We Are Clay -Let's Get Dirty!

I want to invite you to remember that you are a natural being, shaped from earth, breath, tide, and presence. Through forest walks, dirt-covered children, birdsong, and the rhythm of the waves, we explore how nature helps us return to our own “I amness” without striving or regret.

Music purchased on Epidemic Sound.

Transcript

Stepping into the forest this morning, I remember what I am. Natural being. I breathe the forest and the forest breathes me. Thich Nhat Hanh said it simply, We inter-breathe with the rainforest. They are part of our own body. The forest doesn't manage itself, It just is. We try to tidy it up, Contain it. And improve on it. But I think it's probably best left alone. Out here, It's easier to just be. Every tree, Every bird, Every rock is saying, I am by simply being what it is. Maybe this is why our own I am-ness tends to find us out here almost without trying. When we're inside our homes and offices, Life is managed and the wild is extinguished and repressed. We have thermostats, Artificial light, Screens, Ads, Other people's demands and urgency. Out here, Something else takes over, A presence and an invitation. Like Mary Oliver said, Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, Stay a while. Have you heard that invitation? I regularly do, And it makes my heart ache for more. When we're outside and when we're open to it. We get to be outside ourselves and inside ourselves at the same time. Being and doing stop fighting each other. They just happen the way they're supposed to. The way they do with natural beings. I want to note that how we do this doesn't really matter. Just go outside. A heron has to be a heron. Its survival depends on it. We're not so different, Except that somehow along the way, Our humanness and our natural way of being gets conditioned out of us. We forget that we are clay. My daughter sent me a wonderful picture of our one-year-old granddaughter with a dirt-covered face. She knew I'd love it, And I did. A child with a dirty face and a mouth full of dirt hasn't forgotten yet. Then we teach him that dirt is bad and clean is good. And that's the beginning of duality. Separateness from the earth. And conditioning. B. Brett Finley, The UBC microbiologist and co-author of Let Them Eat Dirt, Said children need to eat more dirt. Sitting by the inlet this morning, Feeling the wind, Looking at and smelling the ocean water, Contemplating gray rocks, Looking at the lush green hills, Sweating a little from my walk. And hearing a mix of traffic noise and bird song. Is like eating dirt too. All I can say is, More dirt please. I was bemoaning the fact that I tend to go in and out of presence, And it's really apparent as I walk. But it's natural to remember to be open and present and to forget. We see this in nature and in our natural selves all the time. We breathe in and breathe out. The tide comes in and the tide goes out. We sleep and we wake up. We're aware and then we're unaware. Waves arrive at the shore and then they pull back. Even the wind comes and goes, The earth breathing in its own way. This is all natural. You're natural. I'm natural. I invite you to accept it. To be with it. Don't regret it or rush to fix it. Flow with it. Get your hands and your face dirty. Allow thoughts, Feelings, And emotions to move through you like weather, Tide, And breath. Bring a little compassion to the whole thing. And especially to yourself. You're human. You're natural. You're wild. May you breathe with the trees, Move with the tide. And forget and remember without regret. Namaste.