The earth delights to feel me, and I delight in her

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
~ Kahlil Gibran

I found this quote tonight in the sig file of someone posting on a discussion forum I was perusing. It was one of those things that seemed to jump off the computer screen and grab me by the scruff of the neck. I read it through several times and each time it made me smile in some deep part of my soul. After copy/pasting it to my blog for safe-keeping I put down my computer and went outside.

I walked through the carpet of crunchy fallen leaves to one of two mulberry trees in my front yard. The branches of this particular tree begin low enough on the trunk that I can stand in between them and “snuggle” up to the tree. As I stood there I intentionally expanded my awareness into the environment—feeling the breeze on my skin and clothes, hearing it whistle through the branches and the leaves on the ground, expanding into my multi-dimensional self and becoming aware of where and how my self mingles with and becomes a part of the tree, the leaves, the earth, the breeze. As I snuggled there I spoke silently to the tree expressing my love and appreciation for it letting it know that I didn’t want to take anything from it. I just wanted to BE with it and connect through it to the larger energy system of which it is so naturally a part—the prairie, the wind, the moon, the birds and animals, the whole body of the Earth herself. With that connection I finally started to feel something that I haven’t felt for quite awhile…connected and grounded. Part of me wanted to melt into that wonderful energy for hours, but its very late and very cold so after just a few minutes I had to come back into myself and go back inside.

Now I’m back at my computer feeling revived and inspired. As I’m writing this I’ve got PBS on in the background. The show is Craft in America and one of the featured artists is a furniture maker named George Nakashima. His work is absolutely phenomenal, but what is pulling at me is that they are talking about the “soul of the tree” and about how the “tree has to come forth with its own story.” Wow! What a wonderful way of approaching craft.

I’m finding the description of this artist’s philosophy to be an extension of the message I received in the Gibran quote, and from the tree earlier tonight: The Earth is crying out for me and my spirit is crying out for it. I need to be paying better more intentional attention to the stories being told by the elements of the natural world around me. I need to make reconnecting to the body and spirit of the Earth and her children a priority. I think this is a part of the answer I’ve been asking for recently without even really being able to formulate a question. I just know that I’ve been feeling frazzled and empty and needful and that by connecting with and through my wonderful tree I’m better.