Nature’s Song – Living in Harmony

I think my brain got overloaded when it came to H.  There were so many topics that I wanted to touch on, it was tough to choose just one.  In fact, I might write up a couple more just to purge the idea.  Keep your eyes peeled for extraneous H posts 😉

In the end I came to Harmony.  There are a lot of different ways to write about harmony.  Tips for creating harmony in your life.  A sermon on the need for harmony with one’s environment.  But I like to think that I have mostly passed my preaching phase, so this article is going to be about me.

When your life is out of tune with the rest of the rhythms of life, everything feels temporary.  You keep a part of yourself locked away because you don’t want to become attached to anything.

In my case, I hadn’t fully unpacked my things in any place we’d lived since 2008 because I knew that we weren’t staying.  I didn’t let myself get to know the land and the spirits around us. A year goes by so fast so, what was the point?

After two or three years of living adrift, I started to lose the ability to feel.  My gifts deserted me, and I fell into a bleak darkness.  As with all times of crisis, we adapt; and I told myself that this new way of living would be fine.  It was meant to be this way.

The lies we tell ourselves are cold comfort.  The summer sun on your face is about the only thing that can warm you.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For someone who hates moving as much as I do, I sure seem to always be doing it.  Roaming around rootless – no home, no comfort.  I’m not a nomadic soul.  I wasn’t meant to travel.

Things finally began to change when I became pregnant with my daughter.  The pregnancy made me so sick that I had to stop running and take a breath.  Looking back, I think I knew it would happen.  I was going to school full-time and working full-time, sleeping less than 4 hours a day (sometimes 4 hours over the course of 2 or 3 days).

I remember joking with a friend that the only way my life could be fuller is if I got pregnant.  Less than four weeks later … boom!

I managed to struggle through at that breakneck pace for another six weeks or so, and then I just had to stop.  Stop working.  I almost had to stop school as well.  Public vomiting tends to send an undeniable message.

So, I slowed down.  I slept more.  I gave up energy drinks and I started to really enjoy the process of growing a baby.  As the winter gave way to a beautiful spring and summer, I finally felt excited about life again.  There was so much beauty and wonder I wanted to share with my little one.

I began to notice the smell of spring rain again.  I let the sunshine ease my aching muscles.  That first summer we did a lot as a family – picnics, trips to the beach, walks through our favourite little towns.  I wanted to show my baby all of the things about BC that made me happy.

And yes, I overdid it.  A lot.  I got pretty anaemic after she was born.  I didn’t really pay attention to my body, and I figured that it was normal to be exhausted.  I was a new parent.

I slowed down again just in time for a new big change to come trotting over the horizon.  A move to a different province.  It wasn’t just a new apartment this time, but a whole new life.

Moving in the dead of winter gives one time to adjust.  Alberta is just now starting to awaken from its winter slumber, and I can feel it.  After years of not bothering with meditation, let along energy work, it’s all slowly starting to come back.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I feel the life in the trees.  Their life forces moving, grounding, infinite.  When we go out for our daily walk, I listen to the music of life all around me – from the singing birds to the whistling wind to the grumbling baritone engines of cars on their way in and out of the city.

My gift for growing things is returning.  I am terribly homesick for the green of BC, so my house has become a plant haven.  Given time, I think that my other gifts may return as well.

I’m not perfectly back in sync yet, but the rhythm and harmony of my life is returning.  No, this house isn’t our forever home.  But it needed us as much as we needed it.  There is love here.  The next phase of our journey comes from a foundation of strength.

Bring on the adventures!