I moved to a beautiful place to start my new life a few years ago. While I was not fully ready to embrace a new life yet, I found the beauty around me to be balm for my soul. I started observing plants, animals and insects with a new light; I was observing the beautiful detail and genius in how they were designed to fulfill their purpose and their larger place in a greater ecosystem. I was in awe of their resilience and adaptation through the many years of environmental changes and human impacts. Trees have modified their DNA to adapt to environmental and human impacts, and that they are able to communicate with each other through their root systems, fungi in the ground, and by emitting distress chemicals. And mullein, a medicinal plant, grows at the edges of the forest or where there has been forest destruction. Cowbirds will lay their eggs in the nests of other birds and force the other birds to hatch and raise their young, while doves never leave their eggs alone in the nest, switching watch hours between father and mother. The tiny frogs in the forest are absolutely magical, and the pond frog songs sound especially sweet during the springtime. Lilacs, one of my favorite flowers, bloom for only two weeks in which they release a wonderful fragrance. What a shame it would be to miss enjoying them in that small window of time! There are cicadas that live underground for over 10 years, only to come to the surface for a month to mate before perishing. What would you do if you only had one month to live above ground? How would you live your life differently? We likely wouldn’t be waiting for “someday” to do something important to us, nor would we take for granted the simple sunshine or every beautiful breath that we are able to take.
Just after I moved to this new beautiful, place, my spiritual teacher passed away from illness. A spirit sister of mine was in frequent contact during that time. During one of our phone calls, she told me of a teaching she once received from our teacher about “going into the beauty.” Rinpoche told her that it was important for everyone, but particularly trauma survivors, to spend time “going into the beauty.” He would spend hours outside with people, simply taking care of the gardens, planting trees, and observing life with curiosity. Many of his teachings happened in these simple ways, and I was grateful to my spirit sister for sharing this very important teaching.
May we always make room in our lives for going into the beauty, no matter how stressed out we are, how many things we have to do, or how traumatized we feel by life. It doesn’t cost anything, and the beauty will save our spirits even in the most dire of circumstances. Artists are masters as this, as they notice everything that crosses their gaze, so if this is a struggle at first, surround yourself with artists and they will show you the way.
In closing, I will leave you with one of my favorite poems by Ngak’ chang Rinpoche.
If you were to fall to your death from a very great height
It would be a shame not to enjoy the view as you fell
Or to fail to appreciate the wind in your hair
And the warmth of the sun on your face
To experience the raw voltage of being alive
Requires that we learn to lick honey from the razor's edge
©Cardinal Speaks
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