Stretch Your Wings Wider

You are hardwired for wilderness.

Modern life is increasingly persuading us, transforming us into some domesticated version of our human creature selves. Dead but living. So many of us are under some strange anesthetic, disconnected from the land that we live on, disconnected from where our food comes from, disconnected from the cycles and seasons, disconnected from the other species we live with. 

We have a vague sense that something is missing. In the quiet we may identify a mysterious longing-ache. Our feet are bloodied and calloused from their march, an endless search for meaning, worth, substance, a true purpose for our lives. Some days we might feel like we brush shoulders with something, a feral force that lives beyond our safe wantings. 

We think we are seeking meaning in our lives but what we are really seeking is an experience of complete and utter aliveness. Like stepping under the invigorating waterfall of our own rapturous vitality. Like riding the wings of a bald eagle, letting our souls be washed clean, blown over, freshened up, made anew.

My wish for you within this new cycle of 2020 is to remember to not measure your life in hours filled with meetings, emails, and conference calls, but to instead tally your time spent in the company of trees, walking outside, picking berries, birding, botanizing, being with the vibrating, breathing world. May you remember to walk outside. There is a crispness in the wild air that wants to clear your mind and remind you of the nature-based journey into your own soul.  

Giving thanks for the sky animals near my home, like this beautiful bald eagle, that wisely remind me to stretch my wings wider.