Foraging, gardening, and getting outside to explore nature all bring me immense peace and healing on so many levels. On a physical level, I can reap the benefits of nutritious fresh foods and medicines, nourishing my body, preventing disease, and restoring balance. On an emotional level, I experience so much joy and wonder admiring the different flowers and rocks and critters of the wilds! Walking in nature takes me right back to the play and wonder that I used to experience growing up in the countryside playing amongst the thickets and bugs! No to mention, it is so empowering and reassuring to be able to grow and forage food or medicines. The abundance of the Earth is both freeing and comforting.
We often talk about caring for our physical needs in this life (nourishing food, exercise, medicine, etc.) and these things are all essential and powerful means to health, but we rarely acknowledge our emotional or spiritual needs and how they can also impact our physical wellbeing. If you deny your soul the love it craves, its sense of joy, freedom, ease, self-worth, and self-empowerment, then it can become depleted and lead to illness. What is a life without these things anyway? Life is more than our ability to draw breath.
In addition to the joys of connecting with nature, I also get immense joy and release by expressing myself creatively. So often I meet adults that think they aren't creative, and it is so heartbreaking. Everyone is inherently creative especially when the goal isn't to produce a shiny finished product that you can monetize off of! The point is to create for YOU - for the sake of enjoying the process, learning more about yourself, creating something with your hands, getting out of your head, allowing yourself to play, make mistakes, and have fun just for the sake of it. We adults never stopped needing to play or experience wonder and yet we often put this on the backburner as though it is somehow suddenly optional or no longer appropriate. You may find that there is some part of you that longs to play and create and has gone on for some time without their needs being met - silenced over and over. This lack of self-love can start to come out sideways causing you to be anxious or angry or agitated or even become ill. We must prioritize filling our spirit by honoring our need for a greater sense of joy, freedom, ease, self-worth, and self-empowerment!
To help fill this need in the community and to honor my own needs for dedicated play and expression time, I am launching Therapeutic Art Thursdays at The Lake Claire Community Land Trust starting May thru August. These events will include guided painting sessions, collage, and inner child care sessions on nearly every Thursday of the month from 6:30-8:30pm! It's a good excuse to use the extra evening sunlight, get outside, and honor our need for creativity, play, and expression to get us through the work week! All ages are welcome!
Having difficulty figuring out what will fill your cup with a greater sense of joy, freedom, ease, self-worth, and self-empowerment when it hasn't been prioritized for so long? For me, I like to put my hand on my heart and ask, "What do I need to do for ME today? What will bring me joy and healing?". I'll often get a little instinctual nudge of "I want to go for a walk out in the sunshine." or "I want to go dancing." or "I want to go somewhere new and meet some people." or "I want to make some art." The goal is to then make whatever it is a HIGH PRIORITY. This is your life you are investing in after all!
Honoring your needs is a form of self-love. It could look like honoring your desire to gaze at the clouds and daydream for 30min even though there may be other limiting view points that try to keep you from honoring that desire. They may say things like, "That's not appropriate for someone your age." or "That's a waste of time, what's the point." or "That's a dumb idea.". This is not to say shirk all responsibility, but to prioritize making time, early in the day even if possible, to honor your emotional and spiritual needs and do so with kindness and care and love.
If these negative or contradictory thoughts arise, it is helpful to be curious about where they may be coming from rather than pushing them away forcefully. Perhaps these thoughts exist to protect you to some capacity, to push you forward, make you successful, or protect you from criticism. We can take time to be grateful for all the hard work that these parts do to help protect us and still step out of our comfort zone to honor our desire to gaze at the clouds. This is the radical act of self-love and is a beautiful step in the direction of filling your emotional and spiritual cup.
You can join me for future foraging tours or art/play events at www.flourishandflora.com.
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