Nature – Our Internal GPS
Posted by Robin Easton
Last week on my Song of Sanity post, I was very touched by the eloquence and beauty of Stacey Mathews’ insightful comment. With her permission I decided to share it this week as a guest post, along with three of her exquisite photographs. It was as if she wrote the words imprinted on my heart and soul. I felt sane just reading her thoughts. Stacey is an amazing, yet humble soul. Just to fill you in on the depth of her connection to nature, Stacey has walked literally thousands of miles: the entire Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and other shorter trails, and probably some of these more than once. One o
f the things I love so much about Stacey is that she isn’t merely in love with nature, she has become nature. To be in her presence is like being in the presence of the wild.
To me, modern society often encompasses many aspects that would be considered insane in an individual. In so many ways we have started living backward to the laws of nature. When one is able to spend an extended period of time immersed in the embrace of mother nature, we are able to reconnect with the truth within. It is as if an internal GPS is activated, and once again we are able to navigate life with maps that show us where the greatest treasures are.
So often, what society considers right or normal is completely backward. It is so valuable to really step back and examine how we are living life. Are we respecting ourselves and our surroundings? Do we really expect the earth to be able to sustain us forever when all we do is take from her? Are we really so self-absorbed to believe that everything on earth is to supply and serve us? 
What nature teaches us is that she will always bring balance to all that she encompasses. Insanity in one organism is only tolerated for so long. All organisms serve their purpose, and those that grow out of control have a limited life span, as inevitably they crash. There is always a natural ebb and flow. And once in a while, when a species flows a little too strongly, they can even become extinct themselves. This is the balance that nature finds.
Your story of the bird in last week’s Song of Sanity post is a beautiful example of the sanity and beauty of nature. I would even argue that she was not sacrificing herself because she was concerned with the future of her species and spawn, but because she truly loved her babies. Not in the way that we typically think of love in the western world (a fear based love). But because she loved them enough to triumphantly embrace death. Nature truly embraces life and death.
I don’t believe that most living beings fear death in the way we do. When we no longer fear death and what lies beyond it, we find that we are able to fully live in each moment. We remember that we are all one, what we do to all that surrounds us, we do to ourselves. So sanity and insanity are terms that are valuable to turn around, and re-examine.
Find Stacey Mathews at her beautiful blog, Do What You Love, where she writes and shares stunning photos. Stacey says, “Every aspect of my life has led me to discover just how important it is to be connected with nature at all times. Having grown up with many animals on our small farm, I was blessed with interactions that allowed me to see the world through the perspective of other living beings. My cross country pilgrimages on the nation’s long distance trails allowed me to be fully immersed in nature for months on end, and to learn so many life-altering lessons. My heart and soul live in nature, she is my nourishment.”
NOTE: Next week we conclude this series by examining ways we can create sanity in our own lives and in the world around us.
Love,
Robin
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~ “NAKED IN EDEN” ~ Available on Amazon
Did you Enjoy reading Naked in Eden? Would love a review from you, HERE. If you’ve not yet read my Australian adventure book and would like to, you can order it on Amazon HERE. “Naked in Eden” is a spirited true-life Australian adventure story, filled with personal transformation. It is wonderfully life altering for adults, teens and tweens, and makes a memorable gift. Enjoy!
Thank you!
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This Site: © Robin Easton
Website: http://www.nakedineden.com
Blog: http://nakedineden.com/nakedinedenblog/
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15 Comments so far...
Evita Says:
28 November 2011 at 8:01 am.
Dear Robin and Stacey…two of my amazing nature soul sisters!
Oh how these words resonate with me, my heart and soul….but you both already know this as I feel you both so much. Stacey you perfectly mirror my thoughts about the norms of society and how indeed they are so backwards. To add to this these so called norms are what I find the basis of so much of our heartache and problems as people constantly go against their true nature to conform to illusions set by others, which serve no one in the end.
p.s. I am now back home in our wonderful natural environment and I know you both can imagine the immense feeling of gratitude and joy I feel to be back where I most belong!
LOTS OF LOVE and INFINITE BLESSINGS to you BOTH!
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Bill Gerlach Says:
28 November 2011 at 10:49 am.
Robin/Stacey,
Simple, beautiful, profound words that just made my day.
“In so many ways we have started living backward to the laws of nature.”
So true. Being out of step leads to being out of balance. We have tried to control what can’t be; own and commoditize what belongs to us all; reduce to widgets what millions of years has so lovingly crafted.
Stacey, so glad to be introduced to your blog. I love connecting with kindred spirits.
Be well — both of you!
Bill
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Stacey Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 3:16 pm
Bill,
I am so glad that you came here to share your day with us! When we loose the connection with our soul, we are no longer able to see the soul that lies within all that surrounds us. And so then, we treat ourselves and the world around us as commodities. This is the concept that has grown so out of control in modern day.
It indeed is wonderful to connect with kindred souls, it is like food for the soul that helps us bloom with even more glory! Blessings!
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Jean Sampson Says:
28 November 2011 at 12:11 pm.
Oh, Stacey, I visited your blog and signed up! What beauty you have captured and what a poet you are, both with words and pictures. It seems that you live a life as big as the world! I feel that I am at the window looking out and know that I need to make much more time in my life to visit the mountains I love. You are so right that we are living unnatural lives, for the most part and feel disconnected from the world of wild animals and the natural world. I want to take a step out into nature more often and connect with what is right outside my door. I walk every day, but that is much too fast a pace for the real connection to happen. Being connected to you, Robin and Evita might remind me of how essential that process is. Thank you so much for sharing this!
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Stacey Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Jean,
Hugs to you! Thank you for this beautiful comment. This is exactly what I want to inspire in others, the desire and passion to get outside and absorb nature. It is something that is almost blatantly discouraged in our society, and my soul can hardly bare it. Within my time being immersed in nature, I have come alive. She is such a spectacular nurturer and teacher. I hope that fire keeps burning in you, and that you are able to connect with nature on a regular basis.
Blessings!
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Jen Says:
28 November 2011 at 7:19 pm.
Dear Robin,
Thank you for sharing. Just peeking around your site, and reading this beautiful post of Stacey’s I feel like I have found two more soul sisters!
I am so fortunate to live in Montana, where nature is my backyard, my escape, my life. Each year I take a backpacking trip into remote areas of the mountains with my sister-in-law (who grew up in Alaska) and we reconnect with each other, ourselves, and nature. But nature is the first thing I wake up to in the morning, the last thing I see at night as I gaze out my back door into the mountain, where often times we have wild animals visiting.
Robin, you have such a beautiful site, and Stacey, I am heading over to visit you now!
In Harmony,
Jen ♫
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Stacey Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
Jen,
Greetings soul sister. Those of us blessed to live in places like Montana have an easy time of being inspired by nature on a daily basis. She peeks around every corner, and seeps out of every crevice.
Aren’t trips into the mountains magical? I have to say that even though I was born under a water sign (cancer) my soul seems to be formed from mountains. It is when I am pushed to the heavens on a jagged peak that I feel most at peace with all of existence.
Keep enjoying each nuance of nature that embraces you!
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Jeanette Melian Says:
30 November 2011 at 1:06 pm.
Robin and Stacey,
As someone who lives in the “concrete jungle” of a huge city, I so appreciate any time I am able to get out into nature. I remember visiting the Red Rocks in Sedona, Arizona and just sitting there in the absolute silence and feeling the presence of God surrounding me. Everywhere I looked I saw His incredible hand in all of it. There is nothing like being in nature. It reminds us to simply just “be.”
Thank you so much for this post!
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Stacey Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 3:19 pm
Jeanette,
Ah, Sedona. That is truly a magical place on earth! There is something peaceful and centering about it. I have spent a couple weeks there, and perhaps some day it will call me to settle a little bit longer. My hats off to you living in a huge city, while I know I could do it if I had to, my soul would most likely not flourish in such a place. I hope you are able to find bits of nature peeking through in the most unexpected places, as she is held back by nothing, including concrete and steel.
Thank you for taking the time to visit!
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Sandra / Always Well Within Says:
4 December 2011 at 1:17 am.
Stacey’s words resonate for me so strongly. There is so much wisdom in bowing to the natural balance she subscribes. It’s a beautiful reminder to sustain it in my life as well. All my love to both of you beautiful women.
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Stacey Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Sandra,
Thank you for your sweet and loving words. Much of the wisdom I have absorbed in my life comes directly from nature, as she is nothing but wisdom. It is interesting thing that we have moved toward the pursuit of knowledge instead of wisdom as a species. Wisdom embraces and nurtures us, where as knowledge often uses us.
Blessings to you dear soul!
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Bernie Says:
5 December 2011 at 4:49 pm.
When beauty is re-experienced as a constant flow…… it surges through our veins and pumps out through our hearts where the soul then feeds the earth its pure white milk that comes from our bare and opened breasts. No sucking required.
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Stacey Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Bernie,
When one truly connects with the beauty of nature, then we can’t help but feed, and be fed by her. It is in this mutual reverence that we will once again be-live. Your comment paints a feeling of great abundance, a valuable place to reflect upon!
Keep painting great swaths of colour on the world with your feelings.
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Grant Says:
3 January 2012 at 12:27 am.
I cupped my hands to drink the unpurified water..knowing I will probably get dysentery, but I am ‘Nature’? I walk naked, chilled so much I shake and seek cover. I have no tools. I don’t know what will kill me and what I can eat. I feel miserable. In my mind I feel a thousand questions blurring my thinking so I can’t even concentrate on my next footfall…I trip and injure my leg. I begin crying uncontrollably, somehow this gives me comfort as I feel the depth of my despair and console myself…somehow it will work out, I hope. I see some berries and I wonder if they will make me sick. I remember to rub them on my skin to test for reaction. I think to examine the leaf shape and sap. I look to see if other animals have eaten them. I venture on with a handful and find an overhang which I slowly and painstakingly barrackade off with branches to try to reduce the wind and hold heat. I drag armfuls of leaves into the overhand to create some insulation…my mind reals. I am panting, exhausting myself. I become aware I am living off my reserves and it sends a tingle up my spine that I quickly put out of my mind. The sun stretches through the tress and animals I see are still now watching me and I think they are wondering who is their new neighbor, this man now returned to Nature, like the rest of her children. Can I live??
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Stacey Reply:
December 5th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Evita,
You express this concept so well. Indeed the basis of many of our problems come from following that inner compass (GPS). It is so deeply sad that so many have lost that true nature within. How were we so easily convinced that the answer lay within the opposite of that inner truth?
Thank you kindred nature spirit! Enjoy the peace of your beautiful home!
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