In The Lap of Nature
The power that nature holds in healing you, is beyond any magic.
It is raining in the city I reside since three days. I look outside the balconies of my house at third floor of the building and feel what a respite these three days have been in comparison to the heat we faced in the past few days. The rains have brought back the calmness in me that I was seemingly beginning to lose.
I am a sky lover. This may come across as a cliché statement, but it has now become something that defines me. Strange right? How could someone be defined by their love for something that is above us all the time, never for once leaving us? But I wish to be defined like that.
Looking at the sky, I look at the vastness of the Universe and at the same time, that of the minuteness of our problems and existence. On a day when you feel overwhelmed at the idea of your existence and the associated problems that come with it or on a day when you feel as if you rule this world, you must take a moment to look at what encompasses us all above, the vast vast sky. For a moment, you would feel this serene sense of gratitude and calmness that would help you go through the life that follows from that moment on.
Sky is just one of the many miracles of the Almighty that makes us alive, both literally and figuratively. I also love the aura of beaches, where you can keep watching the waves come and go, like a child and no matter how many times your feet get into sand and you wash it, the process of getting sand all over again on your feet and washing them, goes on back and forth. Sunsets at beaches are the pictures I want to die with in my mind. When I read Isak Dinesen say, “The cure for anything is salt water — sweat, tears, or the sea”, I realised the extent to which this was true. Staring at the sea for a long time some years back has been a turning point in my life because when the waves let the sand moisten your feet, it is in that moment you know who you wish to share this moment with, who you do not want around, what all you want in life and even more importantly what all you do not want in life. It is in that moment that you know what makes you most happy and also what makes your heart poignant. The memories wash your feet as soon as the sand does, and that is something that changes us, if we let it.
The mountains are a reminder of going beyond our comfort zones and the resulting happiness that arises from doing so. When I look at the lives the people in the mountains are living, which in comparison is a lot more difficult than that of those living in the plains, I am amazed by the people residing in mountains. Talking to one of them I noted the extent to which their lives are dependent on tourism and the current crisis has impacted the tourism industry largely, but the people there must have found out a way to go through, because the nature in hilly regions teaches us all to never give up. Hiking the mountains one can only feel the smallness of his or her own being and the respect for the height at which the peak of the mountains lie. Whenever I look the world from such high elevations, I feel overwhelmed by the ideas of Almighty who has created such myriad forms of landscapes and vistas, giving tiny creatures like us the opportunity to learn from nature so much.
When I used to hear or read people say that nature has healing powers, I used to agree only partially. I thought that the way to healing must lie within us, however, as I grow older my faith in the healing powers of nature is getting stronger by the day. On days when I feel life sitting heavy upon me or the heart feeling too heavy a burden to carry, I get up and sit close to a tree in a garden. In a silent manner, the feeling of grass on my feet and the proximity to a tree teaches me to keep moving, from one thing to another, from one moment to another, from one task to another, from one idea to another, from one person to another, from being a certain kind of person to being another kind of person. That teaching helps me hold on to what matters and let go of what doesn’t.
Just like the sky that changes its color, the fall changes to spring and back, the heat in the climate keeps changing its levels, we may learn from nature and keep moving from one thing to another. When the fall comes, we forget the times of the spring, and when summer comes, we forget the harshness of the bitter cold. How about doing the same with our personal and personal lives? When we are feeling happy, how about just holding on to that feeling and forget the times of sorrow? When someone leaves, how about focusing on the ones who have stayed? After having left a place or job, how about focusing on the one at hand? How about realizing that if there is peace, we must be prepared for a storm too, and if there is peace after a storm, how about simply holding on to that peace?
Of all the things we have learnt from nature, the most important is that we must pray for the best, but prepare for the worst.
You may reach out to me at sdshivanidubey@gmail.com.
