Day 14: Dig deep + get grounded… nature is gonna be magical this week.

Oh lordy, time is moving fast. Happy 3rd Sunday in Advent, my friends. Can you believe it?! Next Sunday is Christmas Eve + then in two weeks we’re on the threshold of a whole new year! Do you feel calm about it all or freaked out? Hopefully, we have sunk into this practice of being present and feel a bit more grounded this season than in the past. If you still haven’t found your silent, still groove yet, then this week just may do it for you. The next 7 days are going to be packed with the magic and inspiration of nature. Mother Earth and the entire cosmos are pulsing with energy, truth, and spirit. So, I deeply encourage you to hold on, dig deep, + get grounded. The potential that is swirling all around us has so much to offer.

Are you ready? Let’s re-ground. Re-focus. Re-connect. Let’s slow it down by being aware + intentional. Let’s re-connect to our commitment to be present throughout the entire month. Are you with me?

But, this week the focus is totally different. And I’ve been waiting all the live long December for this week. Truly, I cannot express to you the excitement I feel for it. Ok, here’s the deal for this week: This week, it’s all about looking up + out + around. It’s about practicing presence by connecting with nature, with others, and with the world around us.

You know, we don’t always have to spend time on a mat, or inside with candles, or in silence in order to be truly present. There is so much beauty + energy all around us (freaking everywhere!) that, if we dare to slow down + be present in the midst of it all, we will see + hear + discover + observe + find magic in every-little-thing.

So… wait for it… this week is all about nature.

And, this is the perfect week to focus on nature + the world because it is a magical week of cosmic + awe-inspiring natural phenomenon. It is the perfect week to hitch ourselves to the turning of the world and the flow of nature… to align our lives directly with all that is going on with Mother Earth right now.

Here’s the magic coming up for us:

→ This week we are celebrating the last new moon of 2017. Tonight + tomorrow to be exact. It is time to set intentions + cast visions into the future. It is time to throw off the past + look toward the future. A new era is beginning. (Look for my post on the new moon tomorrow!)

→ In the northern hemisphere, we are also deep in the darkest days of the year. The days are their absolute shortest from today until next Thursday… and then, we celebrate the magic of the winter solstice, the turning of the wheel of nature + life, and light ever so slowly begins to return to the dark, cold places of the earth. I’ve been especially waiting for the winter solstice this year after a very magical trip to Ireland this past March. (Read about the connection to the winter solstice + my trip to Ireland right here).

→ Winter is is full swing, dumping snow + frigid air in many places, rain + raw weather in others, and, if we are lucky, a few days of glorious, crisp sunshine for a few hours. But, nevertheless, we are tired + weary + perhaps even feeling caught in the winter blues.

→ Christmas Eve is next freaking Sunday. Lina’s family celebrates Christmas, and since it is a ” Sweden year” for us, we will be heading to her parents home for a weekend of traditional Swedish family celebrations + coziness. And, while this is not something that happens in nature, it is a continuation of the celebration of light coming to the world (a Christian religious holiday based on ancient, pagan Yuletide rituals).

And that’s why I’ve chose this week as the “get back to nature” week. The week that we seek to find our presence in the trees, sky, water, sunshine, clouds, darkness, plants, birds, animals, stars, and the entire cosmos around us. 

Nature + spirit are married to each other, I believe. And, through the most organic, simplest examples of nature we are taught all we need to know about spirit. Our souls, when connected to the world around us, learn the deep truths of the life, death, rebirth cycle when we live with the turning of the mother earth. So, this week has the potential to bestow much wisdom, inspiration, and rest to our somewhat weary, disconnected, and stressed out souls.

Now, I live in the middle of the city; so I am not surrounded by wild nature like the woods or the sea, though they are fairly close by. But, the thing is, we don’t need to live in the middle of the woods in order to experience the spirit of nature. To find the inspiration of nature in the middle of urban living is totally, absolutely possible. And, again, it goes back to living intentionally, mindfully, and slowly.

I’ve been saving a book to read this week, and now I can finally pick it up + begin. It is a compilation of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature + Henry David Thoreau’s essay”Walking”. I read the first few pages this morning, before beginning this newsletter to you + after having a few moments outside in my backyard to watch the sunrise.

Both Thoreau + Emerson talk about this idea of finding truth in the everyday, of truly opening our eyes to the world:

Emerson: ” The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.”

Thoreau:  “Wildness is not dependent on a vast, unsettled tract of land. Rather, it is a quality of awareness, an openness to the light, to the seasons, and to nature’s perpetual renewal.” – John Elder, intro to the book

So, this week, my friend, join me in wondering at the beauty + magic of the world as we wander through our everyday life.

And here’s a little song to get you in the mood: Listen right here. Or just below. ↓↓↓

All of my posts this week will be inspired by the natural happenings that are occurring, and how we can use them to help us to live the moments of this magical time of the year, celebrate the holidays, and the transition from the ending of this year + into the next. So be sure to check this space every day (+ on Instagram!) if you want to keep up with what’s going on with me + my love story with nature throughout this week.