walks Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

The Littlest Woolly Bear – Photo: L. Weikel

Centering Post

As much as it may sound like an exaggeration, I honestly wonder where I would be if I didn’t have the ability to be outside as often as I am. Being in nature is my joy; it’s my centering post. Every once in a while I find myself marveling at just how much time I spend on my porch. From April (late March if I’m lucky) through parts of November (again, if I’m lucky), I’m able to write, correspond, and meet with clients, for at least some of the services I provide, surrounded by my beloved trees, birds, and other creatures, both wild and domesticated.

Beyond the time I spend on my porch, my daily walks immerse me in a world that urges me to forget – at least momentarily – my despair over the behavior of humans. Even just writing that sentence feels ridiculous because we all know how our leaders’ refusal to take the urgent action needed to address climate change is sinister and selfish indeed.

Listening to the insects inundate us with their raucous chirrups and zig-zaggy mating calls (I’m talkin’ ‘bout you, katydids!) as we walk through the darkness of a tree tunnel fills me with a sense of both mystery and calm.

Gifts That Delight

During our walk yesterday, I found the cutest little teeny tiny ‘woolly bear’ caterpillar rippling its way across the road. It made all the other wooly bears I’ve ever seen look like hulking gargantuans in comparison.

I read this article from The Old Farmer’s Almanac stating once again the lore of woolly bears’ predictive abilities when it comes to winter weather. As you can read here, the greater proportion of black on their bodies corresponds to the harder the winter. While this little guy looks fairly evenly proportioned, I have seen some larger specimens that definitely had more black than orange. Perhaps I’ll take an informal survey if the ‘many legged’ cooperate.

Another discovery I made yesterday was this moth, pictured below. The wings are so exquisitely defined and rich in color, they look like works of art to me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a moth like this one before.

Moth Artistry – Photo: L. Weikel

Little Things

It never ceases to amaze me how much I’m transformed each afternoon or evening by the simple act of noticing the beauty of the weeds – I mean wildflowers – that jostle for my attention as I walk. Or how the bats zooming around snagging mosquitos mid-air make me involuntarily shriek when they buzz me a little too close for comfort. Playfully? (I hope. At least I tell myself they’re messing with me.)

Deer look up expectantly as we pass them grazing in the fields, some of them stamping their feet in an act of failed intimidation. And the frogs yerp and screet as they plop! plop! plop! from their perches into their puddles and ponds, billowing clouds of mud revealing where they’ve burrowed.

I feel a need to urge us all to make a point of being in nature this week. Don’t worry about the length of time or the mileage you walk. Just be. Give yourself five minutes to breathe in the scent of fall approaching. Listen to the wind in the trees as well as the voices of the birds and the crickets. Pay attention to and remember the little things that delight your senses and make your heart just a little bit lighter. That little bit of communion with Mother Nature brings so much into greater perspective.

(T-74)

Little Things

Each and every day, particularly right now, focusing upon the little things in life, the things that make us smile, is an act of self-love. Off the top of my head, listening to my cat Precious snore like a longshoreman while curled up on the back of the couch right behind me fits that bill.

And now that I start to contemplate the many ‘little’ things I’m grateful for, I see how many of them revolve around non-human creatures, especially Spartacus (our Boston Terrier), Precious, Tigger, and Cletus. I can say without qualification that they bring a dimension of joy and comfort into my life that I’d be lost without.

Tigger Snoozing – Photo: L. Weikel

You know me…recounting the joys my four-legged companions bring to my life is something I engage in routinely. And it’s not at all likely that I’ll stop dipping into the pool of love they provide anytime soon.

That’s at least partly because simply living life in 2020 and paying attention to our collective reality means we are bombarded with news that hurts our souls. Literally. Even if we only cursorily glance at the headlines just to see where we stand as a community or a country, it’s enough to drain our energy and leave us feeling defeated, deflated, or perhaps occasionally worse: enraged.

Our nervous systems are drenched in the fight or flight hormones of cortisol and adrenaline. And unlike pretty much all other times in our nation’s history, because of the ubiquitous nature of technology in our hands, we are kept mercilessly up-to-date on the latest atrocities being waged against the things many of us care about most.

Spartacus & Tigger getting some flame time – Photo: L. Weikel

Purring and Comfort and Walks

Beyond the scientific proof that the purring of cats is healing to the physical body, I for one can attest to how my cats have mended tears in my emotions since I got my first kitten at age six: Katen. Katen was a black and white domestic shorthair cat with a white hourglass on his nose. He got me through my childhood, pure and simple. He was my closest confidant (although I was lucky enough to have a couple two legged ones too – you know who you are).

It’s amusing to me to realize that he was black and white – just like my beloved Sheila and Spartacus; just like Cletus. Indeed, just like the marvelous Stinky who’s been around recently.

I love feeling the heft of a cat on top of the covers, his purr resonating through the layers of sheets and blankets. (I will admit to allowing Spartacus to nestle along my back underneath the covers. Talk about a comfort.)

And the walks. The walks are good for all of us. All of these little things, these opportunities for giving and receiving love, make my life incredibly rich. I hope you have such little things too.