks about how the natural cycles of life teach us things. Nature teaches us how to restore our energy, how to be with each other and how to be in the world.
The Chinese character for moon represents “constancy”.
The moon teaches us about constancy. It has been shining throughout all humankind. The moon is the ultimate sense of nature because the moon has expressed to us the patterns of cycles for our entire lives and for every human being that has walked the planet. The moon represents those cycles. Read more about nature’s cycles in Deng Ming-Dao’s book, Everyday Tao.
Animals teach us too.
Animals represent different aspects of being. A squirrel, for example, is a very fast animal. They work hard and get it done. They store things away for winter. They remind us to work hard and to save, as they gather nuts for the winter. An owl represents wisdom. They are quiet and powerful. They pay close attention to what is important and are very successful hunters.
Plants can help us develop a sense of nature too.
Trees represent stillness. Some trees live thousands of years, the oldest ones living today being between 4,000 and 5,000 years old! Just imagine that. All it can do is just BE. That is all it does and it can live thousands of years. What does that tell us about our lives? The wind goes through its leaves, it flickers and drinks the water out of the soil.
Stillness is really important!
Stillness is about bringing us back to our spirit, to Tao. We get a sense of this when we are out in nature. It has a way of bringing us back and finding ourselves. Nature has us facing things in ourselves that are sometimes difficult to face. All of this is a dream. Stillness returns us to our reality.
Amy Putkonen writes regularly about the Tao Te Ching at her blog, Tao Te Ching Daily. She challenges you to reflect on Taoist principles in real life situations and see where it takes you. Stop by and say hello!
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Where do Amy’s thoughts take you? How do they inspire or guide you to experience life through the senses? Do you have ways you connect with your Sense of Nature? The Creativity Tribe wants to know. Drop a line in the comments, write a blog post in response and share the link, or head over to the Creativity Tribe Facebook Group and join the conversation!
Hello everybody! Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for sharing this lovely blog with me, Rachel! Really looking forward to our tele summit!
So happy to have you, Amy! I agree, the Soulfully Connected Telesummit is thrilling! Glad to share that space with you and this one as well!
Good Morning and wow what a wonderful posting to start the day with too. I totally agree and the S&S ( The Serendipity & Synchronicity)of it all.. just this morning the birds were singing so pretty and noticed that the locusts were not drowning them out so early today…. and hubby made the comment that the owls haven’t been around in a couple of days. Love this affirmation that we are taking the time to be with nature even if it is just as we are heading to our vehicles each morning… Thank you for bringing a smile to my face this morning.
Mmmmm, lovely, Rosemary! I felt more at peace just reading your comment!
Hi Rosemary!
That is cool that you have owls. We just had some owls the other night outside our windows. I had never heard them here before but it was very exciting to hear them. One thing I love about winter time is seeing the moon and stars as I head out for work in the morning.
Lovely post – thanks Rachel for hosting Amy so we could get this perfect reminder about the importance of immersing ourselves in the natural world and opening to the myriad of wonders available to us when we do. The flowers, the trees, the animals, the moon – they are all important and welcome teachers in my life. This morning I had a lovely “conversation” with a squirrel scurrying away with a precious nut, on the importance of seeing the treasures that are all around us. It was a wonderful way to start my day, as was finding this post.
Love your treasure story, Deborah. My connection with nature today was a conversation with a persistent couple of ants. I was eating a little snack. They thought it was their treasure…I thought it was mine. In the end we all won. I decided to share. What the heck, huh?!
How awesome to see you here at Rachel’s blog, Deborah! What a tiny circle it is really is! :0 Those squirrels are awesome, aren’t they? I have a chipmunk who likes to steal the nuts that I leave out for the birds.