Advice From A Marsh

This short poem meditation shares nature's wisdom from the perspective of a marsh. The landscape of a New England marsh offers a calming terrain for the nervous system to balance and reset through reflections and imagery. The words are accompanied by the natural sounds of a marsh.

Transcript

Advice from a marsh.

Be a quiet threshold where water ebbs and flows,

Rising and falling,

Moving with the ever-changing tides.

Be a refuge for life's storms,

Holding steady,

Rooted deeply when adversity strikes,

Bending with ever-changing winds like the cattails and marsh grasses that sway but do not break.

Be strong like the solitary heron who stands alone on her banks,

Feeded,

Rooted in the mud,

Braving all types of weather.

Be a slow breath of beauty that balances activity with rest.

Be aimlessly paddling in no hurry with no destination in mind,

Like the lone duck just enjoying the here and now.

Be a place where you can linger in stillness and quiet,

Resting in a beam of sunlight.

Be gentle like the dragonflies,

Dancing with grace and joy,

Reminding us to drink in the nectar of life's leading moments.

Be welcoming and curious of the unexpected,

Like the fog that rolls in on a beautiful sunny day.

Be a place for community to gather,

Offering a welcome sanctuary,

Like the geese who stop in on their long migration journey.

Be resilient when your path is suddenly hidden and the water becomes murky and dark,

Trusting that you are traveling in the right direction and all will soon become clear,

Just like the mist that burns off by midday.

Be the osprey flying overhead,

Taking in the larger view,

Reminding us that there is always a bigger perspective.

Be mindful and thoughtful of what you take in,

Like the marsh filtering the muck and holding the boundary between the land and the sea.

Be your innate essence,

Expanding and contracting,

Like the rising and falling tides,

But remaining faithful to who you are.

Be the songbirds of the marsh and share your beautiful gifts with the world.

Be a beacon of hope,

Staying true to your essential being on any shore where you live.