Newsletter Articles written by Tera Thomas
Issue 20
Nature, Nature Everywhere
by Tera Thomas
The most inspiring moments in my life have occurred in nature: with animals, plants, rocks, trees, rivers, mountains, flowers, a sunset or sunrise, the sky, the stars. It has always been that way, from my earliest memories.
Today my neighbor was telling me about how happy he is to watch his chickens, and how grateful he is for a breakfast of two eggs from them. He said he felt bad when he looked at the cities and saw how many people don’t have the privilege of nature, and how many children don’t know anything about it.
I have lived in the country for fifteen years but I had some forty-odd years of living on Air Force Bases and in large cities. I always said that some day I would live in the country and have a lot of animals and trees around me. Then I would be happy. Yet when I think about it, every place I ever lived in my life, my memories are of nature, even when I lived in places that one would think of as urban, as devoid of nature.
When I was young I spent most of my spare time outside. It never occurred to me to say there’s nothing to do. I climbed trees, built forts, searched for 4-leaf clovers, rode horses, caught frogs, collected rocks, ran with the wind, jumped off of fences into drifts of snow, looked for fairies in the bushes, and stood in storms with my mouth wide open to catch raindrops on my tongue.
In my twenties I lived in Los Angeles with cats as my roommates. There were also deer and coyotes right there in the city. Possums came in my cat door to eat the cat food and once I was surprised by a mother skunk and two babies in my kitchen. There were always flowers and birds at the feeder and lovely smelling eucalyptus trees.
My cats moved with me to New York City, where everyone I knew had cats or dogs or both. I brought plants and crystals and flowers into my apartment. I spent many wonderful hours exploring Central Park and found special places there. In one of those special places I heard two Willow trees sing a duet. I hiked through Inman Park, a lovely wild piece of land at the northern tip of Manhattan, and sat in a cave there with a friend watching the rain.
I worked on a television show and had a basement office with no windows in an old Brooklyn studio. I brought in crystals and flowers so that I could have nature around me. For a month that year I brought two kittens that I was bottle feeding to work with me every day. All the cast and crew spent their spare time in my office playing with the kittens. They brought so much joy to everyone.
It is strange to me now to look back and see how I immersed myself with animals and nature all of my life, and at the same time remember how I always complained that I was deprived. “If only I didn’t live in this city.” “If only I could have a garden.” “If only... if only… if only…” I know I was happy then with animals, with flowers, and rocks and trees. Yet, somehow I didn’t allow it to fill the void in me. Instead of feeling grateful for how much I had, I was pining for what I didn’t have. And now, when I actually do live on a beautiful piece of land with a lot of animals around me, I can still find myself feeling lack and start the “if only” chant.
I am so fortunate to live on a farm, surrounded by animals and nature, my greatest inspirations. The work is hard, often I am overwhelmed and over-tired, and this summer I have continually complained about the heat. But always at the end of the day, I can breathe in the wonders of this glorious life.
Nature is what connects us to our spiritual selves. It reminds us of how beautiful and magical the world is. Animals open our hearts to a deeper love than we can fathom and fill us with joy and wonder. We are so lucky to live on this planet and have access to the miracles of life.
No one on this earth is without some form of nature. It is everywhere, whether we live in the country or in a city. All we have to do is look for it, notice it, pay attention to it. We can miss things no matter where we live, or we can chose to notice. Birdsong is beautiful lying in a hammock by a river or in your apartment in a big city. Flowers smell sweet growing wild in the mountains or in a bucket at the local grocery store. We can’t escape nature really. It is a powerful force that is prevalent everywhere and we have not managed to obliterate it yet. Grass grows through cracks in the sidewalk, trees grow surrounded by concrete, hawks nest on the roofs of buildings, deer drink out of swimming pools, squirrels gather nuts in city parks, flowers pop up in alleyways. Everywhere we look, there is nature celebrating life. If we notice it, embrace it and love it, how full and rich our lives can be.
