If you seek internal answers, nature can help. Whether you believe it or not, nature can help extract internal messages from us when we consciously make the decision to open up and set the intention to listen. It can make us aware of things in regards to ourselves as well as circumstances in our lives we may need assistance with. There are also times when it can give us inner-encouragement as well. Nature can point out to us internal messages in many ways, and I am here to share my own personal example with you.
As a child I was given the pleasure to spend a good portion of time with an amazing Hidatsa family from the Midwest. My Hidatsa step-father often encouraged me to spend time outside as a child, where I was taught many different kinds of things about nature. Among the numerous lessons I learned, one of them was to listen to what nature was telling me. Today, my family and I spend most of our existence around nature.
Often times when I go outdoors, I try to keep an eye out for the various things I encounter. If I happen to have several encounters with something that sticks out to me, I mark it in my mind. An example I want to share with you is from a fairly recent hike. While on the hike, I encountered a certain beetle several times. In fact, I saw this beetle well over 20 times! I stopped counting after I hit 20 because it became clear I was receiving an important message from nature.
Something personal—prior to this hike I had set some boundaries with a few people I care greatly about. I was questioning whether I was wrong in setting these boundaries, and wondered if it was the right time for me to withdraw in order to stay focused on a certain part of myself. Before I went hiking, I set the intention to receive an internal answer with the help of nature. When I realized the beetle was giving me an answer, I took some time to meditate on what this creature represented to me personally.
When thinking about beetles, the first thing that came to my mind was their thick shells which act like a barrier from the outside world, and they walk with their bellies closest to the earth. I also noticed how every beetle I witnessed during the entire hike appeared to be on some kind of mission, and they were always crawling solo. Not only that, every beetle seemed to be taking shelter under some other kind of barrier—such as a leaf or a protruding rock.
I took these gathered aspects from the beetle and understood them as internal answers to my personal question of boundary setting as well as my need to know why I was distancing myself from others. I took the bug’s protective-shield as telling me that my need to set boundaries was in order to protect my love for the people I cared about. In regards to beetles walking close to the earth, I was given the internal message that it was a time for me to stay grounded and focused. This internal message was further confirmed when I thought about the beetles taking shelter, which revealed to me the importance of distancing myself from others in order to protect and stay focused on and nurture a certain area of myself.
Although this is one of the most recent of my personal examples, I have experienced many other internal messages that were brought to the surface by simply observing nature. You don’t always have to be out in the wilderness to do this because nature dwells even in the most urban of areas. Sometimes you may feel compelled to further research something you encounter in nature, and that can be helpful too.
Many people have different ways to search for answers to their personal questions, and one of the ways I gain some of these answers is through watching nature. If anything, I hope this can provide a way to help you obtain answers to important questions. So the next time you have a question, try setting an intention to receive your internal answer through nature, and you just might find it.
