Nature Photography Archives

A Sensitive Heart

By Simone Lipscomb | October 13, 2013

“I have sea foam in my veins, for I understand the language of waves.” Le Testament d’Orphee is a movie I’ve never seen but this quote from it touches me deeply. It was quoted in an article I read this morning during my hammock time with my ginger cat, Stanley. It was a piece about sensitive souls…the traits and behaviors…the feelings. As I read it a mirror to my soul seemed to open. FINALLY! There are others out there. (Deep sigh).

My first memory of my inner life being at odds with the outer world was when I was about eight years old. My father and I were watching a movie about an old man who saved up hard-earned money to purchase a pane of glass for the only window in his shack. He installed it and it had only been in place for a brief time when his mule kicked a bucket that went crashing into the window–which shattered. The man beat the mule. I cried and my father laughed at me for crying. He asked why I was crying. For the mule, for being beaten, of course. It was then that I begin to learn that my sensitive heart was in for a rough ride.

The article states, “You absorb sensation the way a paintbrush grasps each color it touches on a palette. The ethereal beauty of a dandelion, the shift of a season, the climax of a song, or the scent of a certain fragrance can sometimes move you to tears…Basically this means if you are sensitive, you have the ability to see colors and feel energy the way others hear jet planes.” Victoria Erickson, the writer, goes on to quote research that says sensitive souls make up about 20% of the population. People who are super-sensitive have nervous systems that respond easily to stimuli which can be overwhelming and exhausting. “Sometimes your sensitivity makes life extraordinarily painful and you want to shut down and hide your raw self from the loud chaos that accompanies this earth’s continual rotation.”

Victoria lists six ways to stay balanced….create, enjoy the company of animals, seek out water, recognize what is only your energy and emotion (its easy to absorb other’s energy), surround yourself with people that understand your nature and nurture that connection, retreat, replenish and rejuvenate. Her advice was so good that I saved the article to my desktop so I can review regularly.

After I finished reading I sat in the hammock chair with my cat buddy and pondered the eye-opening information. There have been many times I have been laughed at, made fun of, and generally put-down because I am sensitive. And I know there are others who have experienced this treatment. When this happens we close down, little-by-little. Our experience of the world narrows as we deny the very ability we have that feeds and nurtures us.

When my daughter was born, I begin to reawaken to the part of myself I had closed off, lost even, through my childhood, adolescence and young adult life. Her arrival into my life was a catalyst that pushed me onto my spiritual path and steered me deeper into my heart. When she was born I suddenly knew what it was like to truly love someone.

Everything didn’t change overnight. It takes an immense amount of work to learn to stay open to the beauty around us and not close down when the rest of the world seems to not notice. There were many, many rocky years and times when the dichotomy, of what I knew to be my truth and what the world told me my truth was, was difficult to sort out. I carry many battle scars.

About eleven years ago I reached a very low point in my life when things literally fell apart around me. It was as if everything I cared for shattered and shifted and I was left feeling completely beaten down and also, oddly enough, feeling incredibly open. At that time a man came into my life that helped nurture me so that I could put my life back together, in a more harmonious way. His was a sensitive heart, even though he didn’t like to admit it. The light he shined into my life helped me believe that I could be myself and live fully. At first he kidded me about talking to trees but before our relationship ended, I caught him talking to trees….although he would most likely deny that now.

I was blessed to have someone who believed in me, that stood beside me as I lifted myself out of the rubble of my life.

What does the world do to a sensitive heart? How do we survive the challenges, the fears, the chaos we encounter simply by living on this planet? This fragile beauty, this light within us can be so easily destroyed, snuffed out. The magnificence of a sensitive soul can be chased into hiding by the stresses of daily life. This, to me, is the greatest loss we all experience. When we lose our brothers and sisters whose sensitive hearts and souls bless this place, then truly we have lost great treasures. I know there are many whose light has been diminished or hidden by the stresses of life. May we reach out in understanding and love and stand with them as they work to find peace and wholeness.

When these lights go into hiding it’s not simply a personal loss, but a planetary loss. We need more people now than ever before who are in touch with their hearts and in communion with the beauty..and who are unafraid to show it. May we support each other always in finding and staying connected to our true selves.

Unattached to Attachments

By Simone Lipscomb | October 12, 2013

I was driving and found myself laughing hysterically and uncontrollably. It has been a long time since laughter has taken over and caused me to lose myself completely in its grip.

My brother has been working on a project and I decided to spend the afternoon with him and offer moral support. I was on my way to his barn when I began reflecting on realizations that came last evening. I wrote about them in my blog from yesterday entitled, Change. The nutshell? Letting go of the idea that I can create change in others by my actions and feeling like a failure if the world doesn’t improve because of my efforts.

So as I was driving I had this image of me whopping people over the head with my love for the planet. I’ll make you get it! That’s what started the belly laughs. I felt a huge rush of energy clear out remnants of left-over omnipotence and the image came of me loving someone so much I beat them over the head with love….isn’t that hilarious? For some reason those images completely cracked me up and it felt good. Well…actually…it felt great!

I was reminded again that my only desire is simply to allow love to flow through me and out into the world without attachment to who accepts it or what positive changes happen. What freedom! How much energy I’ve used to try and persuade, cajole, encourage positive change in others while it has depleted me. The laughter helped me feel the insanity of those crusades and release leftover crumbs of that way of thinking.

Isn’t it interesting how no matter the cause we are drawn to…whether it’s saving polar bears, stopping the Keystone XL pipeline, having health insurance for everyone, balancing a budget, gun rights, helping homeless people, helping homeless animals….our passion is what drives us. Our love is what fuels our work, our drive to make a difference. Being attached to our opinion, our work making the difference is the glitch…that’s where we stumble. That’s where we fail.

Our hearts are like blossoms, waiting to bloom

If I say I love you, share my innermost feelings and show relentless support and you tell me to go away, have I failed? Not in any way. I took the risk to share and it didn’t change your response. It doesn’t make you or me a bad person.

If you tell me that polar bears have very little sea ice on which to live and I don’t donate $100 to your cause, it doesn’t negate your work or my right to direct my energies elsewhere. Being attached to outcomes is so self-defeating, so damaging.

What would it be like to live without attachments? What if happiness and joy didn’t depend on how others responded to our choices, our passions, the lengths we go to to create positive outcomes? What would life be like if we simply did what we felt called to do with love and passion and dedication simply because it brought us immense joy? And allowed others that same freedom.

Wouldn’t it be great to let go of attachments? To be unattached to attachments….now that is living!

Change

By Simone Lipscomb | October 12, 2013

The sky was completely dark and I thought it must be 9pm. Time to curl up with a good book. Alas, it was merely 7.30 and once again the realization of seasonal change…. and change in general…. came to mind and became my meditation as I sat in my hammock swing on the back porch and listened.

The moon shone timidly through the grandmother oak’s massive branches and leaves as she spread her protective embrace over my home. Stars twinkled, bashful and fleeting in their dance through the sky. Change.. movement… cycles… rhythms.

Earlier today, as I worked to complete a book a friend and I are creating together, I was writing my part of the introduction. As I listened to my heart’s message I realized I have come to a point where I am letting go of feeling personally responsible for affecting change in other’s behaviors, specifically respecting the planet and each other. It’s rather arrogant to assume I could have that affect on others anyway. But I take the care of this beautiful planet seriously and somehow felt I was supposed to write, share photographs and teach others in order to create positive change in their actions. When change wasn’t forthcoming I felt a sense of failure.

Perhaps I thought that if people understood and grasped the depth of passion and love I have for the planet they would be inspired to love and care for it as well. It was rather unrealistic to think my actions could change other’s behaviors when I struggle at times to change my own behaviors. It’s sort of like thinking that loving and expressing your love for another person will make them love you….that never works no matter how deep and profound your love is for them. Maybe it was the head-banging-against-the-wall frustration that helped me awaken to how worn out I felt by taking on this unrealistic, unreasonable responsibility. (My inner psychotherapist is clapping her hands!)

I want to be at peace and feel open to love and compassion. I can’t have those qualities of mind, of life, if I’m ‘failing miserably’ at changing the world. I see what’s happening in governments, to wild land, to wildlife, to children, to humanity….If this is still happening I must be failing at my job. Honestly, a part of me really thought that way. And I wonder if others who love the planet, put their energy into creating positive change and wish for global healing share that feeling of failure when things seem not to change.

I realize now that the real reason I’m here on Earth is simply to express the love and gratitude within for this amazing planet with endless varieties of life and to be in Communion with It. By mistakenly thinking I could actually change other’s behaviors by my actions, I put myself under major-stress and took it very personally when people didn’t care–recycle, drive more fuel-efficient vehicles, buy less stuff, turn from greed, stop polluting, use solar energy, love each other, love animals and on and on the list goes. (Gulp….my inner psychotherapist is nodding her head).

As I was writing my part of the introduction to the new book I wrote: “Sacred Marriage with the Divine through nature, through life, is the only significant goal that remains in my life.”

Seeking a clearer connection with Spirit, being a clear channel through which this Force can flow, is my only desire. Gone now is the intent to change the world for that only created a life of constant frustration…although I still dream of a better world for all life. I wish only to change myself, to open to love and light that is abundant and available always, with every breath.

As I finished editing this post, an owl landed nearby and begin hooting. Seems I’m not the only one celebrating this shift in perspective, this clarity of focus. May each of us find our own dance….and if we’re really lucky, find others who will dance with us.

Patience….Faith…Hope for the Planet

By Simone Lipscomb | October 7, 2013

On the spiritual path it is said that once you have had an awakening it is impossible to forget what you know. In other words…you can’t really go back to sleep and pretend you don’t know the truth…I think the same is true of our environmental and social ills. But then they too are part of our spiritual path are they not? It’s all the same journey, no matter what label we attach to it.

I happened upon a Bill Moyers interview with Wendell Berry that helped me breathe–it felt like I had been holding my breath for months.

Berry reminded us to do what we can and to be realistic…we’re not going to fix something quickly. We have to have patience. He talked of being in an emergency situation and how that is the most difficult time to have patience and yet, with our planetary situation, patience is called for….faith, he said, is another word for patience.

The take-away from the interview between Moyers and Berry was this: keep doing whatever you can and do it as often as you can. Now is not the time to give up.

It’s not easy. It can feel like a very lonely, isolated existence. Yet whatever each of us feels ‘called’ to do to make a difference contributes to positive momentum and resolution. Maintaining balance while committing oneself to the task is challenging…beyond belief challenging. But the alternative is giving up and that’s simply not an option.

For me, the only thing left is faith…a glimmer of hope…and love. And the greatest of these is love. Ultimately I believe it is love that will lead us forward into a better way of living with each other and the planet.

Joanna Macy lead our group to greater understanding of how to help our planet and each other at Rowe, MA

Migrating Monarchs Amid a Tropical Storm

By Simone Lipscomb | October 5, 2013

Today as I was driving along the beach highway in Gulf Shores, Alabama my intention was to photograph beautiful cloud formations from Tropical Storm Karen. It was lovely on the beach and the clouds didn’t disappoint but what really caught my attention was the hundreds and hundreds of monarch butterflies moving through our area on their way to wintering grounds in Mexico. I wanted to tell them about the stormy winds that would make their journey more hazardous, more difficult but they fluttered by, determined to make it or die trying.

Dodging them was my priority but it was almost impossible given their erratic flight and the steady wind. I did my best though. The thought of killing one after he or she survived such a long journey was repulsive to me. You guys are so close! Why don’t you find some nice flowers and just hunker down….and stay out of traffic.

Their instinct overrides everything. Even facing strong winds these amazing and seemingly fragile creatures were launching over the Gulf of Mexico as dark clouds hung ominously overhead.

I feel like a wimp compared to monarchs and their drive to move, to fly even amid stormy weather. Of course, they have a goal in sight–a crystal clear path that is hard-wired into their DNA.

What if each of us came into this life with a hard-wired goal or purpose.

What if our purpose is simply to discover our purpose? Perhaps we make it more complicated than it really is. Perhaps our collective purpose is simply to learn to love unconditionally and develop compassion. Like the saying goes…it’s not the destination that matters but the journey.

The monarchs arriving on the coast just prior to a tropical storm has given me much to ponder. May I open my heart to love and compassion without restraint, with wild abandon…and keep flapping my wings even when storms try to turn me back….and that is my wish for you as well.