5 Fun Activities To Enjoy Mother Nature

What is it about nature that lightens the mood and lifts the soul?

It is the connection to the Divine.

It is the miracle of life that surrounds you.

It is the full on sensory feast for your heart.

There is life all around you, life where you cannot see it. There is a part of you that can sense it and without you even knowing it you are able to connect to that life force and charge your battery.

Plug into nature and unplug from technology, stress, “shoulds” and “have to’s”. Spending time in nature is like a reboot for your soul.

Here are 5 fun activities you can try that will get you out and enjoying Mother Nature.

 

1. Go on a nature scavenger hunt. Get small. Look around for little bits you can collect and bring back to a sacred place in your home. Small pebbles that can be displayed together in a dish, sticks can be taken home and painted or used in your garden, and dried pods, seeds, or leaves can be collected and displayed. Swap out your mini collection each time you venture out into the wilderness.

2. Go on a photo safari. Take your camera or your cell phone out and see your surroundings with different eyes. Try to capture the mystery and beauty through the lens of your camera. Look for interesting angles, different shapes, or new worlds you may have missed if you walked through without your camera.

3. Explore during different parts of the day. You may live in an area that doesn’t’ have a wealth of natural areas to visit and going to the same place all the time may begin to feel monotonous but taking your excursions at different times of the day will create a different experience. Try dawn, early morning, midday, dusk and evening for unique experiences.

4. Take a sensory vacation. Sit in silence for as little as a minute or as long as an hour and allow your senses to be filled. Start with what you can see. Look at colors, textures, and pattern. Move onto what you can hear, what you can smell, what you can feel, and what you can sense? Soak it all in and take a moment to write down your feelings and experiences as inspiration at a later date if you wish.

5. Play! Remember when you were a kid and being outside was enough? You could create whole worlds and experiences for yourself. Go out into nature thinking like a child and see if it changes the experience for you. Run, jump, climb, wade in the water, stack rocks, play catch with another person. Be young and carefree and see how that changes the experience for you.

No matter how you interact with nature this summer, just go out and do it. Fill yourself up with the goodness and the magic of Earth’s energy and see what a difference it makes for you.


xo
Michelle

How Often are You Missing the Beauty That is All Around You?

By: Michelle

 

 

I’ve always wanted to live in Hawaii. To me it is the ideal place to call home. When I visit the islands I am transported to what feels like a magical state of being. It begins the moment I step foot off the airplane and breathe in the air…it’s just different. I feel at peace there and I spend every moment I am there in this state of gratitude and presence because I want to take it all in.

Several years ago I was absolutely obsessed with wanting to move there. I bought a book about relocating there and spent inordinate amounts of time researching islands, homes, neighborhoods, prices, schools…you name it, I was learning about it.

I also told just about everyone I ran into that I wanted to move to Hawaii. I would lament about the cold climate I lived it and dream about how wonderful my life would be if only I could make the move.

One day when I was talking to a woman and boring enlightening her with my incessant talk about Hawaii she said something that made me think. She said that it’s so wonderful when you visit Hawaii but if you moved there you would have to go to work, take the kids to school, clean the house, and have your busy life there and pretty soon you would stop appreciating the beauty of the place.

Whoa! What? I never thought about it like that. I can’t say 100% agree with everything she said because I do think it is possible to make life-style changes that will allow a person to stop living that “busy life” but it got me thinking.

How often was I missing the beauty that was happening in my own little neck of the woods? How often was I rushing to drop a child at baseball or basketball and hurrying to get the laundry done that I stopped even noticing what was happening in front of my eyes.

I started looking. I looked out the window and saw the tree in my front yard ablaze in rich red and orange tones. How long had that been like that and how did I miss it? I paid attention to the snow in the winter and saw the patterns the wind made. I noticed the wildlife that visited my house everyday and the sunsets that lit up my sky.

Just the other day I was in the car with my youngest son Aidan and we were driving to his soccer practice. We drove by a tree that looked like a fluffy white cloud, filled with fragrant blooms and I pointed it out to him. He said, “Yeah mom, I love that Bull Run is lined with those trees. It looks so cool!” and then we sat at the stoplight admiring the tree.

It was a great moment that we shared and it got even better when this bright red bird flew into the white tree. I had never seen a bird like this. The only red bird I have seen in our area is a cardinal and this wasn’t a cardinal. We both sat and watched that bird hop around branch to branch framed by the delicate white blossoms of the tree and it was magical.

If I were rushing to soccer practice and staring straight out my window, I would have missed that bird and I would have missed the brief display of those trees. I would have missed that special moment with my boy. But instead I looked. I saw the beauty that was there for me. 

Funny thing is, ever since I started this practice, I haven’t had the need to move to Hawaii. I’m content. I’m grounded and I live in the beauty that is here in the Midwest. Crazy!

I invite you to take a moment to see the beauty wherever you are today. If you live in the city, look at the buildings, signs and windows with new eyes. Look at the bark on the tree or the grass in the field. Look for little flowers, bugs, or interesting weeds. Look at the faces of your loved ones and see each freckle and crease and open your heart to the beauty of it all.

xo

Tired Of The Same Old Gratitude List?

I love having a Gratitude Journal and it is a key element to my Daily Alignment Practice, but I confess and sometimes it feels more like a chore.  I just do it to get it done and don't enter into the feeling tone of Gratitude, which really defeats much of the purpose.

Lately I have been working with ways to make it more fun and right now this is my favorite :)

10 Super Simple and/or Silly Things I LOVE About My Life.

  I Love that my kids love listening to Johnny Cash songs and sign them out loud when we are in the car.

 I Love when I am sitting in meditation and I can feel the strong connection with the Universe and  Bella, Luna, my cat, will suddenly begin purring, even though she was sleeping peacefully next to me the whole time.

  I Love when I go to sleep at night and Bella Luna curls up next to me in the crook of my arm.

I Love watching Bella Luna soaking up the Rays.

Bella Luna enjoying the Sun

I Love when my husband calls me Deuce, a nickname my niece gave me 20 plus years ago when she was 2.

I Love when I overhear my son telling his friends, "My mom is into all this weird stuff but you know it really works!"

I Love living by my own schedule doing what I love to do.

I Love that I'm 45 and still feel like I'm in my late 20's but with the wisdom that comes with age and life experiences.

I Love A New Day Art Studio and the journals that Deanna Jinjoe makes.

A New Day Art Studio Handmade Journals by Deanna Jenjoe

I Love being able to connect with like minded people all over the world!

I Love having a business partner and friend that is an Intuitive Artist.

My Birthday Gift from Michelle Geoffroy :)

I Love that my 17 year old daughter will still ask me if I need a Power Hug*

I Love the Power of Love and an Open Heart :)

I Love all of you!  Sounds sappy but true!  I am so thankful for the Light you add to this world

Oh I guess that is 13 things!  I was having so much fun I don't want to stop!

 *I made up Power Hugs when the kids were little because I had Fibromyalgia and some days it was almost impossible to get out of bed.  I told them that their Power Hugs would fill me with so much love, and that it helped me have more energy.  Those Power Hugs worked like magic!

 It was a combination of the pain and exhaustion, plus the love of my family that led me on my Quest to feel better and heal my energetic imbalances.  It was so life changing that I went on to study the energy system and become an Energy Healer myself so I could help as many people as possible to live an empowered life.

Hope you have a wonderful day filled with Love and Gratitude and maybe even some Power Hugs ;)

With Heart,

Jill Marie