582 thoughts on “My Connection With Nature”

1. I love connecting with and walking in nature, what a great confirmation you came to, ‘Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I.’

2. Nature is always reflecting or teaching us some wisdom, ‘simply walking in nature reminds me of who I truly am. As I watch the trees bend and move as the wind blows, going with the flow of the day, yet not changing what they are, I am reminded of the same for myself.’

3. Leigh its interesting that we feel our lives are in different compartments. I used to think about work as being separate to the rest of what I did, but actually its a big part my life. I spend more time with my work colleagues than my family. It makes sense to see my life as a whole, and from there I have started to bring harmony into those areas that I have thought were separate before.

4. So true – we often say we enjoy something when in fact we are needing it to escape from something.

5. Hardening up and putting our body on the line in the name of entertainment is our normal in society, and sport proves this point entirely. Imagine how the world would be if our normal was about self care and treating the body like the temple it is.

   1. It has become such a ‘normal’ that many extremes are being choosen in today’s society. From obesity to excessive tattoos, alcohol, drugs, extreme sports, all of which have become more prevelant in society in the past 20 odd years. All of which in some way give us a buffer zone between our tenderness and the reality of our world. Learning to live the tenderness we are in the world is the antidote to hardening up, an antidote that will again restore harmony to our bodies and communities. A learning that is not perfect and that doesn’t happen overnight. But one that once begun constantly feeds back to us the joy of doing so, it is this joy that supports us to keep choosing the tenderness.

6. On reading this comment tonight, I am deeply reminded that the choice is always mine to rise in full to the support that is around me. It is very humbling to realise that I at times forget and go into auto pilot, yet the moment I remember, the support can be felt, as it had not ever left, I have only chosen to wander away from it by holding myself lesser than who I naturally am.

7. Yes Adam, what a pity we don’t look to another human with the same awe and honor we do with nature. As there is nothing that holds us apart from such grace and beauty shared, except or veiled eyes that don’t see the same grandness we see and feel in nature.

8. What a beautiful confirmation of the solidness of your inner foundation you have re-built within yourself Leigh. This blog is a joy to read.
   “As I watch the trees bend and move as the wind blows, going with the flow of the day, yet not changing what they are, I am reminded of the same for myself”.

9. A very good point to make Sally, as being carefree and irresponsible is something that is essentially seen as a rite of passage for teenagers today. When instead it is actually the time in life where responsibility and self care need to be encouraged, with many ways being presented as to how the behaviour chosen impacts on everyone. Hense the responsibility to choose behaviour wisely and not use these years as an excuse for ill made choices.

10. A beautiful sharing Leigh and one I can relate to very well, whenever my daughter is feeling out of sorts I take her out into nature and it is amazing how quickly she connects back to herself – the stillness and harmony of nature allows the space for us to deeply heal and regenerate ourselves.

11. Reading of the ‘hardening up’ in order to get something done, i.e. ride a horse, that you’ve described here Leigh, I can’t help but reflect on other areas and activities in life where we have all done the same… Where we’ve known something has to be ‘forced’ in order to be done, and/or that we resist doing something that needs to be done, being in touch with our bodies and the quality of our movements is key.

12. This is very beautiful to read Leigh, thank-you… I had a realisation several years back, that it is an abuse of nature to impose on it (her) in any way. We impose upon nature when we seek it to relieve us from our tensions and troubles. This is something also, that we all have to ‘arrive at’ – in acknowledgement of our own path of healing (return to ourselves), and deep appreciation of the sensitivity of those of us who have found great solace and support in being in nature, with all of her blessings…
    To commune and be at one with nature… that’s a different thing, and can be felt innately within. In this we do not seek to offload our tensions and troubles, but rather to connect with the space around us and embrace the interconnectedness of which we are ever a part.

    1. On reading your comment Victoria, you mention “communion with nature”. It is so very stilling when this is felt, all the beauty, delicateness and strength that nature is can be felt within. This makes the phrase “at one with nature” no longer just words, but something that is lived.

13. Reading your article made me remember how I used to ride horses without anybody ever showing me what to do; I simply did not ask any questions and jumped on, driven by a need to prove myself and not letting anybody know that there was something I could not so.

    1. Reading your comment tonight Gabriele, I find myself reflecting on how I learnt to ride. Whilst I had been put on horses all my life, I had an incident where I fell of and was then quite scared to ride again. A very special friend then gave me a taste of the freedom felt whilst on a horse and this ignited my desire to learn again. This is when I really began to push down the fears I had, determined to learn to ride. My Grandfather (now deceased) suffered from Rheumatoid Arthritis and was restricted to either a bed or a chair, yet he was instrumental in teaching me to ride. I would take my rather round very solid pony over the paddock where Grandad could see us and ride back to him, at a trot or canter and he would correct my skills. It really was a very enjoyable experience, especially on this particular horse as he was very quiet and gentle, and mostly obliging.

14. Leigh, i love when you state ‘I feel deeply that I am as equally grand as the trees, the earth, the rivers, the creeks, the oceans’ You are as grand as nature, and it is beautiful to share so that we can also be inspired by the reflection nature offers us as you have been.

15. I can relate to using riding as a teenager as a distraction but had never considered that walking could be used in the same way. I love to walk but my connection to myself can vary hugely, for example, I used to walk off feelings of anger and would feel better afterwards but nothing had really been resolved and the anger was always there waiting to return. Increasingly I can feel the reflections and support offered by nature and embrace my place within it.

    1. I can remember walking where I was not in the slightest aware of what was around me. I was so deeply in my thoughts that I didn’t register not only the beauty around, but that I was moving a delicate body. I was not aware of how I moved my body, or the hardness I was walking with. This now seems light years in my past. On my walk today each step was done with respect for the body I live in, they felt tender, caressing and honoring. The beauty is l didn’t ‘make it that way’, it was that way because I now live with a deep love, care and understanding of and for my body.

    2. “Increasingly I can feel the reflections and support offered by nature and embrace my place within it.”
       It is beautiful to feel the ease in which you claim your place in our world. Such a choice brings us to a stop moment in our life. If we are as grand as nature, which we are, we then get to see and feel how we live way less than our grandness. A great gift that then opens us to choice, to continue to play small and ignore our grandness, or to live it in full.

16. Beautiful to feel the sense of equality you now have with nature and how it brings you back to yourself rather than being a distraction from the rest of your life.

17. ‘Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I.’ Today I was walking along the beach, it was cold, windy and some rain. I haven’t been walking along the sea for a year or so. I felt how there was a sense of oneness, how each one of us became more still, walking there with the sound of the waves, the wind, the rain, just reminding us of the support that is always there to connect to our true nature.

    1. As does nature hold us so too does our inner heart. Our walks in nature are simply reminders of the power, grace and beauty we hold within.

18. “Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I.” This is a beautiful claiming Leigh. Nature constantly gives us so many amazing reflections. I especially enjoy observing the seasonal and moon changes here in UK – and can relate them to my own cycles.

19. When we ignore what we feel we set ourselves to simply numb out and disregard ourselves.

20. It is interesting how at some point in our lives, we start using movement as a tool for disconnecting from life; to avoid feeling what we are feeling in the body.

    1. Very pertinent point Eduardo, one that has given me a moment to ponder on. I have now a much deeper appreciation for choosing to adjust my movements to be in line with truly supporting my body and the essence I hold within. As the movements we learn to numb us from our lives have been the predominant choice for a very long time and it takes a deep dedication to our grace to make the switch to movements that support it.

21. Nature has a beautiful way of constantly reminding us who we are in essence, of the connection to the stillness that we naturally are within. Reminding us that we too are Divinely designed to live in accordance to the order of the universe, impulsed by the Light of our Soul.

22. As we connect more deeply with that innate knowingness inside of us, we can reconnect with what is there all around us, to support us, to nurture us, to hold us, and to guide us back even deeper to the connection that nurtures our true inner hearts

    1. Yes, I agree, the moment we connect with nature we surrender to our stillness and begin to feel the solid steadiness in our body. Nature really does support us to be who we are, in full and the power of connecting with it cannot be underestimated.

23. And this extraordinary reflection of the magic of the universe is always there , reflecting back to us the innate harmony of everything.

24. ‘And when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me’. I totally understand what you are saying here Leigh. Nature has a harmony that is both deeply nurturing and renewing at the same time and once felt and appreciated, becomes a marker we can connect to at any time and build on from within.

    1. A remarkable marker, as it continues to grow and deepen constantly, whilst I feel steady and connected, I can also feel the pull to deepen and expand my steadiness, it is like there is no end point, just constant invitations to deepen.

25. Nature so beautifully reminds us that life and the world around us is all about cycles.

    1. So true, if we understood the science of cycles more, we would be more equipped to maintain our own rhythm with in them. I can feel that we already do live governed by cycles, however these cycles seem to be ones of disregard and self abuse. With such obedience already in place, is it not but a choice of what we are obedient to? The rhythm and cycles within the cycles of nature, or to everything that we let run our body that is not in the above obedience?

26. When we take the time to truly connect with nature it reflects so much back to us. I find a walk in nature, probably the combination of walk and nature, grounds me and supports me to reconnect with myself.

27. Nature’s miracles are amazing at reminding us who we are, and that the same miracles lie within us.

28. There is so much that is around us to inspire us, even in big cities there can be beauty and presence to be felt, and we can come to the point where we will always feel that support all around us.

29. The amazing wonder and beauty of nature cannot help but bring us back to the truth of who we are, from the busyness of the bee, to the brotherhood of the ant, and the sweetness of a rose – it’s absolutely amazing.

    1. It is truly a divine plan if we but let ourselves feel the absolute continuous reflection nature has to offer us. Nothing is less than another, every moment nature is ensuring that we have just what we need to evolve, right there with us. The only thing that requires sharpening is our awareness of that which nature brings.

       1. What struck me about what you just said is that every part of nature is there for us to evolve – imagine if we all did this for other people, every part of us is there to help everyone evolve – that would be magic.

30. Nature always brings me back when I’m distracted with some quirky little message that makes me smile. When we’re paying attention life is full of sweet moments of support.

31. Thank you Leigh I just loved re-reading your story again can relate to needing nature to feel enough, but as Concetta puts it “nature is to confirm us not define us. “

32. Beautiful Leigh, I so loved reading your story. It felt like I was sharing your journey. Nature is to confirm us not define us.

33. Leigh you remind me of my horse riding days and how i invested so much time into having horses, looking after them – wanting to be at the stables all day just to help with mucking out, feeding, riding. But as you say I too can feel how I did this to be alone and with animals and not actually talk to my family about how I truly felt. I used to think my horse knew me better than anyone, and the weird thing is I always loved people. When I was little i used to climb out of my cot just to be with my family downstairs, and then it changed and i thought I wanted to be alone but really, I can see now how this was never true and I was just avoiding me! (and everyone else) It is very supportive to read your experience and keep deepening my understanding of how we can loose ourselves in our behaviours.

34. Yes, I used to ‘use’ nature to feel better about myself, much like a drug, I needed it as an escape. Nowadays I walk in connection with myself in Nature, it is a very different feeling as there is more of a natural exchange rather than a ‘taking from’. A feeling of equallness where I am in relationship with Nature rather than making a demand of it.

35. Your blog had me reflecting on a phase I went through of learning to ride. I too found it exhilarating – an escape from life, enjoying the mastery, feeling powerful and yet also fearful, in constant awareness that at any moment I could fall off, be thrown, trampled – the consequence of an experience where this did happen in my teenage years. I recollect walking back to the car after lessons, my muscles tense and trembling, convincing myself that it was the elation of the moment, my body having had a ‘good workout’, whereas now I can appreciate that my body had tensed throughout the whole experience and was coming down off it. These days I prefer to aim for mastery of my own body and keep my two feet firmly connected to the ground.

36. Living in Germany, we now have spring and all the trees and bushes are blossoming in the most beautiful colors. To see and feel the beauty nature is reflecting to us is such a heaven gift.

37. A lovely sharing Leigh of your connection to nature. Nature has always been one of my favourite places to be from an early age as I lived with my family on farms and my Grandparents were farmers. I often took my beautiful Cocker spaniel for walks with me and she absolutely had the most joyous time frolicking about like a puppy again each time we walked and it lifted my heart and took me to another level of joy.

    1. Dear Roslyn,
       I love that, my dog has taught me so much about letting go and enjoying the day, as he never starts the day with anything but full on enjoyment.

38. Changing the topic a bit but I cant help commenting on the fact that at two years of age you went and stroked the stomach of a horse you had felt would be gentle and would do you no harm. How awesome would it be to retain the awareness of a child

    1. Dear Joe,
       How awesome that we have always had this awareness. Through living our lives, we have dulled it, but we can never erase it. What we can do is to begin to be still and feel it again.

39. In my late teens, and for some years later, when I would feel down I would go to the sea, some how the crashing waves reflected the turmoil I was in at the time, but the longer I stayed there these feeling would subside and calm was restored. Now in nature I walk to feel the loveliness in my body in its movements while appreciating the wonders of nature and the magic moments that God presents.

40. I know the escape into nature very well, an escape into the reflection of who we are… But it is a choice to see it this way and feel what nature is reflecting to us.

    1. It is a choice Benkt, but I do wonder how many even realise that there is a choice to be made here? I feel deeply that it is through us all speaking about our experiences as we do here in writing and commenting on what we have personally felt and connected with that opens the conversation for others to consider the impact of their own choices. In this I cannot express deeply enough the power of our voices, and just what discussions like this may open up for another.

41. This morning coming back from my morning walk with my dog. Two little birds jumped around on the roof above my house door. I stopped and watched them playful, light jumping up and down and making noises joyfully. This was a reflection for me that I can live with my partner together in our home in this way. Nature is a great teacher it does not have any problems.

    1. Dear Janina,
       I love the joy and playfulness that you felt and the offering to live more this way. I feel the sense of simply allowing myself to be a part of the world as I am is the way to bring more of the joy out into my day, thank you for the little nudge.

42. The sea with its waves is reflecting to us how powerful we truly are.

43. This morning i was sitting at the beach simly enjoying to just feeling my body and to be, feeling the warmth of the sun, the warm sand underneath my body and listening to the waves. Nature supports us to be who we truly are.

    1. Dear Janina,
       So much so, that I find it truly sad that we are not taught about ourselves being an equal part of nature, holding within the same grandness. To know deeply that if we have moments where life and our circumstances have found ourselves feeling lost or despondent, that nature is there, always present, always reflecting our grandness and all it takes is for us to be in absolute honor of this very real support to feel again our own.

    2. Dear Leigh, yes your are right children mostly copy what they see in their families. Perhaps they use technology to check out because they feel their parents life in the same way.

44. This morning I was sitting at the beach. It was beautiful to allow myself to enjoy just being and feeling my body and my tenderness and delicateness feeling the warmth of the sun and the warm sand underneath my body, listening the sound of the waves.

45. Thank you Leigh what an awesome sharing. I love how nature reflects back to us who we truly are and your analogy of how when the trees bend and move in the wind, allowing themselves to go with the flow of the day, but always staying true to who they are, priceless!

46. I remember taking my children walking when they were young, I loved being out doors in nature, I felt much closer to God there. I have only just come to realise that I have used nature to escape what I was feeling, being in it to fill a need in me. When I walk in nature now I am much more aware of the beauty of me, how my body is feeling, letting go of the tension, and feeling the flow as I move my body with presence. ” The support I feel in nature is not grandiose or something I need. It is simply something that is, like many things in life, offered to us; it is then up to us to rise in equalness to the support that is present. ” Beautiful to read Leigh, thank you for sharing.

47. I enjoyed very much rereading your blog Leigh and the beautiful reminder “Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I”. We are beautiful and powerful and nature is offering us this reflection and it is for us to get our issues out of the way and start living our divine potential on a daily basis. To develop a steadiness of a rock which is not pretending any longer to be a small stone.

    1. I realized how important it is to go regular for a walk. Sometimes when i do a seminar at week-end i hardly go for a walk and it is actually an important part especially when i walk with full appreciation of myself. Nature is such a powerful reflection to remind us of our divine origin.

       1. Dear Janina,
          I have come to the same understanding myself to the importance of walking regularly and also exercising regularly. I exercised this morning for the first time this week and my body adored it. This alone tells me it is important to make it a daily part of my routine.

       2. Thank you for the lovely reminder Janina that when we walk, to do so in full appreciation of ourselves.

    2. This is a beautiful comment Janina. Your joy and beauty is felt, along with the rock solid foundation you have.

48. That we can simply walk outside and feel the wind and see the sunlight and, possibly even see plants and trees depending upon where we are, and that we can feel the grace, the harmony, the symphony of life playing gently within and around us… Connection with nature and the grace of God hand-in-hand.

49. Thank you Leigh for sharing with us the power of connecting with nature. I know whenever I feel out of sorts to walk in nature is a beautiful way to bring me back and to truly connect to me.

50. When do we disconnect?… Because let’s face it most of us are, but again most of us would deny it… Because if we accept that we are disconnected, then we have to reckon with the consequences of this disconnection, and that would be so confronting that most people will do anything to avoid this recognition.

    1. Yes Cjames2012,
       Many do run a mile when they stop and connect with their bodies, but what they run from is not the feeling of stillness and beauty they initially feel, but from feeling they way of life they have built without this connection. Without support it can be very difficult to find our way through.

    2. Well put Chris

51. At times I go for small walk in my breaks at work. I look at the sky see the birds flying in groups, moving in harmony, synchrony and beauty, this reconnects be straight away back that life is about brotherhood.

    1. Dear Janina,
       I had not ever connected a flock of birds flying in synchronicity with Brotherhood, but this is exactly what they are demonstrating. Even in the fact that the lead bird changes as needed. They can teach us a lot about working together.

       1. Hi Leigh, yes birds remind us that living in harmony and equalness ( lightness and joyfulness) is possible with everyone at home or at work. What also stands our for me is the absolute beauty we get reflected through nature. That we can equally live and therefore reflect our divine beauty.

       2. Dear Janina,
          I have just arrived home from work and read your comment above. Then as I was sitting for a moment a honey eater flew into my house and flew around a bit and then flew out the way it came in. Harmony in reflection, and deep appreciation of the syncrocity of us all.

52. Our natural connection with nature reflects so much back to us, and is there to support us too, Through nature there is much we can learn about ourselves purely by understanding its reflection.

    1. Sometimes Sally the understanding is not fully present in what Nature is offering us. What is though is the absoluteness of nature, and feeling this in ourselves is at times all that is needed.

53. What I love about nature is the truly gorgeous reflections and learning it can offer us in every moment. When we are willing to look at life with a deeper awareness for what’s going on all around us, nature can truly be a wondrous teacher for us all.

    1. Dear Kelly,
       Nature is the most wonderous teacher, it holds and supports us as we learn. As I write this I realise how poignant a reflection this is for all of us, something that we can all do for each other.

54. Yes Brendan, nothing I have ever experienced comes close to matching living in harmony with myself. The feeling is so glorious that I am deeply inspired and committed to living this way every moment. It is not easy to do this at times, especially when something triggers us, but it is worth understanding and letting go of our triggers, one by one. For each that we let go of allows us to stay with the harmony more.

55. Alexis,
    I love how you can feel how much God really holds us. That you know it clearly from your childhood. What a huge support for you. It is never ending, always present, and if I am not feeling it, than where has my head wondered to?

56. Amanda and Sandra,
    I have been to areas where the Forrest has been entirely leveled and have felt the complete disregard of the offering that the Forrest has for us all. Selective logging taking what is needed, but allowing the rest of the Forrest to be is how once we approached or harvesting of timber. With technology this process has been able to be done quicker and with less care. Maybe here we can see a correlation for ourselves. The preasure to get things done quickly and to move onto the next thing is a day to day human reality. That we then expand into how we approach harvesting our forests, or building a building for example. It is this energy, that we have to address, individually to be able to again return to doing what we do with integrity, and not for personal gain, or to meet a time line.

57. Samantha, it is this simple truth that nature doesn’t ever change what it is that I find so supportive. Even though I may have stepped away, it is with the absoluteness that nature is, that I am again with the absoluteness of me.

58. Leigh you have a beautiful way of describing things. One part I really relate to is when you said you are feeling more and more like a two year old, I feel that too, a return of true wonder if the world and an innate delicateness for all that’s in it.

    1. Let our two year old selves lead the way I say, each time I stop and feel my two year old self with in me, I am shared a wealth of wisdom, for I am always shown the absolute power at being present with my life. My two year old self always knows innately what I need to traverse what is presenting in each moment.

       1. Ok – this is something I definitely have to try! You are absolutely correct when we are two years old we are naturally present, and there’s a huge power, sweetness and clarity that comes with presence.

59. So true Leigh, in feeling the strength of our true nature any behaviours we have outside of this become obvious, great to identify the difference. This is a very beautiful blog that feels supportive for me in the reminder of where we are from.

60. I agree Brendan,
    The sounds of Nature I am newly discovering have a rhythm all of their own. Morning sounds different to evening. The birds one hears are different, there are birds that are active of a morning that we don’t hear or see of an afternoon. Yesterday I was washing up and found myself very aware of the sound of the wind in the mountains beside me and I clocked that even the wind sounds different from morning to evening. I feel that I am just beginning to explore this rhythm with in the rhythm of nature and look forward to doing so.

61. Dear Elizabeth, learning to not compare and measure what I feel, to instead accept it and allow it to be is a constant for me. Accepting my stillness and knowing that I am that, allows for many comparisons that have been chosen in the past to be shown. Feeling them as they arise and choosing to remain still with myself as they pass, is the trick, one that I can not always catch as it happens, but one that I am committed to, because the beauty of living my stillness is something that I am unable to be ignore now.

62. Dear Leigh,
    Thank you for this blog. It is insightful to feel how we can use literally anything in life as an escape to feeling ourselves, even nature, the very thing that may be considered by many as very pure. It is inspiring to feel how you have cleared this and now have healed your relationship with nature through healing on a deeper level your relationship with yourself.

63. As a child I never questioned the fact that I was part of nature and it was part of me – I simply accepted it. As an adult of almost 50 I am rediscovering the joy of that connection the more I surrender to it (again!).

    1. I love that we didn’t question Helen, this holds us strong as we re-remember who we are.

64. Leigh I love nature too but in the past I used it as an escape. When young I would spend as much time riding as I could spare. The companionship of the horse, its warmth, the freedom I felt when galloping, the tender green of spring or the bare trees of winter, the snow allowed me to forget myself and the pain I lived day in day out. Later on when horses were no longer available to me walking took their place. I know now that I was trying to compensate for a deep sense of emptiness, a total lack of self worth. I was using nature as a means to disconnect even further from myself.

65. Yesterday I brought my partner to the bus station in Frome, England. We were waiting in front of the bus. There was a beautiful sunrise many birds circling in big groups above us. It felt so amazingly and magical. I started to sing and my partner joined in. When I went to my car it was blocked by another car. So I stood in the middle of Frome and looked at the amazing sky and felt the connection to nature and God so strongly. Than I looked around and at the other people waiting at the bus station. They didn’t appear to see and feel the magic we are offered.

    1. Dear Janina,
       It truly saddens me as I watch other people in todays world. Many are constantly plugged into some device or another. Some I have observed, go for their walks in nature this way, missing the sound of the rustle of the breeze in the leaves, the birds twittering and connecting with other people. When I have walked in the city, these things are still there, along with the traffic noise and the general movements of the city, yet in their own way they too deserve to be heard and experienced. They bring us into our life and the reality of the world. Being plugged in does not allow for this connection, a true bane in modern society.

    2. It’s absolutely astonishing the beauty people miss by not being consciously aware. Though I know if there is something wrong for me, or I do not feel connected and present within myself I have absolutely no awareness of what’s going on around me and the beauty I could be missing, sometimes just the realisation of this snaps me out of it!

66. “I had push down these feelings of fear by choosing to ignore how I felt, making my body numb with hardness… Little did I know it then, but by doing this I then set in motion a way of being, a built-in protective mechanism, that I had to ‘harden-up’ to cope with my life and to get things done.” It is incredible how a choice that feels like other anyone, you set a course for yourself that shapes your life and which also helps to define who you are because, it and you become one until the day you realise that this is not true.

    1. Eduardo, living hard, constantly protecting self is exhausting and so very tense and hurtful in our bodies. What has been shown to me is that this way of living leaves me feeling uncomfortable and unsure. But this I did not realise was in my body affecting me constantly. Yet it is a great example of how we feel something, but override it until the day we “realise it is not truth”.

67. Dear Leigh I am not that “nature-type” and therefore I love what your shared about your experience you have made with nature. I am getting to be more still since and therefore I love what you wrote: “. . . and when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me”. You inspired me to go out to allow myself to feel this being still in nature as well – wunderbar.

    1. Reading your comment Esther we can stop ourselves in the way we live to actually have a strong connection to ourselves and nature. Thinking we are not a “nature type” …As we both discovered that relating to numerology our name stands also for harmony and connection with nature, much more there for us both to discover and open up to!

       1. Yes Janina I agree there is so much more to discover and open up to – perhaps in the end I will find out that I was and am a “nature-type” form day one . . .

       2. Your comment so made me smile Ester. The presciousness and exquisite tenderness that I feel in you is reflected every where in nature, you cannot escape it, you are a nature type.

       3. I agree Leigh, we can trick ourselves so well with thinking like being not a “nature type” in that way avoiding the deep connection with actually have already lived in many lives with God and Nature and can reconnect to once we open up.

68. Thank you Leigh for sharing your beautiful story filled with inspirations. I especially appreciated your line “and when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me”.

69. I find that nature is there for us part of one big earth school really. It reminds us at times of how unnatural we are acting, shows how a diverse range of things can all work together in harmony, and demonstrates when things get out of balance how they need to be adjusted or restored to return that balance. I remind myself nearly every day to watch what is happening in the nature so that I can better understand myself and those around me. It is one of life’s free treasures but great teachers.

    1. I love your last sentence Dean,
       Nature is one of life’s free treasures and great teachers. Freeing ourselves enough to embrace this truth, is in its self one of life’s miracles.

       1. And imagine that Leigh, nature surrounding us in every second and in every square inch of every single day. Talk about 24/7 support.

    2. A support we have always had Dean, this begs for us to feel just how have we been living that we were not aware of it, and that now we are aware of it, that we don’t fully accept it as the natural truth it is, holding ourselves in the fullness of awe that we are so beautiful that being supported by the space (nature) around us is the simple truth of living.

    3. ‘It is one of life’s free treasures but great teachers.’ Super well said, all day and every day nature has something to teach us, I love how you pointed out that’s it can help us better understand ourselves and the world we live in.

70. I can remember that I used to escape from people and specially my family when I was a teenager, going to the horses and “feel free”. I was confronted with a radical power I could go and dominate by riding them.I had to harden up my body very hard to manage this horse power – but there was never a horse too strong for me. I remember saying: “it is easier to handle a horse and get physically hurt then dealing with people and get emotionally or psychologically hurt. There is straight proof and a straight result. That’s haptic and concrete to deal with.” How do you prove to the outside world that you get abused by the people around you, simply because they choose not to be who they truly are? There was no chance for me to see a way – so I decided to escape to the horses as well. That felt more honest than anything around me. Looking back it was me not claiming my truth and running away from that responsibility.

    1. Dear Christinahecke,
       Not claiming our truth and the responsibility that comes with it. Something that I am finding is that each day the truth to be claimed is different. There is always the depth of warmth and love inside, no matter what. This is the first and foremost truth to claim. Then though feeling the many and varied things that have been tried in our quest to be loved by others is the next thing to claim, in full, so that the truth of how we have lived, without our love guiding us, can be clearly exposed and let go of. I am learning claiming my truth is actually about taking responsibility for the choices I have made and still make sometimes. Anything that I accept full responsibility for can be easily dealt with. Anything that I blame another for, keeps coming back to me until I feel the part in it that I am responsible for.

       1. That’s very beautifully said, Leigh! If ever I blame someone else for something I am not really taking my part in or – or accept and allow things to be different than I think they should be. Because even when we think we are speaking truth – I can be a lie looking back concerning the all – and then it’s not an universal truth that was needed that moment.

    2. That would be great Christina hearing my about your experience with riding horses in a blog.

       1. Thanks for inspiring me to do so, Janina!

       2. My pleasure, i love reading blog from you Christina!

71. Leigh, I love the simplicity of your writing and yet you reveal to us all great truths. For example, “Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I.” This expresses for me the inner and outer connection, which I have always felt when walking with nature. Thank you.

72. How true Shirl all the offerings that are before us to bring us back to “the Magic of God” that is with us all the time.

73. I am inspired from this blog to get out into nature more. I love it when I do, but realise how little I take the time for this. being in nature is so very confirming.

74. Beautyfull Leigh Strack. What I got from this article is that we are so used to pushing ourselves through things to get relieve. I often wonder, why would we go for relief if there is truth? What I also felt is, how I have been supported by the Modalities of Universal Medicine (Serge Benhayon), is by always making sure that I capture myself and being honest when I make choices that are not loving. I will take a moment and sit with myself, feeling my heart and at the same time the possible emotions I have been running with. Most of the time, big things have occur that I did not want to feel. By feeling that after or maybe some times at that possible time, I can make a choice to let go of that. As I see that I am not THAT, but I am actually me.

    1. Danna,
       And sometimes it can be something as small as a look from another, no words exchanged. So learning to catch ourselves when we step away from our bodies is a life long commitment to constantly return to our body and our connection.

       1. Yes Leigh, to always bring the honesty to our body and really feel what is going on. I know I have spend more time checking out, numbing myself – all not to feel my body.. Well I am building now a momentum(space of time) in my life that I make sure I am reflecting back to my body and take the time to feel how my body feels instead of running around making sure I do not contact my body at all! Must say it is so much better to feel what is going on than denying the whole lot!

75. Looking back on my life I can see times when I have been very disconnected from nature, even though working with it on a daily basis. I was so checked out, I see what was going on right under my nose. From time to time I still check out a bit if faced with a boring task but all it takes is a second to choose to reconnect and see the beauty of whats going on and what I am doing.

    1. This goes in anything that we do Kevin McHardy, there are so many boring tasks that are required to be done, but each of these tasks support us to live. The boring is disappearing from my vocabulary and in its place is deep honor that I can do a task, with me present and tender knowing that what I am doing supports me to live, and often times supports others as well. I am beginning to understand, how can a task be boring, when it holds with in it the offering of supporting someone who is in true service to humanity.

       1. “The boring is disappearing from my vocabulary…”
          I love this discussion Leigh and Kevin McHardy, we are so used to walking through life constantly looking for stimulation and of course if stimulation is our goal then boring is part of our lives. However, as you are sharing, when I bring all of me to a task how can it be boring as I am there in all my joy and gorgeousness to do it?

76. So true Shirl, nature has so much to offer as far as reflecting back to us the natural beauty we all have within

77. Re-reading this awesome blog again today I realise how much (and I feel pretty sure many of us have) throughout my life I chose to ignore or push down ‘those feelings of fear’ a little message from our body to say STOP and feel, ‘is this the self loving way or do we carry on and numb and harden our bodies pursuing more escaping ways to avoid feeling our truth? To walk in nature is a beautiful way to bring ourselves back to feeling (if we choose) and just look at the view while doing so. Thank you Leigh an inspirational sharing.

    1. There are so many ways that we carry on and numb ourselves Marion and these are constantly being reveled to me, and I am constantly feel the invite to refine how I live. It feels very natural to live life this way and very beautiful to know that the support that nature offers is forever present in our lives, if we are open to it.

78. I used to have a real need to be in nature, for it to give me something I felt I was lacking. This only helped to confirm the belief that I was lacking something in the first place. Whereas now, when I am out in the woods or the fields and I feel full and lovely with myself, then nature is simply a confirmation of who I am and my place in the whole universe.

79. I love Nature and I love to be in Nature. I love to see and feel its beauty, strength, steadiness and power. Being in Nature supports me to let go of things I am struggling with and to re-connect to me.

    1. I agree piajung and when i am in nature and let myself be with nature as one, i return to my natural flow and harmony.

80. Hi Leigh, while reading your blog I have realized how much I still ignore and override what I am feeling and my body then hardens due to this. Thank you for your sharing.

81. This is a great way of putting it Brendan – that there is support on offer, but for it to truly be supportive it has to come from inside us first.

82. Leigh’s sharing “simply walking in nature reminds me of who I truly am” is something I can relate to. Walking in nature (which is everywhere) I feel where I am from – and that it is possible to live a steady flow of self connection amidst anything I come across in life – that the expansion, magic, order, precision, divinity, rhythm, flow, grace, power, minute ordered heavenly detail of nature is equally my natural state, and can be lived and returned to by us all – not in any ‘back to nature’ mental picture, but just in a practical lived connection with ourselves through our days.

83. Recently I realised that we so often get distracted by the beauty of nature, because we see it as more beautiful than we are. In fact, as you have so beautifully written here, Leigh, nature is the same as we are. The beauty we see in the stunning absoluteness of nature is the same stunning beauty that is within us, they are reflections of each other.

    1. I can feel stillness and deep acceptance in you Naren, it is truly beautiful.

    2. So very true, Alex. Nature is an amazing support for us to reconnect to ourselves, but it supports us to realise that we are just as magnificent, just as stupendous, just as powerful, just as cyclical, just as delicate, and just as fragile.
       But to give ourselves away to it, or to hold it as more or less than us, as opposed to equal, is a degradation of the relationship that it offers us all.

    3. Its true Naren – and until we accept ourselves as the stupendous being that we are we really can’t appreciate nature in all its reflective glory.

       1. Indeed, Helen. There is no separating the viewer from the view.

84. Being in nature is something that can bring me back to myself so very quickly. It can be walking along a river, near bush or beside the ocean. I can get the same reconnection no matter where it is, experiencing the magic of god, but there, aware of its beauty is really wonderful.

85. I recall when I was young I would love to go outside after the summer afternoon rain and enjoy the feeling of all the plants rejoicing in the watering they received. The colours of the grass, plants and trees would glow it was a magical moment. I lived next door to a creek which held much wonder. I had so much fun playing in the nature that surrounded me. I’ve realised that now there is so much busyness that to take time out to spend in nature is a planned event.Thank you Leigh for reminding me of how the connection to nature has a powerful healing effect.

    1. Natalie,
       I too love the moment after rain. And adore when there is a rainbow to crown the joy you speak of from the plants and the Earth it self. These moments truly are magical and we as humans could all be well reminded how the simpleness of enjoying these moments supports us all to connect and to share the love we feel with all.

86. Yes I could say similar about the things I now use to hold steady with, but looking back, i was still drawn to those things when I was struggling, I just didn’t know why. The difference was in learning what my true north, or a true connection felt like inside me. That’s what made the difference. In that sense, and as Raymond has commented above, the Gentle Breath Meditation has been the most profound tool l’ve used to restore that connection. Getting to the truth of something is also an important one for me.

87. Yes sueq2012 I love how the magic of God, through nature, is there to confirm and support us, deepening our understanding of ourselves, whether through deepening the joy we are feeling or showing us a way back to ourselves the signs are consistently there for us.

88. Love your comment Anne, made me giggle toward the end when I imagined all the time and money we would save if we stopped looking for ways to escape, or the beauty of places to “fill us up” and just realised the beauty and grandness is within us, we don’t have to go anywhere, we carry it within us always. We are the beauty and grandness!

89. Many of us recognise how rejuvenating and healing it is to be in nature. But if we seek to be in nature, in disconnection, loaded with that which doesn’t belong, aren’t we asking nature to deal with rather a lot?

    1. Yes we do have a responsibility Alex, first of all to care ever so deeply for our selves. Once we make this our way of being it is almost impossible to not care for and fully respect nature.

90. I realized this morning when i am connected with my body focused and still and go out for a walk the connection is directly there. And i just felt at one with nature. Amazing what is possible if we focus the attention on deepening feeling our body and not getting lost in thinking.

    1. Yes Alex Braun,
       It is the feeling seperate from others that I really don’t like to feel when ever I let my head run away from my body. The feeling of interconnectedness that I have when I am fully present, filling my body with love, is becoming a clear marker, that pulls me to return when I pull away from me.

91. Leigh I love walking in nature too, I find if I am feeling out of sorts that after a short while of walking I reconnect to me. Nature to me is a real leveller and presents many messages along the way when I walk. What I love is that it is everywhere, even in the busiest of cities, it may be a little more built up, but nature finds it’s way into all of our lives.

    1. True Jennifer. Once we have felt that flow in nature and in us, and felt how utterly held we are in that huge love – it stays with us on the busiest of city streets – and God’s magic knows no bounds – it’s in a typo – a sign post – a car numberplate – equally as it is in a rainbow, a feather, a bird or a vast breathtaking natural landscape.

92. I was introduced to the magic of nature at a very early age and have always felt such a strong but natural connection to it and the cycles that continue season by season in divine order. These days I live in the country and out my windows nature unfolds daily with so much joy and delight always on offer, with endless messages being presented to me, but of course it is up to me whether I listen, or not.

93. There is a purity about nature that we have often used to conceal that fact that there are different qualities of being out with nature as there are also different qualities about how we live in our day. Just because we head out into something as pure as nature can be does not necessarily mean the initial intent was to reconnect and truly be with ourselves.

94. I agree Leigh “Yet I had no connection to this until I had connection to my soul”. Nature was more a distraction for me before I connected to my Soul. After my connection, the deep pulse of nature sometimes feels like you are walking with God because you are.

95. Yes Leigh, we can escape in nature as much as be truly inspired by nature. It is up to us to feel and realise the difference. One goes on holiday the other stays open to the wisdom of the reflection of nature, and the magic of God.

    1. Beautiful Jenny and so true: “Yes Leigh, we can escape in nature as much as be truly inspired by nature. It is up to us to feel and realise the difference.”
       I have definitely experienced both – and hands down know which I prefer!

96. When we begin to address our hurts and take responsibility for our wellbeing, it changes every thing. There are still moments when I feel not enough but instead of reacting and blaming another like I used to, I commit to me by feeling more deeply the lack of self worth without indulging in it. Accepting there is more to heal and appreciation for the opportunity are key.

    1. Dear Caroline,
       So many of us find it easy to use lack of self worth to keep us stuck in old patterns and beliefs. I have felt and realised one of these such moments tonight and am eternally grateful that, thanks to the presentations by Serge Benhayin and all other Universal Medicine Practitioners, I could see it for what it was. To let it be and to now simply ponder upon it, to get a sense of what lies behind it. This so supports me to drop these unwanted behaviours.

97. I love flowers, the beauty, delicateness, sweetness, strength, stillness etc in all their magnificence confirming all that I am.

    1. I love flowers too Caroline. The other day working in the clinic i could see the beautiful colors and shapes of the flowers standing in the corridor and this was a moment to reconnect to myself and my own beauty.

98. “My walks in nature are now a part of my day, and if I am having a moment of trouble, simply walking in nature reminds me of who I truly am.” When I’m feeling not myself walking is a great tool to help me come back to me. I walk every day and it is now part of my day too.

99. It is always a choice whether we connect to our stillness or not, and whether we are in a city or surrounded by nature, the choice to see and feel the stillness and beauty is equally there. There is beautiful confirmation and reflection of our grandness in nature but the magic of God is everywhere, reflecting back to us even in the midst of a city, if we are willing to see it.

    1. Yes it is Rosemary, nature is not just the wide open spaces or tree laden rainforest. The space around us is nature, be that in our home, in a city, on a bus or train. I am finding that when I surrender to my body and open to the space around me that I feel a sense of belonging/presence that is very stilling and I become very aware of what is happening in this space.

    2. True Rosemarydunstan. I once would have ‘needed’ wilderness, or forest, or something pristine to remind me and bring me something I was not choosing within – now in connection with me, the flow and gracious space that I know in me and in nature, still walks with me on the busiest city street.

    3. And a PS that God’s magic is everywhere and literally knows no bounds – even in the thickest of ‘urban jungle’ – car number plates strategically timed to deliver a loving message or reminder, so many ‘signposts’ available for God to playfully remind us we are always walking in a huge body of love, not only when we are in the countryside. God doesn’t need unspoilt country side, or any country side at all to offer constant support and love letters at every turn.

       1. So very well said Kate.

       2. Very beautiful Kate.

       3. So well said Kate. It so important to remember that the Magic of God is everywhere, not is some particular garden, building or environment but everywhere.

       4. Yes Jonathan – and doesn’t life change when we actually feel that we are absolutely held in such huge love – in a real tangible everyday way – and accepting that support and relationship – is the best friend we could ever dream of, supporting us with nudges and playful winks back to who we are. And on writing that – the kookaburras are going off in the morning sun (they are an Australian bird that laughs (loudly!)- with unrestrained joy) – yes we are forever held in a stupendous Love – and if we are willing to go to the letterbox, the love letters are everywhere.

100. Lovely to feel Stephen G what walking in nature is to you “I know that going walking in nature is not about the connection with the natural environment but more about that connection to my own body from the commitment to walk for well-being”. It’s the same for me too!

101. What a beautiful sharing about nature and its wonderous effect it has cheriseholt. It can directly touch us in the confirmation of what we feel. I have had the same many experiences – all I will never forget, and better then any movie or artificial stimulant. It’s free anytime too right in our backyard.

102. That is so true Abby, that is why I used to feel so good in nature, because I am the same qualities within myself and the connection made me feel my own joy, harmony, stillness and love

103. “And when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me.” Yes Leigh I love this feeling too. It is a confirmation for us all that we are indeed part of a much bigger picture and we are connected when we are in our stillness.

     1. Yes Kelly Zarb, nature does confirm us and remind us that we are part of a much bigger picture, one that sees us all as forever connected as one.

104. Thank you Leigh. Nature is very beautiful. It always offers me a reflection to connect and remind me of who I am through the magic of God. Nature reflects this back to me because it is me who knows who I am. A lot of us feel this from nature, and we feel inside that we are grand, but as we walk it is in disconnection from who we are. If we do not walk who we are then everything outside of we see is a distraction and stimulation to ‘keep us looking’.
     Walk with our body. What supports me is to focus on one part of the body (eg. my legs) that I feel is the weakest or needs it and feel it as I walk. The focus is then on me and not what is around me.

     1. Rik,
        “Nature reflects back to me because it is me who knows who I am.” Just now I am flying home looking at the ocean and I have never before seen it so still. As I open my heart and fully appreciate what I am being shown my body becomes even more still and deeply solid.

105. I agree Samantha, nature does not try to be anything other than itself – what a wonderful, consistent reflection to us to simply be ourselves.

106. Beautifully expressed Leigh – “Nature is solid” “And when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me”. To appreciate that connection within myself first to then appreciate fully the gift of what nature naturally reflects back.

     1. Beautiful said Leigh and Marion.

107. Leigh, like you “my walks in nature are now a part of my day, and if I am having a moment of trouble, simply walking in nature reminds me of who I truly am”. Walking in the country is quite different from walking in the city. Having experienced both, I much prefer walking in the country. In the country nature is more accessible and the Magic of God is in every plant and animal one encounters along the way when we are connected to our inner most.

108. I used to escape a lot into Nature when I felt misunderstood and rejected. What I have come to now is that I don’t need anything not even nature to run away to, because I have found home inside of me.

     1. Beautiful Monika2808 – from a need for escape and respite from harshness to “I don’t need anything not even nature to run away to, because I have found home inside of me.” I can totally relate to this shift – invaluable awareness.

109. Yes Nature is simply beautiful and a reflection of divine order.

110. I like your blog Leigh, Nature is awesome and absolute fair. With the weather we get back what we had pollute the earth with. My true connection with nature is to explore and enjoy it in equality. ” I am as equally grand as the trees, the earth, the rivers, the creeks, the oceans” beautiful said.

111. Beautifully shared Suzanne and Vicky – the beauty and majesty of nature has always reminded me of the bigger picture.

112. Leigh I also love this part ‘As I watch the trees bend and move as the wind blows, going with the flow of the day, yet not changing what they are, I am reminded of the same for myself.’ Something that we can all honour… going with the flow and always staying true to who we are.

113. “Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I.” Really lovely to remember this Leigh.

     1. Yes I was just about to write a similar comment. It is great reminder of how solid we are and what a solid offering nature brings us. It makes me think that this could be a reason why people can be hell bent on destroying nature because of the solidness it brings the world. Many companies profit from us being a bit flaky and shaky – with many remedies available to cure that!

        1. Theres food for thought SarahFlenley – I had never considered that before.

        2. Being who we are no matter the circumstances. This needs great consideration for each of us. The level of strength, solidness and stillness that we can deliver in the most challenging circumstances can truly bring great change to the lives of many. In this each of us is no different than the greatest beauty we can imagine in nature, the beauty and strength we hold is just the same.

        3. Beautifully said Alex, why are we living in a way that constantly is about not wanting to be who we are and at the same time living driven by the longing, the emptiness and waywardness to re-connect back to our origins? We often use nature as an escape space to re-connect, but we don’t really accept the true reflection that nature is giving us. Nature reflects us the harmony to be lived as human beings in absolute brotherhood independently of our temporal human expression. No flower compares itself to a tree or the clouds longing to be something different they just are the beauty they are meant to be constellated in the Universe that is forever evolving.

114. When reading your words what came to me is that as children we feel so at one with nature because it is simply natural for us, we feel the rhythms and cycles of everything around us, it is part of us, we simply are in this as we are part of this big womb of God. But then when we grow up we slowly buy into what the world offers us, offers us to disconnect from this naturalness and join a created version of all that we know is naturally ours. So we lose connection to our true being-ness but still deep down know how it feels to be full and the whole that we originally are, so nature becomes our soothing pill, it brings us calm and reminds of our of what we once had. But we tend to use it as a go-to-relief – instead of making it the fullness of our living.

     1. So true Esther, very well said.

     2. Well said Esther, I love how you point out that we use and therefore abuse nature to re-connect us back to something we once had “instead of making it the fullness of our living”.

        1. I agree Rachel, this point also stood out for me and makes me realise/be aware of the unconditional love of God.

        2. So true Esther and Rachel, if we come to nature already knowing and feeling the fullness of connection within us, then we are not seeking anything from it. In fact, as well as observing it and receiving its reflections, we know we are part of it, every particle of us and it moving in cycles together.

115. After reading many comments on this blog again this morning I’ve come to conclude that human life is one of continual reflections. How, and if, we see, feel and even hear those reflections is entirely up to what we want to see, feel and hear about ourselves.
     At the end of the day we are actually left consistently with moments to appreciate the opportunities to return to who we truly are.

     1. Beautifully said Elizabeth “How, and if, we see, feel and even hear those reflections is entirely up to what we want to see, feel and hear about ourselves.” – it is a real take or leave it, misinterpret if you will, but the offering will never stop, situation.

     2. I agree Elizabeth. These moments you refer to that are with us all day every day are forever showing us that we can return to who we truly are at any time we so choose.

116. Thank you for your great blog about nature ,it really is an enormous foundation with its amazingness, stillness and absolute knowing and living in the all of the world . A beautiful sharing of the knowing and connection you tune into when in nature, thank you for this great reflection!

117. I love rocks too. I have a collection I play with, stacking them, making patterns with them, finding ones that fit together. It’s fun!

118. You’re absolutely right Abby, nature holds amazing reflection. Everything around us is reflection and so we can choose to draw from these reflections the conclusion that it reflects our own true beauty, power etc or an inspiration to build a reconnection with our own true beauty in the case where the reflection is not offering that. Either way the reflection allows us to know more of ourselves.

119. The picture you describe Leigh of this young child simply sitting in the middle of nature alongside a horse is so strong, like you were so in tune with you and what you felt. In this is a sense of complete trust and security too, with no fear able to break this flow. I love how we have been given the tools through the Esoteric Healing work to return to this gorgeous natural state as adults. It is not something that we have to leave behind at all.

120. Nature knows its self and its place in life, to feel the beauty and stillness of nature when I am in tune with myself and are not seeking anything from nature.

121. Nature is and always has been the place to get myself centered again whenever I felt beside myself and out of rhythm – just by seeing and feeling its rhythms, stillness, purpose and beauty in every little detail.

     1. Yes nature is a beautiful reflection of that which we are too, stillness, purpose, beauty and part of divinity.

122. What I got from your blog Leigh, is how we can use the same things either to confirm or escape. We could be looking at the same thing but if our inner love and truth is not held within then that same thing reflects a totally different perspective to us. It’s the same as looking at the world through eyes of hurt, as opposed to looking through the eyes of love. If we hold ourselves equal to all then we receive the equal reflection back.

     1. Great expansion Kimweston2 and extremely valid point of quality – the action is a part of it but the energy, intention or quality is the defining whole. Even in an example of having a cuddle, we could be doing it to fill a need and escape from having intimacy with ourselves OR we could hug another in confirmation of the love we feel for ourselves and sharing that with another. Both look the same from the outside, yet the quality feels very different.

123. ‘Yet never once did it enter my head that my life could be as equally enjoyable’. Such is the common thought that many of us have or I should say lack of thought. It always astounds me when I discover something about myself that I have never questioned. Yet once question, ‘it is then up to us to rise in equalness to the support that is present’. Great Blog Leigh.

124. Thats true, the consistency of nature is such an amazing reflection for us all the time.

     1. I agree Steffi, nature is a great reminder for us to live equally consistent and to offer our amazing reflection to others.

125. When I read your blog I can feel the immensitiy and stillness of nature and what we can align to all the time- I loved reading your blog… It was easy ro read and felt alive- thank you!!

126. I felt when I read about how you pushed down your feelings of fear and how you harden by forcing yourself to learn how to ride, that this was the same for me when I learned how to ride a bike. I know sitting on a saddle felt awful and how I disliked the unstability. The only way to learn it was to ignore my feelings and be a good girl which meant I learned it because of recognition and I didnot want to be excluded from all the other kids who could ride a bike.

     1. I too used to ride a bike when I was a child. I loved the thrill of riding fast ignoring and numbing what I was truly feeling. Sometimes it wouldn’t be for very long but it would be enough to give me the temporary fix to feel better. So whether it is riding a horse, a bike or some other activity, to me it is nothing but a distraction to feeling what is truly going on within our body and in our lives.

127. ‘The support I feel in nature is not grandiose or something I need. It is simply something that is, like many things in life, offered to us; it is then up to us to rise in equalness to the support that is present.’ This is my experience too Leigh, nature is just there to support us, a lot of times it is bringing a smile on my face, feeling the joy to be an equal part of the whole.

128. I like your reference to your thoughts being like the breeze. This allows me to feel the impermanent nature of what we think and how we have to choose to rehash a thought over and over again to keep it alive with us, even though that thought may be very harmful to ourselves and to others. It also allowed me to feel that the thoughts coming from our soul are also like the breeze. They present, and we work with them, or not, and then it is on to the next thing. So thank you, our thoughts are definitely either the gentle loving breeze, nurturing ourselves and others, or they are like a cyclonic wind that never lets up in holding on to harmful destructive ones.

129. “… it is then up to us to rise in equalness to the support that is present.” Unpicking our connection to nature to expose our feelings of inequality and not feeling enough is profound. I just adore how you have unearthed (pardon the pun) how nature can be used as distraction or an escape if we allow it. It is an inspiration from which we can return to truly connect to who we are. Awesome.

130. One of the things I love most about nature is the playfulness. Who designed all those different coloured and shaped fish and birds? How come the most beautiful birds make the most ugly noise? Everything is reflected in nature and available for us to see if we so choose.

     1. Yes Nicola I too love the playfulness in nature. The falling leaves, the tiny birds darting every which way, the shapes of trees, the absolute fun a dog has in living – every day. I so love the philosophy of my dog, he has taught me so much about joy.

        1. Yes Leigh, animals are so much more connected to nature and to the rhythms of nature that they can teach us a thing or two if we are open to seeing it. This includes the natural joy that domestic animals express whenever they go for a walk or play outside.

     2. I love it, very true, there is so much quirkiness in nature, why are we then so strict and hard with ourselves when it comes to our own way of being?

        1. Great point Esther 🙂

     3. YES! I totally agree, who designed nature to be such an absolutely perfect reflection? How do the seasons change? and how DOES a beautiful bird make an ugly sound? I love it, it’s absolutely fascinating, and such a great reflection of human life.

131. Rocks rock! I’ve always loved rocks too, and for the same reasons. I particularly like round, smooth rocks you can hold in the palm of your hand. Portable rocks.

132. Very soon after beginning to consider that even one person choosing to express fully from their heart has huge impact, I started noticing the presence of one bird in the midst of the noise of the traffic and the singing and chirping of all the other birds. For a long time every morning as I stepped out of my front door into the day, I could hear this bird very loudly singing its heart out, A tiny bird with a huge sound. I could feel the absolute power, love and full on expression – this bird was not going to hold back for anyone! Every day I would burst out laughing in recognition of what this was showing me. I could hear the singing a long way away – even when it was very faint I was aware of the bird just doing its thing with no hesitation or control. My joy of this moment would help me remember an absolute knowing that every aspect of my life mattered in the same way. There is a magic and playfulness in nature that provides a great confirmation of who we already are or what we need to focus on – an absolute blessing.

     1. Absolutely Golnaz,
        A blessing that never ends, that is always consistent, that never holds back its love, nor in showing us just how much we are loved.

     2. That’s very beautiful Golnaz. These experiences are their everyday for us to observe and enjoy and take away what we are ready to learn. There is a never ending supply of this if we only stop and notice.

133. How we relate to nature, how we look to provide what we are lacking, can be like anything else we look to in life. In my own life I have often gone to someone for support hoping they will take away my issues. And at times I have sought support in order to deepen my understanding, responsibility and commitment to my turning my situation round, and what unfolds is always amazing. Similar with Nature I have tended to go wanting something – often for relaxation and leaving the world behind – and of course I always have felt better, because just the choice of being in nature has meant the self-loving choice to stop the exhausting incessant run around, reacting to things and protecting myself. Yet when I have already stopped to connect with myself first, when I am already in appreciation of myself and life, then when I meet Nature – wow, this is when my relationship comes to its own. I can feel a deep connection and oneness – and what I feel and see in what is before me deeply touches an awareness and a knowing that bypasses my mind and is always immensely supportive.

     1. I 100% agree Golnaz. The feeling of totally being held in love that is felt definitely bypasses the mind, for the words are not there to describe in absolute equalness the feeling of this connection with ourselves first and foremost and then equally so with nature.

134. I remember the exact moment I chose to harden up as a young man. I was ‘forced to play rugby union while at boarding school because I could run fast, but for the first year of playing I was constantly getting hurt. This was because I didn’t want to harden up and go hard as the expression goes. I avoided tackling and passed the ball on as quickly as I could. One day in came the choice: you either stop being hurt or start pushing back. So the guy with the ball got a fright of his life when I took him down and it didn’t hurt me, how awful. That was the moment I put my tenderness in my back pocket. Thanks to Universal Medicine, it’s now back in all my pockets and overflowing wherever I go.

     1. Dear Matthew,
        This is a beautiful sharing. Your tenderness is felt and is a huge marker for every man.

     2. “That was the moment I put my tenderness in my back pocket. Thanks to Universal Medicine, it’s now back in all my pockets and overflowing wherever I go.” I love this expression, very vivid and clear, no way that anybody can miss what it means.

135. Suzanne that is beautiful. The way you have described how the stream reflected who you are and yet at the same time how you/we share the same particles as those in nature highlights that we are part of something so grand.

136. Walking in nature is a divine experience that is steady consistent flowing and forever changing yet also the same all the time.It bursts forth a connection with the all and this is so solid and real and the joy and harmony and reality it reflects is life on earth and how it can be in harmony ,stillness and motion forever flowing and grounding with an appreciation and knowing it is of God. What a gift Nature is in the world for humanity.

137. “Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I. In feeling this, it is clear to me that some of the behaviours that I have chosen are not actually coming from the true nature of who I am. These behaviours are not solid and steady and often they are fickle and picky and are ways of being that are niggling, reinforcing the lie that I am not enough.” I love this awesome reminder thank you Leigh.

138. Wow Leigh, your story could be my story. I also used nature to escape life, I also used it to somehow be able to cope with all the sadness around me. Today I still love walking , but my purpose is not to escape but to enjoy the connection with myself and with nature.

     1. Yes, Kerstin, me too. Nature was my ‘go-to’ place, my saviour from the ugliness of what was happening in my family home. But it also reminded me and kept me connected to my inner knowing and faith that there is beauty and God in everything.

139. Beautiful Rowena,
     Your comment holds us all in the trials of life. For no matter how horrid a situation we may find ourselves in the true nature of who we are is always with us, we though must choose to be with it.

140. That’s it Anne, reclaiming the beauty we come from. My beauty is there always to claim, in every moment. Letting go of the many ways that I have shied away from claiming it is the key to totally and irrevocably claiming it again.

141. We are setting ourselves free by own choice. I like that Ariana.

142. Dear Rachel,
     I am literally agog, as I picture you riding a bike, and knowing you now. There is no way the woman I now know could, or would want to ride a bike. So as you say, “we seek in the strongest of places when we don’t develop a strong relationship with our essence.”
     In your comment I feel a closer connection with all of humanity, for the things to escape with that are now offered are many. Making it seemingly more of a challenge to seek that close relationship with our essence. Yet our essence is there forever waiting for us to stop, because the moment we do it is undeniably felt.

     1. I love this Leigh, the infinitely patient soul waiting for us to come home – meanwhile we are riding motorbikes, sailing vast oceans, abseiling down cliffs and scrambling back up them……whatever the thrill we indulge them all. Then one day we stop…and we breathe, and we notice something inside of us, more vast than any ocean. Yes, we feel its pulse and we know we are home. What thrill can equate to knowing who we are and where we come from?

        1. In my experience, none. What I am discovering of late though is just how the momentum of thrills and spills, is entrenched. For when still there is this constant pull to take the mind to another time, or place, hence the thrills and spills reality and it takes great awareness and dedication to stay still, to stay with body and the steadiness and deeply loving pulse of the soul.

     2. In that space, for it truly is spacious, we have the All. It is so very still that it takes a while for the restless mind to grasp that this is the everything. There is nothing more to seek – nothing at all.
        I am agog at that. The simplicity of that truth.

143. Dear Marion,
     The gift is that we have allowed ourselves to feel it, for the beauty of our love has always been with us.

144. It is amazing the nooks and crannies that our vices can hide in.
     To find a vice in nature is very sneaky as nature is very beautiful naturally 😉

     1. Great point Luke – using something so beautiful as nature for a check out – compared to Pokies and Foxtel it doesn’t compare – but it is all still an escape from something we don’t want to feel.

        1. And to the untrained eye it could be left undiscovered for many many years.
           But to the trained eye it is simple… you feel the person no longer connecting with you.

145. I have become aware that I am truly connected and appreciative of nature and that has always been there, however I used to go into a ‘bliss state’ around it and lose myself and so not stay present, it was like I let go and did not take responsibility, it wasn’t ‘just being’ it was in a way ‘giving up’. I was on the beach this summer on a hot sunny day and I looked out to the horizon and I felt it come over me, that ‘nice’ feeling, but it felt yucky, I had a moment where I thought where were you, you drifted off somewhere else. I can still appreciate nature but being in ‘conscious presence’ for me deepens my appreciation of it and my relationship with it.

146. This is beautiful Sueq and when we are open to seeing what nature presents and using the reflections from nature as a confirmation, and we approbate our role in what has just transpired, then through appreciation we deepen our connection.

147. There is a real honesty and reminder of something when we walk in nature. Its like when walking, all around you are being presented and shown what feels true, and when you correspond this to your body you can feel a difference and an opportunity to adjust and let go of any internal disharmony. Equally, when you walk in nature and are already feeling harmonious, this is beautifully confirmed and expands how you are feeling.

     1. I agree johannebrown17, as I walk there is a constant reminder that we are all connected to every tree, every blade of grass and that nature does not have an issue with ‘just being’, it knows it’s purpose and just gets on with it with no fanfare.

148. I love what you share Victoria and Bina. Nature is but one way to experience the magic of God. Our stillness is always there to connect to, no matter where we are.

149. Beautiful observation David, the more that I make the choice to live equal to nature, the more is being revealed to me in how I have lessened the true worth of who I am. This has been and continues to be very revealing, and through each understanding, returning to my body and feeling the inherent equalness of us all has been the hugest support.

150. Dear Raymond,
     Your comment took me back to the simpleness and beauty of my breath, Thank You.

151. In the last few weeks I have been appreciating myself more and more, particuarly with what I bring to my job, and as a result appreciation for me has been shared in various ways. Yesterday as I was driving, the sun was on the rise, and the light that was emanating from behind the clouds was simply exquisite. There was a lightness and such a delicate quality to the clouds but also eternally present, and I could feel the beauty of the reflection that Nature was offering me. Your sentence Leigh, ‘Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I’ sums up what I was observing.

152. Nature is a great reflection and reminder of our inner qualities but by choosing to be connected and live in our natural rhythm, our stillness no reflections or reminders are needed.

153. Love what you have said here Bina. It is very simple, connect with the stillness within and no confirmation or reflection is needed. Not even the bricks.

154. What really struck me with reading your blog is it does not matter what we do, anything can be used as an escape no matter how “good” and beneficial it may seem. It comes back to feeling why we are doing something, whether this is to confirm or build our connection and beauty within or whether we are using it too let off steam and/or destress. When we are doing it to let off steam or destress we are using it as a bandaid to make us feel better, but we are not actuating looking at what led us to feel this way, hence that activity becomes an escape.

155. I love to be in nature, feeling nature’s beauty and rhythm supports me to reconnect to the stillness within me.

156. ‘My walks in nature are now a part of my day, and if I am having a moment of trouble, simply walking in nature reminds me of who I truly am. As I watch the trees bend and move as the wind blows, going with the flow of the day, yet not changing what they are, I am reminded of the same for myself.’ Indeed Leigh, feeling the flow of nature is an amazing marker for me.

157. My life-long dream was to live in the countryside, preferably as far from civilisation as possible. 2 and a half years ago I did the previously thinkable and up sticks and came to London.I love it. No longer do I dream of escaping to the country – there is nature aplenty in the city which offers me it’s beautiful reflection which every day confirms my deepening commitment to life in full.

158. Yesterday in my break at work i went for a short walk in the forest. I could feel such a strong connection to nature and God. I saw a heart shape stain on the ground. Walking along a wind breeze came some leaves where blown in the air and above my head.
     Good’s communication and confirmation beautiful…

159. I’m still pondering on my relationship with nature as a child I spent a lot of time in and with nature and yes I guess it was an escape from my home life to somewhere safe, somewhere I could relax and let my guard down and be with myself and often somewhere I could escape from what I really felt going on in my body as a result of how I was living and just check out in a safer numbness than I felt at home.

160. Beautifully said Danna,
     Accepting ourselves in full, hiding nothing, opens us up to honestly feel any thing that is not coming from the foundation of love we all have within. In fact, if I find myself wanting to hide or gloss over something, then I know that it is something for me to look at.

     1. Well said Leigh. It is so easy to step over something and ignore. But we pay the full price , as our next moment will be more blurry and disconnected. As we leave the initial impulse we were left with.

161. I just love how nature constantly reflects all that support us in our lives, especially the way it flows in rhythms and cycles. I used to not be so ware of this but it is amazing how everything is under a cycle and/or a rhythm. In nature, in our body and in our energy.

     1. I agree james, it is amazing how we have mastered not being a part of that which we are undeniably a part of. No wonder there is so much disharmony in our bodies and in our societies.

162. absolutely Adam and what I see in nature too is the fact that we are all part of a greater whole. each part has it’s own place but would be nothing without all else around it.

163. I always felt I had a connection to nature and my dream became fulfilled (I thought) when I lived out in the bush 30kms from the nearest small town. I loved the many different types of trees, the sound they made as they moved in the wind, the flowing crystal clear creek, the morning mist in the valley and the clear blue skies in the day and the velvety dark skies at night, and the many different birds and their song. But there was still always something missing and that something was me, because I used the beauty and wonder of nature to escape from me, whereas now I have come to be aware that I too have that Magic of God within me also and now when I walk I am with the magic of nature and not seeking or using it to give me something that in the past I never acknowledged, that same grandness I always had within myself. The magic of God truly is everywhere, in everything and everyone whether we want to feel and accept that or not is our choice, but it doesn’t alter the fact.

     1. A truly beautiful comment Deidre, the magic of God is everywhere, in everything and everyone whether we want to feel and accept that or not. I love that you came to know that grandness within yourself Deidre, a grandness that was always there.

164. Thank you Leigh, I can feel now the true importance of surrendering to nature, and that energy of feeling enough as you are, because in nature, all you need to be is yourself.

165. Everything in nature has such a beautiful rhythm – what a perfect reflection for us to consider our own rhythm each day.

166. It’s humbling to know that I can use or abuse any God given medicine.

     1. Nicely said Felixschumacher8, simple, succinct and a great analogy. We have the potential to not only use illicit drugs, but abuse legally-prescribed ones – medicine – and use this to further mask our true symptoms.

167. I love how you share that we can use nature as an escape, because we do. For me it feels important that I can just be still and connected in the middle of a city and likewise in nature. Then I can go into nature not as an escape but as a moment to confirm that connection, knowing that nature is a reflection of my own grandness.

     1. Well said Mariette. We can get so stuck in the idea that we need nature to come back to ourselves that we forget that we can use anything as a support to come back to ourselves if we first connect back to our bodies and allow our mind to be with whatever our body is doing. There is quite an ideal that nature is the answer but as you say Mariette, it is the willingness to connect to our stillness where ever we are and with what ever we may be doing, then the reflection of our grandness can come in many different forms and ways.

     2. Great sharing Mariette and I agree, nature is a reflection of everything we equally are in connection.

     3. Ooooh my legs are clearing and tingling as I read your comments here, Leigh and Mariette, reminding me of the grandness of me I can walk in today and every day. Thank you.

     4. Wonderful to read Leigh, that you live now your grandness.

     5. I agree Mariette, the stillness is within us and the choice is ours to connect or not regardless of whether we are in a city or surrounded by nature. We can find inspiration to be steady within in the smallest of things, in the midst of a city or the serenity of nature it makes little difference if we are but willing to look and feel.

     6. Exactly Mariette! This is what nature is for me today a confirmation “of my own grandness”.

168. I agree Adam, nature has so much on offer for us all to learn from and an endless reflection of the beauty of who we are.

169. And to Amita, with the beauty of our soul within.

170. I did. I did withdraw from life by indulging into my hobby. And I had the thought that I love it – but in fact I did like to not feel how I live and how this feels for me. I was lonely and sad, not committed into life, work or people. With my hobby I did immerse into the whole framework and consciousness of it and so separate even more from what I really am. Now I am always asking myself, ‘will this be done for me, to not feel something, to withdraw, or is it done to confirm what I am and in service for all?’

     1. This something is then abused to fill our hole and so it can never be in service for all. In fact it is harming all.

171. Thats true because we did walk away from our natural, divine being. Important here to not give our power away to nature as it is not more or greater then we are. It did just not walk away from what it is.

     1. Beautifully said Sandra. Now it is up to us to walk again who we are, to walk ourselves back to our tenderness and joy, which has really never left us, we just forgot it was there for a time.

172. Love what you have shared here Bina especially this line ‘Nature has a pulse and I have that pulse inside me if I choose to connect.

173. Thank you Judith, for sometimes I will tend to work on after feeling I should stop and go for a walk, but most times I carry on working and as I express I can feel that this is not very honouring of my body. I too am going to make it part of my daily rhythm.

174. Never hold back you grandness Alexandre.
     For the world needs every one of us to express it, to show that we are all grand, equally so.

175. The strength of your connection with nature Leigh is evident and through writing and sharing this with others you offer everyone a blessing to reflect on their own relationship with nature. Like anything nature can be used for healing or harming and you have explained both ways really well. Thank you Leigh for the dear reminders in this blog about being receptive to what nature brings us, the confirmation and opportunities for evolution as well as connection to ourselves and God.

176. There’s often very profound learnings to see in nature, regardless of whether you live in a city or out in the bush – birds and leaves can be simple buoys to help us along the way.

     1. Like the ‘buoys’-symbol Oliver. And it is true, nature is not greater than me. Recently I saw a little bird and enjoyed its delicateness and tenderness. How easy it is in this world today to forget that I am as tender and as delicate – only the bird does not deny what it is.

177. How gorgeous Leigh to have finally, not only reconnected to nature, but to the little two year old who knew the truth that nature presents to us in every precious moment. I particularly love these words and as I read them I could feel the wisdom they speak: “there are times when I can feel tossed about a little, just like the trees in the wind, yet at the end of the day I am still me”. So very beautiful and so very true!

178. Like you say with horse-riding, it is amazing how we can do things and say we ‘love them’ and only later on feel more honestly that they were not supporting us. I played sport like this – I would have passed a lie detector had someone asked me if I loved my sport – YES I would have said unequivocally. But from the connection and love I now have for myself and my body I can say truly that my body did not love the sport at all – the pushing, the exhaustion, the stress, strain, injury and pain. I liked the recognition, the adrenaline, the competition against another and feeling better than another, I liked being in the moment and leaving all my worries behind – until the buzzer and then life was back and I was left with an exhausted body. These were all of the things that I was seeking because I was not happy and was not present with myself. Still I won many awards, played for my state and was considered a real success – when on the the inside I felt empty and desperately in need of being needed, wanted and worthy – sport filled that role for me. I had the same thing around nature – ‘I love nature’ I would say with my bare feet and salty hair – but what I really liked was the relief it gave me from life, I could escape and bliss out in nature.. Now I have a totally different relationship with it where I experience nature from my inner-connection and all around me I am confirmed and supported by the magic of God that is reflected through the natural world – to be in nature is to be with God, and with myself – hence no escaping, as there is always something to feel and confirm whether it be the small feather that falls or the eagle that soars above.

     1. I agree Sarah. We can mis-use or abuse nature as well as other things in this world to fill our emptiness or to withdraw from life. And how easy it is to say ‘I love…’ – but not coming from a place which is full of love and so can not honestly/truly say this. Since I am attending Universal Medicine workshops and events I changed a lot and found myself now able to say ‘I love’ in a true way, because I am feeling, accepting and expressing the love that I am. What I say is now coming from the place in me where love is felt and lived. So it becomes a sharing of my fullness and no longer something I wish to get for me. This is very different.

     2. What you share here Sarah shows clearly that through choosing to still ourselves and to connect to our bodies as being the only way we can feel the harm that we are doing to our bodies when we choose activities that strain and exhaust us. When the choice is made to be in our bodies, we realise, clearly that our body’s simply reflect to us how we have lived in them. And support us to live in more tender loving ways, for this, our body has always cried out deeply for.

179. When I feel connected to my innermost, i can feel an aliveness in trees and their auras emanating joy. I don’t go around hugging them, but I do appreciate their constant reflection of strength in their roots, their branches giving shelter from sun or rain, their changing with the cycles, their constant service of exchanging carbon monoxide for oxygen and affording birds a place to roost. If Earth was a human body, trees would be the lungs and they remind us of God in our lives.

     1. I love your appreciation of trees here jinya, (maybe a blog here!) I have always felt their mighty power and strength in their roots, and how the branches ( or arms) can move and flow effortlessly with the wind yet still remaining rooted and solid….which is a beautiful reflection for me today…. in that I am still learning that love is who I am, who we all are, and when we express from love we can move and flow through life without absorbing, without taking on hurts, without taking on the pains of others.

180. “It always felt so much better after and during riding or walking, that it was like a drug for me.” I never before realised that one can use nature like a drug, so this blog has opened my eyes to the fact that if we use anything as an escape it can become like a drug in time – our go-to prop in times of trouble – whereas when we learn to take all of us with us wherever we go we can enjoy nature – and everything – for the reflection and beauty it offers.

181. I enjoyed reading about your connection with nature, Leigh, thank you ~ and I love the analogies you use. Nature is solid, full and steady, and so are we humans, – if we choose to connect to these qualities. And nature can teach us so much, as you point out ~ nature just IS. It leaves us the way we are, and it’s up to us to connect to it, and to ourselves. This awareness you share is gold.

     1. Thank you Nathaliesterk,
        The awareness of the reflection nature offers continues to grow for me, each day I feel something else from and in nature, yet always there is the constant pull to return to my grandness. Everything nature communicates to me is always offering to me the possibility that there is more to address, to accept and to let go of as I remember the true beauty and grace that I am. It supports me with no preasure, simply an offering, that I can either connect in full with or gloss over with making it the same thing I understood previously. There truly is much to open ourselves to when it comes to the communication nature offers us.

182. Love this insight Stephen, the fact that what is to be appreciated is that we have that same grandness within and NOT that we get that stillness from nature.

183. Thank you Leigh for sharing your evolving connection with nature and how ‘when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me.’ This is so confirming and my recent experience also but in the past I definitely used being in nature to escape from life. For several years pre-teens to mid-teens I had my own pony and now realise I used him as an exhilarating distraction from the rest of my life. This is something that I have not explored before and I appreciate the opportunity you are offering in this blog.

184. Thank you Leigh, for conjuring up some lovely images of life in the countryside with your blog. I have always personally felt more at home in the countryside than the town and feel that we distance ourselves from nature at our peril.

     1. Your reply Johnathon takes me to the harm I can see in checking out with computer games, TV, alcohol to name a few of the things that are accepted in society as being normal and ok. When this is chosen to the degree that it is today, it separates those, that choose it, from humanity. How can we again connect to the love we all are and hold when so much of what is accepted as normal, actually prevents us from feeling our own inner connection and the interconnectedness of all of us. Yes it is to our peril to distance ourselves from nature.

185. I can really relate to what you have written here Leigh, ‘I forced myself to learn how to ride and as I write this I can feel that hardness in my body still’, I did the same but with motorbikes, I wanted to spend time with my dad who rode motorbikes and motorbikes seemed pretty cool – something to tell people about, I remember actually being scared of riding them but overrode this, hardened my body and pushed myself to ride them.

     1. I understand the desire to do something so we can tell others about our experiences. I have been noting this of late more and have connected to how this thought process takes the focus away from the present and stops me from feeling the joy and grace of each moment. It is a great trick that has us thinking it is about connecting with others, when it is really about hoping that another will approve of us. Keeping a level of the belief we are not enough, as we are, alive in our bodies. Feeling this is supporting me on a deeper level to stay present with my body and to experience each moment as it is.

186. My connection with nature, my connection with myself, my connection with others is all one and the same, and deepens as my love of self deepens. Thankyou for sharing such a beautiful blog Leigh.

187. Great blog Leigh and it reminds me that I used to use running in nature in the same way – it used to be a big escape and a relief. It was only a temporary ‘high’ though. And I used to get pretty grumpy if I could not do it for any reason. It was only when I started to ask the question why do I need an escape and a relief from my everyday life that I stopped relying on the running and nature to bring me something I was not providing for myself.

188. So beautiful Leigh Strack how you have returned to the truth and love you lived when you were 2 years old. It inspires me every time when people share their relationship with nature and they all reflect basically the same, that nature is reflecting us who we truly are are. Every time this is a reminder to me to allow nature to be that reflection and not something to escape to in order to give relief from the tensions I have build up during my daily life. Thank you for sharing and writing this blog.

     1. Dear Nico, in reading your reply I could feel that by allowing nature to be the reflection of our own glory, that it is, we open to allowing another to also be this reflection for us. We are much less likely to allow the energy of comparison to interfere with the beauty we see in another.

        1. I like that Leigh, that when we can appreciate nature for being the reflection of our own glory we are then equally open to receive the reflection we get with people we meet and to read it for what it is and to not react to it instead. Through the appreciation we feel for the refection that has been given to us, we can see the beauty of the constellation that has been co-created to give us that reflection that we need to evolve, to take the next step. What a great support in our return to love, our re-connection with the soulful way of living we are designed for.

189. I’m always amazed at how well nature reflects things to me that I need to be aware of , and in the most gorgeous and totally apt way. I love to feel that connection when I am stopped by nature and its loving messages.

190. Nature, as beautiful as it may be as you said can be an escapism from the reality of our life. We can go out and enjoy it and then come back not realising that this joy that we feel when out in it can also be part of our daily life, not something we turn to, to escape from.

     1. Expressed beautifully Gail ‘this joy that we feel when out in it can also be part of our daily life., How gorgeous and steady it is to feel joy whatever we’re doing and where-ever we are.

     2. Yes Gail,
        Something to embrace.

191. I too love being in nature Leigh as this is also a place for me to feel the reflection nature offers and reconnect. As you said ‘Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I.’

192. Brilliant, I love this. I became a biker in my late 20s – hated every minute of it, scared out of my wits, but pushed on through because of a guy and wanting to present a certain way. There was no truth or self-respect in this and a foundation of huge deceit for the relationship in question. No more biking!

193. Having escaped into nature many times, desperately seeking relief from the hardness and desolation of my life, I now walk every day knowing that every step is an opportunity to connect ever deeper and more expansively with myself, my responsibility and the rhythm of life. The desolation and hardness self perpetuate if I give them attention. My choice.

     1. Matildaclark I love that you have said with choice, for we can equally choose our grace and joy, as I have discovered today, even in very challenging moments the choice to be present in my body, allowed me to feel solid, strong and my joy of being me was also present.

194. ‘We cannot own something we already are (love) we can only express it’ – this is gold to read and frees me in every moment not to try and hold onto the last moment of love but to express and expand into what is next – thank you, Liane.

195. To have a relationship with nature that is full of awe and wonder and then to ‘rise in equalness’ to it and all that we feel…this is an evolving and sustainable way of life.

     1. Brings in the true dimension to the word ‘sustainability’!

196. There is a quality of nature that is the same no matter where you are in the world, be it Australia, the UK or Canada. It can be the vastness of a desert in Africa or the dense jungles of Borneo, or simply watching the clouds from your back yard, what exists is the opportunity to witness nature communicate and reflect the power and presence of God.

     1. Absolutely Matthew. Even in what can be considered dirty or dark places we can always feel the presence of God being reflected. The key is in seeing it all and not turning a blind eye to either.

        1. Thank you Leigh, Mathew and Vicky, I agree, our choices to be in the ‘presence of God’ ‘no matter where you are in the world.

        2. Dear Vicky,
           What I experience, is that by allowing myself the grace to feel the space around me, that God is present in this space, no matter where I am. Sometimes though, the energy of another or a building can impact on me to where I forget to give myself this grace.

197. Great point Golnaz as the difference between feeling appreciation and one-ness, and the need to find relief from not feeling this, is profound. The latter reduces the power of reflection that is available to us through nature and each other and so keeping us dense and reduced in the quality of escapism. Whereas the appreciation of the Love we naturally are and the one-ness we are from, allows us to deepen and expand our relationship with ourselves, each other, nature and God, through the reflection of All that we are, from the All that we are from and connected to.

198. Leigh I love how you’ve described your relationship with nature and how you once used it as a way of covering up how you were feeling and how now it reminds you of your true nature but it is no longer something you need.

     I know I used to use going in the sea as a way of cleansing myself rather than dealing with how I was feeling and made choices that were basically filling my body up with poison. Your blog is wonderful because I’m reflecting on whether I still look to nature to deal with my hurts. I sometimes catch myself wishing I was at a particular place. But the truth is I take myself with me wherever I go and so I can be with me wherever I go.

     1. I can relate to this Karin. On my way home from work I am driving through a little forest and always enjoy it very much. I can feel the clearing which is offered here and be so thankful for it. And I guess thats OK, but I also have to check/deal with what brought me to the point where I need a clearing. If not I abuse nature, instead of celebrating it.

        1. Where I live I drive up a mountain range to my home town, and as I come to the bottom of the range I always feel a sense of ease. Thank you Karin and Sandra for your comments you have brought this to my awareness, allowing me to explore more why it is that I feel such ease here and why the ease was not present before reaching the bottom of the range.

199. I love how you had such trust and understanding in nature and how you felt safe as a young child. This is gold. it’s interesting how this natural ease is lost as the years go by, but equally interesting how you learned to reclaim it. I too am more and more trusting how I feel inside as being the truth which can guide and support me.

     1. Dear Felicity,
        It truly is through trusting what we feel inside. Our connection with this part of ourselves is the greatest offering we can bring to the world. For all have the ability to do this for themselves, they just need to see it in another to remind them.

200. Liane I love how you say we cannot own something that we already innately have within us – so true! This is a constant reminder that I have everything within me and that while there are many reflections of beauty, it is only a confirmation of all the love and beauty already within me.

201. Thankyou Leigh, this is a really interesting blog. I used to use nature as a form of relief to living a life I did not know how to change. I used nature as a refuge to correct to some degree the stress I felt and to help me centre but I never connected the dots between my own choices and how I felt. I had the belief ‘this is how life is, and there is nothing I can do about my situation.” I used to use nature as a way of coping with everything I could not express and share with others about how I truly felt. I saw it as something grand and outside of me however now I can feel it’s a part of all of me and reflecting so much of my true inner connection. It’s not there as a dumping ground but as a reflection.

     1. Melinda it is truly horrifying to think how hood winked we were to believing that there is nothing that we can do to change our lives. When in reality our life is a culmination of our choices, and choices we can change, so then can our lives change. This simple reality is so needed in our world, for there are many that are trapped in this belief and it is people like yourself that can now show the world that anything can change. All it takes is our commitment to feeling the way we are being in truth and adjusting how we live.

202. This is a beautiful sharing Leigh of the powerful reflection that nature always offers us, of how grand we truly are in essence. Our true nature is to be Love. And when we choose to surrender to the stillness of the Love that we are within we can recognise how nature always reflects what is needed for us, as a confirmation or learning, to deepen our connection to our Love. And this reflection is offered always through the grace of the oneness of God that we are All naturally part of.

203. I used to observe my daughter a lot as a child in nature and the feeling that would wash over her as she would play for hours with the trees and small insects. She could feel that Nature was alive within her as one – total trust.

204. Yes I couldn’t agree more Liane. The magic of god is reflected through nature continuously and the messages shared are always for a deeper learning or confirmation to be felt and received with true love.

205. Yes I can relate to not letting the World breathe me – well said!

206. There are many things we choose to escape life with. I was pondering this yesterday when I was at the beach and reflecting on how much I have used the beach in the past as an escape. I have always loved the beach and very much needed it, but as I sat there yesterday, something was different. I was enjoying the sun, sand and water, but I didn’t feel to be there for long or feel that I needed it. I realised that the beach was something that no longer added to me. I then went on to feel that almost everything out there in the world can be used as a distraction and that the world is set up this way. It takes choosing a deep connection to be and live in the world but not check out with what it offers. This felt liberating to see.

     1. Yes Donna we have the choice to deeply connect or check out in every moment and thank you for sharing your awareness of how everything can be a distraction if we allow it. This feels huge and I know that I have used many aspects of nature to escape from the pain I felt in my life in the past and am so grateful now to have the awareness that in choosing to be connected to me I can appreciate the wonders of nature but not get lost in them.

     2. Donna, I used to hide in books and read to distract myself and also check out. I can relate to what you say about no longer needing ‘sun, sand and water’ to ‘add’ to you. We can replenish ourselves by living life, simply, gently and with love, and when we do, the need for external stimulants diminishes.

        1. Mary, it is extra-ordinary to look back and acknowledging how far we have come. Being totally engaged in life is it, no more required.

207. Hi Leigh
     I love the innocence you write with when you describe yourself as a two year old and the trust you had – so strongly within. I get a clear picture of that little girl rubbing the horse’s tummy and the joy that is felt when connected to the harmony within and around her. What a vast difference to that girl than to the one later on when you become harder and begin to push. It’s great to have that awareness so young.

     1. Donna, I got a clear picture of that too, Leigh as a sweet two year old, trusting, open, in connection to everything and everyone around. We all have this ability when young but seem to loose it at varying ages of our childhoods to fit in with expectations. How beautiful is it then to re-connect back to it as adults and return to this innate wisdom once again.

208. Love this sentence Leigh, ‘And when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me.’ Not one being any more or less significant than another, a beautiful reflection of equality.

     1. Great point Rosemary that we can feel inspired by nature but also equal to it.

     2. Very true Rosemary, in our stillness we are all one, amazing !

209. Yes Carolien, the beauty and stillness we feel within is grander than all of nature, when we connect to this grandness and god, nature simply confirms and reflects that grandness back to us, we then no longer ‘need’ nature, but start to have a different relationship with it.

210. More and more when I watch nature I feel something even greater holding IT! It is something grander than nature that holds us all and then I also start to feel just how great our impact on nature is – not just in terms of our affect on the environment but the influence and power to change we have on all things including nature. It all points to an irrevocable fact that we are much more than we ever realised we were, greater even than nature itself.

     1. Great point Dean! Nature is so harmonious, beautiful and still. Of course there is something greater holding it. What I love about nature is that it is simply in complete acceptance of this and just is within it, allowing itself to be all that it is. A beautiful reflection for us to do the same.

211. I used to walk in nature constantly to avoid the hurts and rejection I felt from others and to avoid people, should I see someone ahead of me I would either try to avoid them by taking another route, often feeling afraid that they would impact and interfere with my connection to nature, I used it like a medication. Since connecting dealing more and more with my hurts and learning to appreciate myself more and more my walks in nature have become very different, a way of feeling my body, amazing tender self and connecting to God.

     1. I love your honesty in this comment Thomas and it is something that I can identify with. I would go out riding for hours on end and not tell anyone where I was going. Loving the freedom and being surrounded by nature was my escape from the world. But like you, the more I accept who I am and coonect to that inner beauty, when I go out in nature now I see it as a confirmation of myself and that I am as glorious as the colour of the autumn trees, the spider spinning its web, or the pink and red sunset.

     2. Great comment Thomas. We can definitely use being in nature as a way to self-medicate. Something I did for most of my life until recently. I also relate to thinking other people being an interference in my connection with nature! Wow, I’ve come a long way 🙂

212. What you said about finding the innate trust in what you felt in yourself and in your body as a two year old again Leigh is very true, we start off with this deep trust of ourselves and what we feel as children then quickly learn that we are not loved and appreciated in those qualities, in fact we are rewarded by others for pushing that innate knowing we have away and by performing tasks and playing roles.

213. Very true Liane, there is no judgment or criticism in the reflections and lessons nature reflects back to us, if we choose to observe this there is much to be learn’t, about how we often treat ourselves with such judgment and hardness.

214. Yes Liane, the communication is always there. If I’m not walking with presence, it is easy to miss these things. There is so much symbolism in nature. Even with driving, when I am driving in a rush, I am missing the birds that fly above me or perch on the lamp posts, the sky, clouds.

215. One of the sutra audios presents that we are communicated from heaven through symbolism. To me nature is gods gift for us to access this symbolism. If I use nature to support my images of how things should be then I’m blocking out the truth of the communication available and re-interpreting to suit me.
     Leigh I love how you share “It is simply something that is, like many things in life, offered to us; it is then up to us to rise in equalness to the support that is present.”

     1. You open to us a way that nature can and is used to take us further into the disregard of our inner truth. Sometimes it hurts deeply to allow the truth of what we feel and what nature presents to be as it is. But to not and to control what we want it to be is far worse and keeps us stuck in what ever it is that we want and hope that our picture of nature will take us from.

216. I grew up with the freedom to wander in the bush with my brothers, we would go off for the day and investigate natures playground, we were never afraid we used all our senses to navigate our way home. After many years in suburbia I have once again returned to live in a rural setting, surrounding myself with an endless expansive view, the stillness, the interconnection of all things, from this I feel and appreciate the perspective nature offers me as I feel the harmony in all things. Waking to the twittering birds or the laughing Kookaburra feeling the stillness in these moments supports my steadiness and I love the simplicity with which nature presents such glory. An exquisite reminder and reflection to us all.

     1. Merileepettinato,
        I love how you say that feeling the stillness in nature supports your steadiness. I love that we are feeling from within ourselves the exquisiteness of our stillness and that we embrace the support that is there for us to us in living from this space in full.

217. Walking me in nature has become part of my daily rhythm where nature around me is confirming of the grandness within.

     1. I love that Fransisco and is it not amazing how nature ‘talks’ with us all the time, a leaf falling, a bird flying across, the beauty is there and , as I am reminded of in the beauty of the autumn colours, in every season.

     2. Thank you Leigh and Francisco, I agree, the garden within when nurtured provide the flowering of who we naturally are.

218. I agree Jenny, Leigh’s example here can support all of us. Regularly checking in with nature is a powerful reminder to connect to who we are, and the steadiness within.

219. Beautiful blog Leigh. I love how you present the difference in going into nature to escape and going into nature to be confirmed and enjoy it. I have done the escaping in nature a lot when I was younger, also on a horse. Reading your blog I can feel how it wasn’t like how I enjoy being in nature now. I feel now strongly connected when I am in nature and feel the gorgeous reflections it offers. Back then I did not feel that connection as there was a deep sadness in of not living my life with me, that I tried to not feel by going outside with a horse in almost all weather types and temperatures!

     1. Like Leigh, I had a strong connection with nature as a young child, fields and trees were my playground and I always ‘found myself’ in nature. Then my parents moved into a city, I felt oppressed at first by all those brick walls, but learned to live with it. That was when I began to escape into nature to lose myself. That has all changed now. Even though now I live with nature outside my windows, I do not need it as an escape. Nature is in the forms and shapes in my house too, I feel its patterns everywhere, as Leigh so beautifully puts it, I am in it, and it is in me.

     2. That is huge Lieke, riding in all weathers. This I actually didn’t do. Now I think about it if it was rainy instead of riding, I would escape into a book. I really was not wanting to be present in my life. Now though being present is what I love most. It hurts to feel what is there in my life at times. But it hurts far worse when I am working hard to not feel the truth. Being present brings a firmness and solidness to my being that holds me as I navigate life, no hurt can negate how beautiful this feels.

        1. So interesting, I used to read lots of books too when not out riding a horse or drawing horses. I love your point about now wanting to present in life as I feel I did not want to either. I was escaping a lot into my own world. Now this has changed immensely and I like being present with myself too. I find it really beautiful to be with me. Sometimes there are things to feel but still it is so much more beautiful to stick to being with me at these times rather than the emptiness of leaving myself. This is for sure still work in progress but getting the hang of it more.

220. So true Liane, and once we open to the Magic of God, life really does make so much sense. The support we have in this life to reconnect to truth is truly humbling.

221. I used to go out in nature as a way to escape the craziness I felt the world to be. Nature was my retreat and the place I would go to for sanctuary, to recover. I distinctly remember the feeling of seeing something exquisitely beautiful, be it a view, a flower, a combination of colours, animals….whatever, and trying to ‘drink’ it in in an attempt to preserve it, possess it, remember it in full. As I looked I would go out of myself to it and see it as something completely separate to me. Now I no longer use nature as an escape. It is now the most magnificently divine reminder of my own magnificence and divinity. I no longer look at the beauty around me with my eyes on stalks trying to possess it, but look from eyes deep within my heart and know it is part the the whole that I am also a part of. It is with deep gratitude to Serge Benahyon that I feel this way.

     1. I too am very sensitive and would often retreat into nature when I was a child to avoid people; it was so much easier. I found being with people difficult and as I went through my teenage years I tried to keep myself secluded in my home. Thankfully with the support of Universal Medicine I now enjoy being in nature and not because I want to avoid people but because of the confirmation it offers us.

        1. That is such a difference Caroline. So many of us effectively use and abuse nature by going to it to dump and let go of all the stress and tension we have built up. Going into nature to confirm who we are feels totally different.

     2. As I am reading your comments, Lucy, James and Caroline, I am reflecting on my own want to not feel what comes with being with people. I am really connecting now to the truth of my own sensitivities. Of late though I can feel rising from deep within me that I actually want to be out in the world amongst people. This has presented me with much to ponder on and much to get used to. As I am now knowing that the way I want to be with people is so different to how it has been in the past. I now feel the want to be me, my love and to enjoy this in the face of everything else that is out there. It is not an easy thing to do at times, yet is just exactly the same as being in and with nature when I do.

        1. That is great Leigh. Nature is a great reflection which can support us to be more of ourselves but the fact is that we are in a human body and so need to be able to relate to other people just as we do with nature. Effectively we can bring that reflection to others that we get from nature. Seeing someone living in rhythm with themselves, living, breathing and walking love is truly inspiring and a reflection the world needs, we only have to look at how many lives have been inspired to change as a direct reflection of Serge Benhayon’s reflection.

     3. James I love what you have shared here. I have felt the potential of what it is possible to offer to the world and have recently experienced a moment of another’s disappointment when I did not meet them in full. A very telling moment, and an extremely divine support. Showing my clearly that my responsibility is to live the fullness of me and to met all others equally.

        1. It is massive responsibility Leigh, but as you say others want it and can feel when we are presenting our all or holding back in any way. It is very inspiring when someone is living in their fullness as naturally it asks everybody else to be themselves, rather than the usual jostling about to prove who is the best.

222. Me too Anna. For me when I walk down the river path behind my house, through the avenue of trees that line it, it’s like they are whispering,”Remember who you are, remember who you are”.

223. ‘And when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me.’ There is something very special about giving ourselves a moment in nature just to be. In these moments I can feel the grandness of this.

224. Beautiful Leigh it was a joy to read this and then look out my window and appreciate my view of trees and the autumn dusk of pinks and blue hues. I like you have started to reconnect to the fact that I am that too, not an observer but actually equally part of the same divinity and beauty.

225. I love the grounding I get when I connect to myself and go for a long walk in nature. I love the steadiness and stillness that builds in me which is beautifully reflected in the surroundings I am walking in.

     1. Dear Fionacochran01,
        I feel deeply that building is not something that our inner heart, our soul does. For it is always complete within. I feel that the more we choose connection to our soul that we simply feel more of the completeness that is held there. What I feel I build on every day is my consistency in choosing and enjoying my connection.

226. Nature, through the magic of God, is beautiful and very supportive, but “…it is then up to
     us to rise in equalness to the support that is present.” Beautiful words Leigh.

227. Lovely said, Jenny Ellis! The beauty of nature’s reflection is the unadulterated way in which is it. There’s no needs to be a certain way. It simply is. A true reflection. Time for a walk*

     1. True! And as we are meant to be but still in a way on a returning path, nature can support us to reflect the fullness we are.*

228. It sometimes is hard to deal with the fact that “feeling not enough” is a creation not a natural state of being. Because it “feels” real then. But as you described I had come along alike way of life, same with the horses. Not coming from fear, but feeling there’s nothing I can’t do. And I felt free back then, enough the way I am. Looking back today I am relearning that I am just as I was born enough the way I am. That I speak and align with nature naturally. And that helps me to return to a surrendered loving being. Thank you for your wonderful blog, Leigh!

229. Wow, I feel deeply inspired after reading your blog. I know those behaviors very well that keep me in the illusion of not being enough. Having nature as our reflection shows us that there is no such thing as not being enough. The grandness, stillness, power and wisdom of nature is our innate nature as well.

     1. Mariette,
        Oh yes it is our innate nature, something we all have living within us. Permanent sunrises and sunsets every moment of every day. There are moments in my day where the clouds cover the brilliance, yet never does this negate that the brilliance is there still underneath the clouds.

230. They are my two favorite lines to Zofia, still resonate within me…nature is such a powerful refection reminding us that we are like Leigh described in her beautiful blog equally powerful and a part of nature.

231. Thank you for sharing how you have used the riding and walking to “escape from life for a moment” and “never once did I begin to address the things in my life that were making me feel quite depressed and that I was not enough in the first place”. It is amazing how we distract ourselves from the causes of our dissatisfactions rather than dealing with them. This change to address and deal them is such a glorious commonality for all who accept the Way of the Livingness as a way of life.

232. Great comment Liane. ‘We can’t own something we already are (love) we can only express it. Bliss is not an expression of love, it is what we seek to relieve the tension that arises in ourselves for not expressing our love.’

233. ‘If I am having a moment of trouble, simply walking in nature reminds me of who I truly am.’ I find the same, there’s something about the magic, grace and order of nature that never fails to remind us who we are.

234. I very much enjoyed reading your article Leigh. ‘There are times when I can feel tossed about a little, just like the trees in the wind, yet at the end of the day I am still me.’ Beautiful reminder that whatever may happen in my life deep within I remain untouched and I always have the choice return to this.

235. For us to be apart of nature since we are all created for the same divine source the is no denying the fact we are just as strong, steady and unwavering like nature. The more I allow myself to connect to this the more I can feel the power that I am… And it feels super natural and easy. Effortless in being who I am designed to be.

     1. I can relate to the effortlessness you talk about here Natalie, it is only something that I feel when I am fully present in and with my body, then I feel the solidness I am and that no effort is needed.

236. Stephen, I can so relate to what you say. For me the joy of nature is the joy I feel in myself as it supports me to connect more deeply back to me.

237. I love this article as it really shows how we can use things that are seemingly healthy to escape and check out, some of the memories sound like they could be scenes from movies and yet you talk of experiencing the same activity in two very different ways – thank you.

238. Indeed Liane Mandalis, this communication will never cease, natures mirror is often clearer than we care to see.

239. Liegh as i read your blog i am struck by the escapism we seek in nature.
     Much like the booked holiday we spend months looking forward to, holding our breaths till we flop our exhausted bodies onto a sun lounger and congratulate ourselves for making it this far. Compartmentalising is a ill we do not see. For the art of true living as presented by Serge Benhayon is breathing a solid, full and steady breath that carries us vital and well through everyday. For these moments of repose are there to confirm all that we are, not restore us back to what we were.

     1. Lucindag,
        I loved your last sentence.
        “For these moments of repose are there to confirm all that we are, not restore us back to what we were.” I can feel my body surrender deeply with what you have shared here. Thank you.

240. “Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I.” What a beautiful line Leigh. Nature can show us so much about ourselves; our beauty, grace, power and stillness. When we forget to connect to this, nature is right outside our front door just to remind us.

241. Ah the Illusion exposed indeed Liane, once again! When we don’t choose love, or choose to express it, we are choosing another source, and that source can give us many reasons to argue, separate, disagree and seek self etc.. but it will never tell us that we separated form love and hence the illusion is that we are not love, for we are.

242. Thanks Lee, its so beautiful to read about your re-connection with nature. I know what you mean about “riding to avoid the house work or cleaning your room”. I used to do that with drumming. What is amazing though is how we can change our relationship with things and re-imprint them to something that feels more like we aren’t relying on them, but have a responsibility in all the things we do. I have found I enjoy drumming so much more now that I am living a life I want to be a part of and don’t need to drum to ‘feel good’.

243. I’m the same Abby- Nature has aways been a beautiful reminder for me of the rhythm I can not escape being a part of. If I am struggling with it then I know I must be doing something wrong.

244. Well said Joel. We can only pretend to not be a part of that stillness.

245. This is a very interesting read. To understand and be able to see so clearly that moment when we push down, hide, and try to cover up what we are feeling is huge. The number of times we actually do this on a daily basis even is massive I imagine. To see the repercussions play out shows the true damage done. It feels like an escape, a pleasure, but the truth is it’s a hurt that we feel, being so disconnected from ourselves.

246. To just walk in nature is a very healing experience, especially if I’m not feeling connected with myself. Like you Leigh It brings me back.

247. Yes Liane – it is important to remember that a message does not always come in the way we would expect or prefer, sometimes it is even a rather devastating message. Nevertheless it is all coming from the same source – love – and is an opportunity for learning and deeper understanding.

248. I love that Carolien- the beauty within is even greater.

249. I agree Doug – such a reflection is a true marker.

250. ‘when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me’ – Thank you Leigh, a beautiful reminder that we are indeed all part of nature, and vice versa. The magic of God is offered to us all, equally so – it is for us to keep our senses wide open to it.

251. It’s amazing what we use certain things for- to get out of the house, escape, numb etc. Thank you for sharing this Leigh.

252. Wow – what a great point. I can feel how uncomfortable this truth makes me, it shows that absolutely anything, even the purity of nature can be used to keep us disconnected and lost if we are choosing it under false pretenses. I can feel how this truth relates to everything, especially relationships. Thank you Liane.

253. This is a beautiful expansion on Adele’s blog Leigh and allows me to feel and appreciate the power of a true connection with nature in my own life. As a child I was always devastated that the birds and animals ran away from me when I approached as I felt such love for them and wanted them close. More recently I have noticed that birds and animals come very close to me in ways that are quite extraordinary. I feel they can sense my stillness and harmlessness now. This sense of equality and not needing nature feels like a factor too – and just like love when I let go of my ‘needs’ the truth I can feel is allowed to unfold.

254. This is yet another beautiful reminder to connect with nature. It is such a simple natural thing to do. We only need to observe small children playing in a park or at the beach to witness and feel their sheer joy and sense of freedom.

255. The reflections that nature gives us are supportive and profound, everything has a relevance to our lives and can remind us of something when we notice it or support us with something that’s going on at the moment. I loved this very fundamental symbol and reminder in the way the threes moved: “As I watch the trees bend and move as the wind blows, going with the flow of the day, yet not changing what they are, I am reminded of the same for myself.” A gorgeous example Leigh, thank you.

256. Nature is such a beautiful reflection of the steadiness that is deep within. I am always inspired by the consistency in which nature works.

257. I have always loved going for walks in nature, either up a hill, where I can enjoy a scenic view, or through a wood with a running stream where I can hear the sound of the water flowing round rocks and the dappled light of the sun dancing on the water, as I step carefully around the roots of the bigger trees growing beside the path. Your article reminds me to feel my body as I walk because the magic of God is always inspiring and nature reflects the harmony and light we all have naturally within.

     1. Carmel, I smiled when I read your comment tonight. I can see you stepping around roots of trees with the lightness and joy of a child.

258. Leigh what a great reflection for how the majority of the world approaches nature, in the same way as many other pursuits to escapes whats going on its amazing to think a walk can be similar if not the same. For I am sure there are many people that hate the fact the woodlands are being cut down in south america yet use their local woodlands as an escape from life rather that feeling inspired and equal with nature. What I also enjoy is the true reflection and connection with nature that you’ve shared.

     1. Dear David,
        Connecting the fact that for some nature is used to check out with the destruction of forests in some parts of the world has made me stop and take a moment and feel the level of responsibility we all have for the destruction of nature, through our choice to checkout from life. Could a forest be destroyed if each of us stepped into our lives in full, present and aware? I think that no this would not happen, instead there would be an equal care for ourselves and our planet.

259. Not long before I started going along to Universal Medicine courses, out of the blue I was impulsed to learn to ride horses and get lessons to learn to ride properly, I did this for maybe six months and it was only me hurting my back riding that stopped me from this new from of checking out. It was as though my spirit knew what was coming.

     1. Love your expose of your spirit Kevmchardy.

260. ‘As I watch the trees bend and move as the wind blows, going with the flow of the day, yet not changing what they are, I am reminded of the same for myself’. I love this analogy Leigh. I was once someone that bended with the wind according to who I was with and would lose myself. Knowing that simply being me and steady, regardless of what is happening around me, I’ve become like the trees in the wind.

261. It is up to us to change the world so that a two year old has no need to leave his or her true self and is able to remain connected to that gentleness that we are from. The world is so set up for us to get lost in and dragged away from where we are truly from. Nature is a great reflection to teach us the way back but it’s such a pity we have to leave it and go all around the houses to get back.

262. Same Abby, its this giant resource that costs nothing and is but a step away if we but choose it.

263. I’m struck by how differently we can use the same thing, depending on the intention behind it. Nature can inspire, reconnect and remind us of the big picture… and then just easily allow us the opportunity to check out, distract ourselves and run away from what is really going on. Its all a choice of our making.

264. Growing up I was almost a feral child; I loved being in the woods. But as time marches on and life’s childhood pleasures fade away to live in the adult world. When problems of life arose I would seek the woods to hid in them, rather than be one with them as I did when I was young. I have re-claimed my connection with myself and the world I live in and I am a equal part of nature.

265. “And when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me.” These lines touched me deeply, thankyou for this beautiful blog Leigh. Opening my eyes to the magic of God, I now receive signs from nature that either confirm me – or let me know I am off-track.

266. Lovely sharing Leigh, it is so easy to take nature for granted, or to try to go into nature to escape the day and by doing so dump what we have been feeling onto her. I love walks in nature listening to the birds, the breeze through the trees, the water flowing, the flowers etc. they all help remind me of the interconnectedness of life. I can be all over the place thinking abut other things but somehow nature helps bring more focus to my thoughts and I often get the thought, where was I? I am missing out on what is all around me. It is a great reflection for me to be present with myself and aware of my surroundings as I find it easier to get caught up in my head and lose all sense of reality!

267. I can really relate to what you are saying here Leigh Strack. I used to head for the coast to get a sense of space and freedom that walking by the sea brings. I love the magnificence and yet the exquisite gentleness that this offers. I no longer find myself driving off to seek that any more. Now I can feel so much more space within and around me and the responsibility that I continue to accept allows for a greater sense of freedom. It is not that I don’t ever escape myself and my body nor times when I want to but this new way of living whereby I am so much more conscious of how I am and what I am doing allows me to appreciate that my connection to the Divine that I found and still find, in nature is equally in me.

268. I loved reading this blog Leigh, I find this really helpful, “As I watch the trees bend and move as the wind blows, going with the flow of the day, yet not changing what they are, I am reminded of the same for myself.” I can feel the difference between needing nature and using it as an escape and feeling in awe of nature, to feeling equal to nature and it reflecting our solidness, steadiness and amazingness.

269. There is a moment in this blog when Leigh writes about the discovery of already being more than enough, and how this places her in harmony with nature. This is very precious and shows to me how much is created in our world to distract ourselves away from feeling connected with ourselves.

270. Everything around us is a constant reflection – nature is one such reflection, as are we each a reflection for one other…what will we choose to reflect to another today?

     1. Dear Paula,
        Your question has stopped me tonight as I read it. It would be very easy to go into my head to answer this, but the deep feeling emanating from my body is honesty. Aspire to reflect the honesty of what I am feeling, always.

271. Leigh, there is such a gentleness and stillness that comes from your words. A deep connection is truly felt for nature. The harmony and solidness it emits is so palpable.
     Nature was my best friend growing up. l grew up on an island. lt was my paradise. However l too realize that l used it to escape from people and it has been a long journey back to find me. To be able to stay present in nature is an awesome achievement. That is when the true magic happens because l’m open and aware and present enough to clock it. l look forward to taking this experience deeper.

272. How beautifully you capture a moment spent in harmony with nature, cheriseholt, when you say ‘as I realised I felt at one with them and they with I and neither of us needed to move or be anything different’. Nature supports us continually to connect back to our inner strength and stillness that we feel when we are at one with ourselves and with all that is in the Universe, as we let go of our needs and dependences and accept ourselves fully.

273. Leigh I enjoyed reading your experience with nature and how your relationship with nature has changed over the years. I can remember as a child playing in the fields of an Oxfordshire village and being extremely content with the flowers, grass and trees – it felt very magical. Then as I grew my relationship with nature changed and became more of an escape and a way to feel better by getting away from it all, if only for a few hours. Now it’s as though I am going back to how I felt as a child which brings a sense of wonderment and joy.

274. I remember how jarring it felt to me when I first heard about the concept of “lohas” (lifestyles of health and sustainability) about 10 years ago in Japan. Slow life in the country became what people sought as the alternative to the fast-paced, demanding, stressful city living. Everything ‘natural’ and slow was the way to go. Being in the country and ‘connected’ to nature became trendy. Add a bit of a taste of paganism and shamanism to it, the package was perfect and appealed to wide range of people from the intellectuals to the young students who were looking for ‘something else’, and it still continues. We can come up with anything and present as a new ideal that appears to be PC, sensible, good and all that – but in our disconnection, it’s just a numbing distraction, and it is designed to keep us unchanged. We are doubly deceiving ourselves that we have got it – until we come back into connection with ourselves.

     1. And perhaps what is behind our choice to seek a quick-fix is the fact that “to feel the truth of our choices and then the process of letting go of the ways we live” is the very thing we want to avoid.

        1. So very true Fumiyo.
           I am quickly learning the avoidance is not at all supportive, as when I do this l feel that I am not the full me, a shell of what I truly am. I can feel that, but often need support to discover what it is I am avoiding.

275. As a child/teenager, I also rode a lot and had my own horse. I really identified with what you said Leigh about riding, that although you loved it, you were still fearful, particualrly on horses you didn’t know. I remember this feeling vividly but like you I stuffed these feelings deep down and just got on with it because, “the reason that I rode was simply to escape my life for a moment.” I loved the freedom of being out riding, away from home and all the demands that were being put on me. But like you I too have a deep love of nature and all that it reflects to me, and it confirms my connection to God.

     1. What is it about horse riding that engenders us to ride? Is it the thrill, the exhilaration?
        Or are these just intense emotions that we would rather feel than the truth of how dull life is without connection to self and all that is around us.

        1. This is a great question Leigh and could be related to many activities that we do to avoid feeling the truth of how dull life is, or possibly how we don’t want to feel what is going on around us because we know it is not true but at the time did not know how else to avoid feeling the pain of that. So any thrill or exhilaration was the great escape!

        2. Yes Sandra, we can apply this question to many things that we choose in life that numbs us from feeling the truth of our disconnection to our bodies and delightful inner selves. My next question to myself is, am I prepared to fully expose where I am still in any way doing this still?

        3. Another great question from you Leigh, and one that we could all do well to ask ourselves.

276. I find that nature is something that I can use to support me to come back if I am feeling not myself. This makes sense because I am a part of nature. Nature does not need to try to be anything. The idea that it is not enough doesn’t even occur to it. It is absolute and in harmony with everything. It is grand in its design, but not imposing.

277. I feel it is rare to read of nature and ourselves in this way “Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I.” I really enjoyed the surety of this sentence, the possibility that we can discern when something is not from us because it does consist of the same steadiness and fullness which is naturally there, is very supportive to consider and appreciate.

     1. Yes Samantha, surrendering to our solid, full and steady foundations allows us to discern what is not of that foundation and, with grace, we have the understanding and acceptance that some of the ways of being we have adopted, are in fact not from the foundation of us.

278. Yes I agree Jenny, I too have used the natural world as an escape to hide from life’s problems but so much of that has changed since meeting Universal Medicine. I can see now how I was in fact dumping my stuff on Nature so these days a walk in the countryside is time spent appreciating, appreciating me, my body and the beautiful qualities of Nature herself. I have never before had such appreciation for the changing seasons and glory of each phase of the year, combined with feeling of being a part of and connected to the deep rich stillness she offers us. Truly awesome.

     1. Beautiful Rowena… what an amazing place to be at where Nature is merely a confirmation of what you already feel… few can say that l’m sure.

279. This is so beautiful to feel the connection to nature deeply in one’ s body and to embrace the fullness of its expression. Thank you Leigh, for your sharing.

280. “I have an innate trust in my body and what I feel, so my true connection with nature is again there for me to explore and enjoy”
     It is so lovely read about your changing awareness and connection to nature; also the changes you made to innately trust in your body.
     Thank you Leigh for a very inspiring blog.

     1. Dear Shirl,
        What I have felt and connected to is there for all of us. There are days when I am miles away from what I share here, yet once felt, it is like a set call that brings me back. On those days, the moment I step outside I can feel again the presence of nature, and this brings me immediately to the present moment. Where all begins to become clear and from here I can again move with my tenderness as I honour in full what took me away, lovingly surrendering back to my body, as I now walk in the wake of my choices, yet no longer letting past eroneous choices dominate me.

281. “In this checked out state, we fool ourselves that we are connected when really, we are being fed bliss that we hungrily consume and seek to own” – wow. This is such a take-home statement for me. Thank you, Liane. I know in my arrogance I was not willing to admit my disconnection, and used so many devices and tactics in an attempt to convince myself I was doing more than OK.

282. What an irony we create here – we use the very original expression of God and switch it into something we need. Instead of taking the reflection of nature to connect back to us and to the same we come from – we disconnect more and even start to misuse the very beauty nature offers.

283. In nature I am allowed to just be. Whether I allow my self this or not is reflected by nature. Either I move in the same rhythm and all beauty is revealed or not and also this is revealed. Nature’s strong and harmonious rhythm in its consistency pulls me up to my own which is the same pulse.
     In cases where this does not happen, it is my choice to not let go off stuff which bothers me and the walk through nature becomes disconnected as I am. Our relationship to nature is the same as any other relationship – full and enjoyable or just walking past without true intimacy.

     1. Sonja,
        What you share is important. Each walk in nature is to be connected with and felt. This, in time will support us all to walk with nature and not be lost in nature.

284. Going for a walk in the countryside can be an enjoyable exercise to breathe fresh air and feel the space and, if you choose to see, there is so much more; the birdsong, the shape of the clouds, the warmth of the sun, patterns of raindrops on a puddle, a caterpillar camouflaged on a leaf, a butterfly nectaring on a flower, fruiting bodies of mushrooms emerging through the earth and with the changing seasons you can marvel at the beauty of nature and the magic of God.

     1. What I am marveling at in your reply Mary is just how many rhythms there are in nature, that sync with every other rhythm. I can now see that my own personal daily rhythm is under constant reflection to those of nature and can feel a sense of allowing the rhythm of each day to present itself at the beginning of the day. I can feel a deeper acceptance and surrender in allowing each day to unfold.

285. “When I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me” – this is beautiful. Nature is here to remind us of our own godliness within.

     1. Dear Fumiyo, and how can we ignore our true self, when we can feel clearly the presence of nature? We can only feel this from the same presence with in ourselves. So therefore it must be that nature and us is equally the same.

286. This blog made me consider that so many things that we say are fun and that we enjoy are actually ways we use to distract ourselves.. for me personally, this has been things like drinking coffee and alcohol, running, various gym classes, eating cake etc. The distractions for me now might not be as obvious as these but I have come to realise that anything that I use to numb or avoid feeling something is a distraction and really is only a temporary provider of relief.

     1. So true Angela, having a strong connection to who we are, our essence is the only way to honestly discern where we are using something to distract or numb ourselves from what we are feeling. More often than not we want to run a mile from the truth of what we feel, but with grace, facing it and surrendering to what is there allows our bodies to let go of all the tensions we put into them. Before we surrender to what we are feeling, that feeling owns us and influences how we go about our days. Once we feel it, we again are able to respond from our stillness and grace and are no longer owned by something that is not actually who we truly are.

287. My walks in nature everyday are like nourishment for me. They steady me also Leigh and support me to feel the beauty that I am deep within. The way nature reflects back to me what it is I am feeling is simply magical.

288. I love this Liane ‘ We can’t own something we already are (love) we can only express it.’

289. Truly inspirational Leigh ‘Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I.’

290. Reading this blog, Leigh, was like going for a walk with you, I very much enjoyed it! It was like going through the landscape of time, as you wrote about the little child loving the high grass – and it was like going through the landscape of your development with this beautiful perceptions you have made to understand where you used nature for escaping up to where you can say: “Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I. In feeling this, it is clear to me that some of the behaviours that I have chosen are not actually coming from the true nature of who I am.” Beautiful to see the picture of being like a branch in the wind – “yet at the end of the day” you are still you. When I felt you sitting in the grass under the horse as a little child, I felt this great natural connection and deep trust that comes with it – and reminding me to have it too. I feel I have never lost it, that we never loose it, but deeply burrowed it and making life about complexity instead of the simplicity it can naturally unfold in. A great blog to ponder on futher, thank you.

291. As a two-three year old I remember very vividly the intense green of the grass, the blue of the far away sky and the sense of the universe all around me holding me in it’s stillness which had an inner sound to it. The sense was of great beauty and interconnectedness with everything.

292. Leigh, I really enjoyed reading your blog. It’s fascinating how we can do exactly the same thing, but have totally different motives for doing them. Our experience of that same thing will then be very different.

293. I have always loved nature and as a a very young child would love to sit, be still and feel its rhythms within and without and be a part of it. Growing up and as an adult, being in nature soothed any turbulence and helped me get through whatever was happening in my life. Nature is still a beautiful part of my life but I don’t seem to need it like I used to and I put that down to the fact that I am now so much more embracing of people and life in general. I still love nature of course and the letters from God in my mailbox.

294. Thank you Leigh. I totally agree with your concluding sentence. ‘The support I feel in nature is not grandiose or something I need. It is simply something that is, like many things in life, offered to us; it is then up to us to rise in equalness to the support that is present’
     I often feel and see nature as the confirmation of Gods beauty knowing that his love also resides deep with in me.

295. Joel,
     Thank you. You can feel this in me, because it is also in you.

296. Dear Cherise,
     Last night I experienced first hand bringing the fullness of me and my true nature into my community. I observed people around me transforming the way the were doing things, going from hard and aggressive, to gentle and caring. I found this profound, as in times where I have been faced with such behaviour before, I have allowed myself to drop into ‘there is nothing I can do’ and a give up would come over me, and the aggressive behavior would continue.
     The difference last night was that I chose, no matter how another was being around me, That I was going to fully work with my tenderness and joy. The world changed a little last night, and it was because I chose to live the tender loving me that I am.

297. I love this Abby, as I too have felt that, nature supporting me to feel more at ease with myself. It may be as simple as seeing an animal in nature and seeing the reflection of the stillness and beauty we hold within. It never fails to bring me to a stop, to feel myself and connect back to the fact that we are all connected.

298. I love your honesty here Leigh as you have exposed something which so many of us have done or do, using something to escape ourselves. I could feel as you expressed more that since realising you did this you have made a shift and instead of seeing nature as an escape it has now become a beautiful refection of you. It is so true we are equal to the beauty of nature, it is just about us choosing to see and claim this.

299. Beautifully said Joel and so, so true.

300. ‘But the reason that I rode was simply to escape my life for a moment.’ This is so honest Leigh and you sharing how riding was like a drug for you. It’s interesting how we all have different forms of escape, seeking temporary relief of life, to not have to feel the reality of our responsibilities and the truth of how we are feeling and what is going on. So, really choosing any form of escape is a delaying process and in avoiding feeling the truth of who we are.

301. Yes me too Stephen G, as I’ve grown older nature’s stillness and activity is completely wonderful and very connecting if ever i’m out or discombobulated after a busy day at work .. and it doesn’t take me long before i feel nature’s call, its silence and in full appreciation of this, I am in full appreciation of myself as I walk myself back to me.

302. Leigh, thank you for your sharing, for me nature holds a real beauty, I love watching the trees sway as if they are dancing to the wind, and admiring their strong rooted foundations. It reminds me of the importance of building my own foundation too.

303. 2 lines of yours Leigh that beautifully resonate:

     “And when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me” and

     “Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I”

     I recall as a child loving going family blackberry picking in the countryside and feeling exactly this, as the light changed to dusk nature’s magnificence came completely alight for me through its smell…of the wind, the light, the sounds of swaying and rustling leaves on trees.. the distant moo of a cow amongst the open silence…and I always felt myself, my breathing, so expansive in nature’s harmony. Those countryside visits were moments in time for me and also unity of the ages.

     1. Thank you Zofia I remember this feeling too as a child and still love blackberry picking now but hadn’t seen how these were times I felt at ease within myself and at one with the all. I can feel in writing this how nature is so accessible (and free) and a support and reflection always of everything we are too.

     2. Your comment is so vivid Zofia, I can feel the stillness of the countryside – and the cow mooing! I have used the same word to describe nature in my comment below – magnificence, although even this doesn’t completely do it justice.

     3. Yes Zofia, these two statements are gold… “And when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me”… and… “Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I”… reminding us that when we just stop and let ourselves Be, you can feel in sync, at one with nature. It is very confirming of who you are.

304. Leigh, I enjoyed reading your beautiful blog, and as Lianne mentions, I had not before considered that you could choose to check out on, or to connect to nature. That is such an interesting point of consideration. I have just spent four days at another town on the coast, another ‘holiday destination’ – but these few days were spent alongside the Clarence River at Yamba – and I could feel the connection to the stillness that was so gently palpable, the ease and silence as to the tide coming in, the almost sound-less movement of the weeping branches of the paperbarks in the breeze the joyful chirruping of the small birds, swallows, willie wagtails etc., and the every present pelican in repose on the shoreline. I felt the joy in the stillness and it to be truly a time of reflection.

305. Well said Doug; when we don’t register the stillness and loveliness of trees and birds etc, it’s time to take stock and feel that’s in front of that.

306. I would agree Joel; we may share a certain pulse or make-up, but there is a richness in our being, not felt in the trunk of a tree (no matter how grand it is).

307. Like anything in life, spending time amongst the elements and with animals can be a check-out of supportive to your own connection. A lovely blog thank you.

308. I love nature and reading this can see how the connection I originally felt with nature turned into an escape to ‘get away from life’. I have been shown and taught much by Serge Benhayon and a Universal Medicine and with this no longer look to escape in nature but can truly appreciate it whilst staying connected with me and to do this feels lovely.

309. Nature offers so much healing to so many people, but you’re right anything can be used as an opportunity to distract ourselves if we’re wanting to avoid something. It’s great to read that you are now relating to nature in a different way, in a way that allows you to feel supported and solid. Nature doesn’t give us ANYTHING, but only reflects to us EVERYTHING that we are. This is the truly Divine healing that nature offers.

310. Also…! your point about nature being used to connect or disconnect inspires me to share an example… I had had an amazing session with Serge Benhayon many years ago and I was waiting for a taxi to pick me up. I thought I would go and sit and look at the view, I was so busy looking for where would give me the best view that I totally lost the fact that it was me and the eyes that I was looking out of that would see beauty everywhere. In fact I was trying to find ‘the best view’ according to a chocolate box or something and the opportunity that was presenting itself was to appreciate that. I did not see that till a little later that evening as I reviewed my day! Anyway, when I did sit down I sat on an ants nest which was a ‘suck eggs’ moment for me because I ended up jumping around all over the place as I tried to extract them from my trousers and under my shirt – no time to enjoy the view or ‘relax’ after my session. What a picture I made – I have no doubt it was very funny to watch from heaven and it does make me chuckle when I think about it now!

311. Thank you Leigh what a great topic of discussion. I escaped into nature regularly as a kid and I now know that it was because I felt the love there, I felt God there, but couldn’t feel those things in myself. I had a real need to get down to the river near my home whenever I felt overwhelmed which was often. As an adult I continue to spend time in nature and there is still need there. But I have a growing, conscious appreciation that I AM all the beauty and the power and the love that I feel in nature… and more. As are we all.

312. Everything in life offers us the choice to truth and the choice to what is not truth, we can choose to honor true cycles or cycles that are not from truth. We can build our foundations from truth, or our foundations from what is not truth. These choices come from first what we have aligned inside, then our whole reality will be from this alignment. What we have aligned to will feel true to us, but if it was true truth, there would be absolute love and nothing but love.

313. “Nature is solid, full and steady, as am I” I would like to add that nature is also consistent – it is a beautiful reflection that can support us as we live in it every day.

314. Thank you Leigh for sharing this great insight. I can relate to having chosen to horse-ride to try and ‘escape’ from life and also hide due to lack of self-worth. Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine have helped me immensely with my commitment to life and self-worth, which naturally dissolves this drive to escape.

315. I love both blogs, Adele´s and yours. My relationship with nature has transformed so much in the last years. I have used nature before for identification and recognition, always seeking for messages that confirmed how special I was….I really appreciate you took the time and love to write this blog that I will come back to read again. It is lovely how you end it, words that I will bring with me..

     “The support I feel in nature is not grandiose or something I need. It is simply something that is, like many things in life, offered to us; it is then up to us to rise in equalness to the support that is present.”

316. It is a full feeling to know that everything in life is there to reflect to us the fullness that we already are, whether it is nature or any aspect in life. The grandiosity and love within us is there always ready for us to express—when we are ready. Our love is reflected back to us all the time until we come to this understanding ourselves, the love in that already is so deeply precious. We are love and we are surrounded by love everywhere and in everything. When we leave our love, we are similarly reflected back the lack of love in our lives, which reminds us simply to step back in to be who we naturally are. Do we really know how truly amazing life is?

317. I find nature is a great confirmation – yesterday as I was walking I was feeling the connection I had with someone and how much I enjoy this, then two kookaburra’s were above me sitting on a telegraph pole laughing and this felt the same joy as the connection I had with the person I was thinking about.

318. Nature is so rejuvenating, beautiful and inspiring. Nature is love as we are. This is what Nature reminds us of when we are sharing her! I loved reading of your experiences as a young child, sitting under a horse and patting it so much trust shared between you both ! A Beautiful connection thank you for sharing Leigh..

319. I can relate to using Nature to escape reality also. I’ve been known to head off down the coast on a long drive to just get as far away from ‘life’ as possible. It feels a little abusive when I think about it, using nature to numb myself instead of appreciating it and allowing it to be the reflection that it is.

     1. Dear Elodie,
        Of late my connection with nature has deepened again and I felt a level of responsibility that as yet I am not living in full, this being that each step we take we can either nurture ourselves and nature or we can be walking in disregard and abusing ourselves and nature, so when you say that to use nature to pep us up feels a little abusive I can totally agree.

320. Being a ‘nature lover’ myself, I can readily relate to what you have written Leigh. What I realised as I was reading was just how often I have used nature to steady me but have tended to see what nature offers as something separate from myself. Thank you – I know I will be reflecting on this further.

321. Liane, I love reading your comment, exposing bliss. Yes it’s us who have chosen to separate from the love that we are, so we found a way to use anything and everything to keep us in that separation; until we choose to re-connect to who we truly are, again, and keep on choosing that, again and again.

322. Brilliant comment Liane, illusion exposed indeed and spot on. Anything that we do in seeking to escape life is us not choosing to accept the love and grandness that we already are.

323. “It is simply something that is, like many things in life, offered to us; it is then up to us to rise in equalness to the support that is present.” This is a beautiful line. We really are offered opportunities to connect with ourselves several times a day and the choice is ours too see it or not.

324. ‘And when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me.’ Leigh I relate to this feeling, and note that if I’m disconnected from me I walk through nature without connection also. When I choose to walk in nature in connection to my body, even if I’ve been out of sorts or stuck in my mental machinations, it brings me back to me. Nature is a healing salve that is free for us all to access and I am so appreciative of living in a place where it abounds.

325. Leigh, I love how you shared that in the early days you used nature to check out from everyday life. It is amazing to observe and feel that we can use he same things to check out as we can to connect. The choice is always ours.

326. Thank you Lianne

327. Beautiful blog Leigh, thank you. I feel the settledness and steadiness in my body reading what you have shared about your unfolding with nature, and how you used to ‘use’ it, as compared to how you now see the reflection of the beautiful you in nature, something you are and can be all day long, not just when walking in nature. I love it.

328. ” … it is then up to us to rise in equalness to the support that is present.” These words offer such a beautiful acceptance of the equalness we can feel when we are connected to our stillness and can feel our connection to the all that is surrounding us constantly. Walking and being in nature offers a glorious confirmation of this.

329. A beautifully written article Leigh, your sharing is supportive of what nature reflects for us consistently bringing us into a deeper awareness of our truth. Nature’s lessons are many and varied and connecting with it’s wisdom that is constantly offered is truly joyful “And when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me.”

330. Simple and true Doug, for me too.

331. Yes, great explanation of why we seek comfort, the tension that arises in ourselves for not expressing the love that we are. Thank you Liane.

332. Leigh, thank you for sharing. It’s very revealing of that part of us that does not want to feel or truly deal with life and the methods it uses to avoid this. The obvious ones are drugs and alcohol but a simple ride on a horse or reading a novel appear healthy and innocent. But we do need to truly feel our intention behind why we are choosing what we are choosing, being very honest with yourself, as you have, really does release us from the illusion of ‘good’ to embrace what’s true.

333. “The support I feel in nature is not grandiose or something I need. It is simply something that is, like many things in life, offered to us; it is then up to us to rise in equalness to the support that is present.” Thanks Leigh this is a beautiful reminder that the magic of God surrounds us and is ever present to support us, and continually offers an opportunity to rise to that which is presented.

334. Awesome blog Leigh, your experience with nature inspires me to connect deeper with myself and with nature. I too walk every morning and I am learning to appreciate what I see, to feel the grandness and that we are all connected to nature, people and God.

335. I have always had a very close relationship with nature and ALL it reflects and more so over the last years. I use to love to go into the forest and just be with the beauty and drink in the alive stillness. It was reminding me that I too am this stillness but at that time did not know how to be and hold that in my life amongst the surrounding chaos. We can believe it is nature that is bringing these qualities to us but in truth it is confirming the majesty that we already are and hold within. Nature supports us to re-connect with these treasures. Thank you Leigh.

336. Liane, I love what you’ve added here, I too feel what Leigh talks about using nature as a relief or a comfort or being with it in true connection. And we can choose not to connect to it, and be in the bliss of it – thank you I’d never clearly seen what bliss actually is, it’s a relief .. “Bliss is not an expression of love, it is what we seek to relieve the tension that arises in ourselves for not expressing our love.” This is just exquisite, an absolute pearl.

337. Thank you Leigh for your blog. I use to use nature as a means to escape, now I use nature as a means to confirm me. All the wonder that is there in nature, is right there within me too.

338. I appreciate your honest insight into the nature of horse riding and how it made you feel ‘special’ – it is something I have always felt when meeting horses and riders on the road and it feels very odd and out of place.

339. Leigh thankyou for sharing your connection with nature. I never felt very connected to nature but lately I am noticing the butterflies, birds, falling leaves and beautiful trees. This has come about as I have deepened my understanding that nature is Gods playground and its is always powerfully reflecting back to us if we are willing to take notice and finally I am.

340. I enjoy taking myself off the tracks and walking where my body feels to take me rather than always following the path, taking a moment to sit or be with an animal or tree and receive the message they have for me.

341. It is so interesting looking at the myriad of ways that we use to distract and occupy ourselves from feeling the innate connection and grandness we are.

342. Being in nature is not a way to dump our ill energies or to check out in the beauty but to feel equal in stillness, beauty and divine order that is offered to support us.

343. The horse riding part of Leigh’s blog was a really interesting aspect to reflect on for me too Amelia – having largely forgotton or not considered my own ‘run in’ with horse riding. As a smaller child I loved how calming an effect I had on horses, but never wanted to ride them, until later when all my friends at the rural school I attended had horses, would ride to school some days, and all attended pony club. I got romantically into the idea of ‘having a pony’, so started lessons to see if this was something we could pursue and add to the farm. It very quickly became clear that as much as I was okay to hang out with horses, loved cleaning their equipment, stables, hooves, grooming and all the aspects that meant my feet were on the ground, the rinding part was very definitely not for me. I felt dizzy and disconnected on a horses back- I felt distant, disoriented, and out of place. I was fortunate to be thrown from the horse regularly enough to not block out these early clear signs that a horses back was not my home, it did not support me, and made me feel distant from nature (and from me), and trusting this, dropped the lessons and let the whole idea go, returning gladly to having my feet on the floor.

344. Hello Jenny Ellis and I agree. You can ‘use’ anything around us at times to “support to stay steady and true to ourselves in life” We can use relationship we have with almost anything in our life to support us. I can see how the use of nature is simply stunning as Leigh Strack has highlighted but equally using a relationship with a person or your car can bring the same beauty if you are aware of it.

     1. Yes totally agree Raymond Karam 🙂 so long as the chosen marker reflects our highest point, it will always provide a true north.

        1. Hello Jenny Ellis and thank you. How could we guarantee this? If we relied upon luck or good fortune then this could lead anywhere. For me it all comes down to ‘connection’ as part of the title of this blog. True connection to what you are feeling. I found this simple and straight forward mediation as a link to this, https://www.universalmedicine.com.au/services/free-audio-library/gentle-breath-meditation

345. Thank you Leigh for this article. Nature has always been important to me for what it can teach me by observing and seeing the symbolism of a tree for instance. All trees are different to look at, but have the same functions and structures coming from within – just as humans we are all the same within. However, the beauty with understanding this is that our outer appearance and our expressions are so diverse – just as all trees look different and have different uses/qualities. Nature is truly an amazing reflection for us to see the magic of God everywhere.

     1. It is also an amazing reflection in acceptance and love for all.

346. I had a funny memory reading your blog Leigh. On a family holiday in Fiji many years back we all thought it would be fun to experience a horse ride bare back on the beach. Well started off fine and then my horse decided to take off and break free (it may have been reflecting me) and I was bobbing all over the place for what seemed an eternity before the minder caught up with us. Safe to say I didn’t feel to jump on a horse any time soon after that experience even though I had a fascination with them for a couple of years when growing up.

     1. Victoria,
        Your comment took me back to a young horse that I had that would often totally refuse to be controlled (a reflection too he he). But the absolute terror I felt every time I rode him was horrible and I rode him for many years. It boggles my mind now as to the extent that I numbed my body to be able to do this.

        1. I can relate Leigh, looking back from a place of connection it is difficult to fathom why we make some of the choices we do. So that is it really; we were not listening to our bodies and the clear messages they always give us.

347. Beautifully expressed Liane. Nature is an absolute presence for us to appreciate and interact with from a true place within us.

348. Yes Lianne, I also love the point Leigh makes “about using nature to either connect or check out”. My personal experience has shown both ways and the quantum difference in perspective, application and result. As a child Nature supported me in connection, then later in life the opposite was the case. At one point I used ‘new age’ lifestyle and a bit of a ‘back to the land’ approach to ‘check out’ from life. During this time I would feel the wonder of nature in a very external and ‘fluffy’ way (not like as a child, but fooling myself it was). I was ‘blissed out’, with absolutely no awareness of my own body – literally ‘out of it’. As you say Lianne “In this checked out state, we fool ourselves that we are connected when really, we are being fed bliss that we hungrily consume” “to relieve the tension that arises in ourselves for not expressing our love.” Very well said – and in total congruence with my own experience!

349. Hello Liane Mandalis and when I read this, “The nature of our being is reflected by the nature that surrounds us.” we can pull this out to everything and not just the nature we think of with trees and birds. Nature for me can also mean people, buildings and cars etc. I agree with what you have said, “The nature of our being is reflected by the nature that surrounds us.”

350. Like so many girls, I was horse mad, and would go riding on school holidays. It was lovely to read your experience and reflect on mine. I could relate to the feeling of fear but also the exhilaration and freedom that you talked about. This type of freedom is false and a trap, as it is only a momentary ‘up’ in a life and external filler. Real freedom has been for me to know energy and that I have a choice about which energy I choose each moment. If its love, then I am needless and full, if not I need something (like horse riding) to distract me from the pain of not being love.

     1. Your comment is beautiful Fiona. It is really that simple, true freedom for me too is feeling the strength and solidness of love in my body, and living from this, feeling the openess and willingness to connect with others and fully engage in life.

351. Yes I agree Joel, nature can only ever reflect the the quality that we are already. We recognise these qualities as they are first within ourselves. Thank you Leigh for sharing yours, a beautiful confirmation.

352. When we let ourselves be in an openness and wonder, it’s like nature will send us messages, gorgeous little love songs from birds, even frogs and sometimes perhaps a more serious message from the sighting of a snake for example — but all of it is a reflection for us. It’s a beautiful relationship with nature when we don;t need something from it but we let it reflect back to us what we do need to connect to deeper within ourselves.

353. Well said Joel. Just connecting to the fact that we are so much more than nature reveals our grandness. If we think a sight in nature is breathtaking then we have to consider what this is really saying about who we are.

     1. Beautifully said Vicky. That is worth pondering. Next time we are in awe of nature, we can bring that awe and appreciation to ourselves too.

     2. That’s beautiful Vicky, it really allows us to feel the grandness of who we are.

     3. That’s definitely one to stop and consider!

     4. So true Vicky. Nature often reveals our grandness when we choose to observe and connect. When this happens the levels of confirmation and healing are truly remarkable.

     5. Well said Vicky! We have the ability to express always more love – this is the natural way that evolution pulls us up higher than what is around us. So why the ‘rot’ (bullying and abuse) of dragging each other down?…

354. Hello Leigh Strack and I love this part about nature, “The support I feel in nature is not grandiose or something I need. It is simply something that is, like many things in life, offered to us; it is then up to us to rise in equalness to the support that is present.” We have it all at our finger tips and as you say it is up to us to be aware of the support that surrounds us in every moment.

355. How our life is supported by foundations, the foundations we build for ourselves through the loving choices we make, the consistent steadiness that hold us in life and all times. The tree is a beautiful reflection of this, solidly planted in the ground while its branches and leaves may sway but its core it remains unaffected.

356. That’s beautifully said Doug. Nature can be a pointer for us for where we’re at. If we use nature to fulfil us and not let ourselves see that it’s reflecting something we haven’t connected to from within first, we miss the incredible true healing that nature provides.

     1. Well said Katerina. I have used nature to fill a void before. When I do this I don’t feel my connection to nature. There is an appreciation of it to some level but not an appreciation of it being a part of me and reflecting my grandness and the grandness I am from.

357. Love it, Cherise; I, too, have been in awe of how tiny little birds have stopped and connected with me – looked me in the eyes and observed me – When i have been present with myself. In the past, they might have fluttered away frantically! All of Nature knows when we are in Harmony with ourselves – and apparently then wants to connect with us.
     Extend this to your exquisite comment: “how profound will be the day when all humans move in harmony together too; making movement about the universe we are apart of and not just about oneself.”
     Deeply profound…and yet, in another sense, completely natural…just like Nature 🙂

358. Who we truly are is always there and from what you have shared Leigh, this naturalness in connection to you flowed as a child and was most deeply lived when only 2yrs old, Somewhere in the intervening years the outside world imposed and caused you to question that. Ideals imposed on us that exist outside of us. What has been reflected here for me is – what holds us steady in our connection always remains as something consistent in our lives e.g. love of nature, it never leaves us, but in this instant even though nature was still there and you were active in it, all of you wasn’t there. This has shown me that the Divinity, love, harmony, joy and integrity of what is there to support us never changes – it is us that choose to lessen our connection and move away. This has opened much for consideration Leigh, thank you for bringing your experience to print.

359. Nature has been instilled within me since I was young. I love the joy, the colour and the stillness it shares. But on reflection of my love for nature I can also see a large grey area in my life of where I was not connected to it and all that it could communicate. This showed me where I had also lost my own connection to myself. Nature reflects the true innocence and joy that love is and when connected to myself, then I know I too am connected to nature. Thank you Leigh.

360. As I read this blog Leigh I remembered how much I would used the sea and the ocean as my escape from life. I loved being in nature, in the waves of the ocean but it was all from an escape of a disconnection and unease that I felt in life. I used to dream of being a mermaid and swimming far, far away! Now, I cherish the ocean and love being around it but don’t have the same need or longing as before. My entire relationship with the ocean has changed. I see it as something so beautiful and exhilarating but not something that will make me more or better; the ocean reflects the joy that I already have in me.

     1. I relate to this Katerina, not about being a mermaid but about using the ocean as a escape of my life and the arrogance I used to defend that, I have since transformed my life where I can spend little time in the ocean and connect to the magic if God around me.

     2. Beautiful reflection about going to the sea Katarina: “I see it as something so beautiful and exhilarating but not something that will make me more or better; the ocean reflects the joy that I already have in me. “ I can very much relate to what you said and had the same experience, going to the beach now and feeling many people using it to feel better or to pick themselves up, shows me exactly how I used to do the same thing.

361. From reading this blog and some of these comments, I have gained a deeper appreciation of how consistent nature is and what an offering that is to us all. I’ve just come from a meeting where we talked about the need for consistency and that we need role models to show us it is cool to do it. Nature is a pretty cool role model.

     1. I agree Sarah, you don’t even have to think about it. Nature is just one of those things that we know is there and that we know is consistent even in its ever-changing seasons and colours. The reflected beauty that it holds reminds us that we are also part of this interwoven constellation of Divine rhythms and cycles.

362. If you can’t go for a walk in nature I’ll settle for a walk with Liane!!

363. Spot on Doug, when I do not feel my rhythm and flow with nature, people and life, I know I am out-of-rhythm. Nature is a reflection and also an absolute support: to confirm us or to remind us that we are off-track, (Nothing doesn’t happen for a reason) and it is as simple as surrendering back to us. Yes it is important not to give our power away to nature- for it is simply a reflection of the qualities inherent in us all, and the possibility for us all to return to living in harmony once again.

364. I could relate to using nature as a refuge from life. I have always loved and appreciated nature as I grew up, I can feel that it could be used to escape from the disharmony or complications that seemed to come with people. I also used to feel awed by its beauty and grandness but not be able to see that in me. Whereas I now feel those qualities reflected back to me and I know myself and people to be an equal part of nature’s grand design.

365. ‘We can’t own something we already are (love) we can only express it.’ – so well said Liane. I can certainly relate to the ‘blissed out’ state as relief from missing our connection to what we are… Love. So often I felt an illusionary connection with nature through worship and feeling less than the beauty and majesty on offer. I was searching for something I already had within, but never did I think to connect with what was inside me, it was always an outward seeking for something I have always been. Love.

366. Liane I love the way you have encapsulated the true Magic of God we experience through nature, namely Love. I also have a deep appreciation of nature, frequently when I hear a bird call I check in with myself because it gives me a measure of how present I am.

367. I have found that, pre Universal Medicine and re connecting with within myself, that Nature was the one true reflection upon which I could rely fro a sense of my grandness: I love Nature – I love its diversity, its unity and its magnificence. I also love its tenderness and its constant growth and expansion.

368. I once used nature as worship, thinking that is was so much more beauty, love and harmony than I could ever be. How completely disempowering is that! As a child I enjoyed nature and felt deeply connected to the ocean and trees, this is still the case but (like you say Leigh) there is no longer a need or, for me, a groveling to be accepted by nature. I am learning to accept myself and that all the qualities I see in nature are actually just a reflection of what is within me and everyone else. Nature can offer support in bringing us back to the wonderment and magic but never is it more powerful or beautiful than we are.

369. I agree Anna. I find that nature offers me every reflection that I require to answer a question, appreciate something or ponder deeper on an observation. I love to feel and appreciate all that nature has to offer us.

     1. Loved how you described nature and its purpose Lee Poole ” I find that nature offers me every reflection that I require to answer a question, appreciate something or ponder deeper on an observation”. We can learn and understand a lot from nature through our connection to ourselves.

370. Leigh it is a great journey you share about once being with nature to escape life and experience a “high” moment to now enjoying nature without an emptiness to feel.

371. It is interesting how there is an aspect of us that will constantly seek validation that we are not enough – even unto the contorting of Nature’s reflection into an indication that we are less than it, rather than, as you show here, Leigh, that Nature reflects to us the many and varied reflections of our inner selves. And these reflections all held within an encompassing whole which we have termed “Nature.”

372. I particularly loved this sentence, ‘It is simply something that is, like many things in life, offered to us; it is then up to us to rise in equalness to the support that is present.’ To rise in equalness really struck a lovely chord with me. Thank you for this beautiful blog.

373. Thank you for sharing this Leigh. I use to enjoy being in nature, but it was not that I was actually enjoying nature, it was that I was escaping everything else. The two impulses feel completely different: one is running away and the other is being drawn to. When I go to nature these days, I feel drawn to it and I love and appreciate all that is around me in nature. I am also much more aware of nature in all the aspects of life, the birds in the city, the trees in the streets. As I have dealt with the issues in my life and built a loving way to be I no longer need to run away and escape into nature.

374. So so beautiful Leigh, ‘And when I am still in nature I can feel me in it and it in me.’ A beautiful reflection of our part we play in humanity, not one being any more or less significant than another.

375. Gorgeous Joel, so true.

376. What struck me initially Leigh was your sharing about how you had to harden your body to push through the fear in order to learn to ride. This is huge! How many children would need to do this to play sports where there is a high likelihood of injury or getting bashed around as part of the game? Tender young boys playing rugby, football and soccer. Sweet precious girls riding horses, playing hockey or soccer (as many do now). This sets up a pattern of pushing through what they feel and hardening their bodies to cope. This is huge and explains why so many people are disconnected and shutdown from what they feel. Thank you Leigh for sharing.

377. Leigh, I love your reference to parts of the natural world being exposed to what is happening around it – rain, wind, heat and cold etc and yet it does not change. A tree for example is ‘a tree’! It does not change an iota of itself according to the elements that surround it. It just keeps being a tree; solid, stead and sure. Thank you Leigh, your sharing has reminded me of my purpose and not to become distracted by what whirls around me!

378. I too were scared of horses and did not even particularly like them. I pushed down my fear, hardened, braced my body and taught myself how to ride because my friends all rode and I felt like I was achieving something by riding a horse. In hind sight all I was achieving was an ability to ignore my body and how I was feeling. When I ponder on this it was like snow skiing I did the same thing learnt how to ski down some mighty steep slopes all the while hardening and bracing my body incase I came crashing down. I no longer do either sport and can feel the relief in my body to not have to do them.

     1. ‘In hind sight all I was achieving was an ability to ignore my body and how I was feeling.’ Mary-Louise this is so well put, the extent of energy we put into ignoring our bodies and how we are feeling is unbelievable.

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