a force of nature.

We might feel as if there aren’t many places, spaces, or faces that can withstand the kind of waves that build up inside of us.

Anger.

Grief.

Melancholy.

Anxiety.

Suffering.

Loss.

Emotions so vast and colossal that they form a tsunami – capsizing our lives as we know it.

When we feel like we’re drowning in the depths of our own deep sea, when we feel like erupting under the pressure of our own seismic activity, when we feel like cracking wide open after a fracture in our own crust, nature recognizes this wild force we have become, even if no one else does.

May we spill our heartbreak on the forest floor, our tears like raindrops falling and soaking into the soft earth, the rich tapestry beneath our bare feet absorbing our sadness and pain.

May we scream our fury across the tops of mountains, our rage like a gust of wind, carrying our hurt across the expanse as if it were some feathered beast of burden, a wingspan so large it blots out the sun.

May we whisper our worries to the trees, stoic companions resolute in their counsel and confidentiality, always listening without interruption. They recognize our trepidations and advocate for the sharing of all that we leave unspoken.

May we wash our grief away in the swirls and sweeps of a river flowing. May we submerge our sorrow below the surface of a tranquil lake so still that it reflects the sky in mirror image. May we sink our misery down beneath the scrubby plush of peat moss and boot-stealing muck of the swamp lands.

May we tap into the wild consciousness of creation. Unplug from the Matrix of a conditioned society and choose instead to link up to the feral and untamed mycorrhizal network that connects all things.

May we weave ourselves through the rugged fabric of the earth, intertwining our threads with the other-than-human – fungi and root, soil and sun, water and mineral, plant and animal – life sustaining energy and forces.

It is the great gift of right relationship – to have nature know you better than you might know yourself. Let the land, the sky, the trees, the water, and all who exist in these wild elements hold space for you.

May nature validate all that we feel inside, even when we do not – no matter how cumbersome, how relentless, how challenging, how exhausting, how formidable, how tempestuous. Lay it down. Let it out. Nature knows what you should not carry alone. Perhaps, nature knows what we need even when we do not.

The wild is the one place where we do not have to pretend to be okay.

Where we do not have to have all the answers.

Where we do not have to just get over it.

Nature will see and experience you at your wits end,

at your wildest….

and just let you be.

In the wild silence, may we find our voice.

In wild spaces, may we give fashion and form to our unspoken things.

In our own wild nature, may we find ourselves.