Nature has always been my teacher. For as long as I can remember.
My very first encounter was when I was just a mere two years old. I remember it vividly to this day. I was standing next to a coca-cola coloured river in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, when, suddenly, time stood still and I realized I am part of everything.
I was the river, the iguana, the trees, the sunlight and the breeze; and the river, the iguana, the trees, the sunlight and the breeze were also a part of me.
A deep quiet peace flushed through me. And then, I could feel something beginning to bubble inside me. Something that, years later, I started to call joy bubbles. And, now, thinking back on that profound experience I realized that I was given the opportunity to feel at-one-ment.
Forty years later I had a dream.
I dreamt I was walking on a beach. On the spur of the moment I walked into the ocean and swam as deep as I could. There, I drifted on the swells. I became one with the water. I became all the oceans on planet Earth. I evaporated into the sky and became all the stars. I became a trillion shooting stars and shape-shifted into a silver-white light that shone throughout the universe.
In the year 2000 my path took me to Peru where I spent two weeks with a very wise old shaman who reminded me so much about my grandfather. He told me to never ever loose my passion for life and stressed it had to be passion without any attachments. For, if I loose my passion for life I will loose my soul.
Soon after that trip I wrote the following:
I am on a journey walking the path of my life. A path full of twists and turns. A path over mountains, over rivers, through deserts. A path of discovery; finding my true self. A path that leads me to inner peace. A path that fills me with silence: the song of my soul.
For years I knew I could become still and find peace and answers in nature, but it was only when I did my first Vision Quest in 2011 that I understood what I knew instinctively: Mother Nature mirrors our souls and is our wisest teacher.
Nature always reflects wisdom and guidance back to you if you allow the mystery of the experience to reveal the insight you need. Outer nature serves as a clear mirror for your own inner nature. You just need to be awake and aware.
In 2012 when I visited Chichén Itzá in Mexico on December 21, I learnt the Mayan greeting: In Lak'ech Ala K'in. It means: I am you, and you are me. A greeting that validated my experience when I was two.
At the Mayan ruins of Tulum the hundreds of iguanas that live there kept reminding me of my first experience with Nature.
The next time you find yourself in nature open your eyes and listen with your heart. What is Mother Nature telling you?