Entry 4- How Nature Teaches Us to Live in Nature Journal

From reading the Dao De Jing this week, I realised a lot of ways that humans could benefit from encompassing the values of nature and applying them to their lives.

For one, the power of water. This was something that I wrote about in my discussion post but felt the need to elaborate on. I’ve always loved the water, but I’ve always feared the Ocean. I think that’s due to my fear of the unknown, not the water itself. Ever since I was a little girl, I was drawn to the pool, to rivers, and to the outdoors when it was raining. I loved swimming so much-that I was called ‘a little fish’ for many years. Something about the water calmed me. it made me feel powerful and vulnerable at the same time. I loved how safe I felt laying on my back, and how when I went underwater I could challenge myself to hold my breath for as long as I could without coming up. Even now I love the water and wish I could make swimming a part of my daily routine.

Where I grew up we had a creek flowing through the town. I remember in the summer I would basically live there. I loved how it could cool me off, and calm me at the same time. To this day I remember those days with such fondness.

I think I like water so much because of how unwavering and unapologetic it is. There’s always room for more. It adapts to things around it without questioning it. It can be calm and peaceful, or raging and wild. It teaches us that life and nature can be unpredictable, and yet at the same time consistent.

I think it’s serendipitous that today it is raining in the prayer garden. I watch the raindrops bounce off the surface of the water in the small pond. I believe that there are many things that we can learn from nature if we choose to observe and listen. I feel good about today and how things are going. My personal challenge for myself is to be more like a stream this week. To adapt without changing anything that makes me who I am, and to take things as they come.

Last updated September 20, 2018