It is happening again…the birds are returning in flittering, fluttering flocks of sparrows, juncos, red winged blackbirds, pinyon jays, bluebirds and other ruffly feathered little songbirds inspiriting the trees and shrubs in their lively reunion, celebrating the coming of Spring. I’m sitting on a bank high above the Fremont River and before me is the Aquarius Plateau still covered in snow from last week’s storm. As I settle in I’m thinking about how this water bearing plateau has been here for hundreds of millions of years filling creeks, rivers and streams with water filtering through the porous sandstone. It is the first of March and this morning I heard the song of the first meadowlarks of the season as they perched on my garden fence and greeted the rising sun.

When Matt and I first arrived in Boulder this time of year fifteen years ago, we stayed on a farm in town and meadowlarks were singing their songs from the fence posts. I had never seen or heard them before and immediately associated their cheerful, eternal melody with the Place.. As if the song Boulder sings comes through the voice of the meadowlark.

In the years that we have lived here my eyes and ears have attuned to the quickening energies of spring and I’ve come to identify the flicker who returns each year and has their favorite dead ponderosa where they drum for a mate, and notice the cottonwood buds swelling with sap in response to the call to become a leaf, as well as the wild onions pulling up the moisture gathered from the winter snows that came at just the right time. There is an intelligence that moves the natural world, and this remarkable power of Life is the story of ongoing creation.

Almost ten years ago, I went into a silent retreat for three months from winter solstice 2012 to spring equinox 2013. I had been experiencing chronic pain throughout my body, including disturbing pains in my heart and chest with a shortness of breath, and also felt a heavy weight on my soul. People around me suggested I was too healthy to be having heart issues however I privately harbored a sense that what I was experiencing could kill me.

As the days in my solitude wrapped around me, I eventually fell into a space safe enough for the sensations held in my body to have their expression. My pain released as rage and grief toward the forces in civilization that are intent on destruction and I realized that for most of my life I had been fighting these forces in order to save the Earth while empathically taking on the pain of what I witnessed as violence towards Life.

By March, exhausted from releasing so much emotion and trauma from my body, one day I fell into a sweet surrender out in the snow on the mountain surrounded by blue spruce trees with a creek flowing by. In this place I experienced a Great Love emanating from all of Nature. This awakening experience is hard to describe but literally shifted the vibration of my cells. Not only did I experience a profound healing in the physical realm but developed an ability to perceive from a deep place of stillness and clarity. In this place I became able to discern between the stories the media and culture deliver and another story–that of ongoing creation. With this perspective that is counter to the narrative that trains the eye to only see destruction, divisiveness and tragedy and that leads to fear, anxiety and stress, I feel a passion and a responsibility to facilitate experiences that directly connect individuals to Nature and Soul.

When you feel a rush of energy flushing through your body upon witnessing a flock of wild geese…a waterfall cascading down a mountain…the first bloom of a desert wildflower on the rocks…trees shimmering in the first light of the day…and a deer gazing back at you with moist dark eyes penetrating right into your core… you are in touch with the secret feeling of being interconnected with Life. From this place our actions align with caring for what we love and we make choices that support the community of Beings we live in relationship with. This is medicine that can heal the world.

This spring I invite you to create a medicine circle/sit spot in your backyard or in a little nook outside your home (yes, even if you are in an urban area…) and commit to sitting here for at least ten minutes every day. Keep your eyes open and drop into an awareness through your senses, experiencing the Life around you. See who flies through and above your circle and listen to the calls of the birds and the hums of the insects. Feel the sensation in your heart of noticing the tracks of some animal who passed through your circle in the night. Experience the magic of discovering the same butterfly visiting you each day and the catch of your breath when you look at your shadow and notice this butterfly is perched on your shoulder. Smell the scent of the pinyon tree as the sun warms their bark and notice all the creatures who interact with this tree. Maybe even sit in your circle when Grandfather Sun rises and greet the day with a song or a prayer and later send your gratitude to Grandmother Moon and the stars.

Sit here each day and begin to notice what shifts in your heart center, your mood and your sense of connection. Maybe journal about your experiences or reach out to me to share your stories. I would love to hear from you….

Ongoing Creation