Nature's Teachings Archives

In the Flow

By Simone Lipscomb | September 9, 2013

My last morning on photography retreat was spent in my favorite place to work with water in the Smokies. It was so early, in fact, that I hardly saw anyone else…except a bear that scurried off as I drove by him. Standing beside or in flowing water made it difficult for me to hear snapping twigs if a big critter like a bear approached so I did a bit of singing hoping they would hear me and choose to wander elsewhere.Aside from that slight tingle of bear awareness it was the perfect ending to four days of connecting with nature through photography. Blissful quiet, hardly another human in sight and verdant beauty that seemed to reach into forever made me glad I had awakened before dawn and made the hour’s drive before the weekend crowd became active.

At one point I was braced against a large, gray rock with both feet wedged in between smaller rocks in the cold water while balancing with my tripod and camera taking long exposures. I checked the exposure on the screen and felt so grateful to be capturing such lush and endless beauty. My heart and mind merged with the flow of clear water and I felt a sense of purpose and direction that had eluded me for months.

Self-portrait...goofing off with my really dusty and happy car. — Self-portrait…goofing off with my really dusty and happy car.

Focused intention, open heart and profound love and appreciation for nature became interwoven elements that made for an excellent photography retreat. Being present with what I love doing in a place that I love kept me in the flow.

When Beauty Makes Me Weep

By Simone Lipscomb | September 6, 2013

I didn’t set an alarm clock this morning. Making another sunrise shoot wasn’t something I had planned to do. But I woke up early and had plenty of time to drive to Cades Cove before sunrise…so why not?

It was fogged-in again this morning but within an hour or so of sunrise the mists began to lift. And it was so gradual that I was able to travel around the dirt roads and loop road getting really nice images.

There was one particular field that was aglow with yellow flowers, some lingering fog glowing golden and a multitude of spider webs. I pulled to the side of the road and grabbed my camera and waded through very damp, deep grass into the field and was moved by the light, illuminating fog and life in general. Birds and insects of late summer created a symphony of sound and I completely lost myself to the moment. I heard myself whispering….thank you…thank you…oh how beautiful…thank you.

Wandering up and down the road on foot, more little miracles of light and water and color kept presenting to me. I could feel my heart filling with magic that was building as the elements conspired together to create a perfect morning. At one point I looked at the grass and saw hundreds…maybe thousands…of sparkling spider webs and the miracle of life, the unbounded beauty, caused me to sob great sobs that came from deep within as I was wrapped in the ecstasy of life.

I gazed into the azure sky, the green mountaintops, the golden fog floating as tears streamed down my face and I cried aloud, “THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU! THANK YOU!”

I continued composing various images after that intense opening to spirit, to life. I was drawn once again to the open field of flowers and fog. I glanced down the edge of it and a beautiful black bear, still wet with dew, started climbing a tree. The bear had witnessed my weeping and my loud exclamation of love and emerged as if in perfect harmony with my own feelings about the day.

Even while collecting my thoughts to write this the sobs come, the tears moisten my sun-kissed cheeks and I know a big door opened within my being for that is what happens when beauty makes me weep.

Infinite

By Simone Lipscomb | August 28, 2013

Nest sitting for sea turtles has the reward of helping insure baby loggerheads find their way safely to the Gulf of Mexico. But there are other reasons I volunteer for this work of love. This evening reminded me of the value of spending time outdoors, not for the hoped-for end outcome but for everything else that happens.

Six p.m. to nine p.m. was my shift. It was still sunny and bright when I arrived at the nest but the air was dryer than usual and the sky was clear…an oddity this summer after forty-something days of rain. I set up my beach chair and reclined so I could gaze into the cerulean sky.

Within minutes I relaxed and felt myself unwinding. Tension drained away as the waves gently sloshed onshore. Gulls flew west to their roosting place for the evening. The space of quiet in nature was mirrored within me. Everything within became incredibly still. I didn’t sleep but simply found myself in a place of perfect peace.

As the light gradually faded tiny stars began to emerge from the darkening sky. That time of transition from day to night is most magical, most powerful. As other team members gathered I moved to sit on the sand at the water’s edge so I could experience just a little more time of inner quiet and stillness.

I felt clean on the inside….really clear and clean. Open, expansive and yes, even infinite like the night sky. The fuzzy part of the Milky Way was easily seen in the distance in the open sky over the Gulf and I pondered the immensity of it all but mostly I just sat and looked at the now-black sky sprinkled with shimmering stars…..and the night-black ocean.

The best word I know to describe the evening is infinite. I’m learning to appreciate stillness and silence and I’m learning to be receptive to the bounty of blessings that are waiting to fill me and my life….and yours, too…wherever you are and whatever is in your sky this night. May it bring the experience of the Infinite.

A Healthy Dose of Nature

By Simone Lipscomb | August 27, 2013

Sometimes a bit of nature helps me find balance, especially when I have sudden and unexpected emotions pop up. Things have been going well for weeks with my heart opening with feelings of it delightfully expanding in unconditional love and all the good stuff. Then for some reason, around lunch time, it was like poof! And I felt off balance.

It’s normal to have ups and downs. Being human and living life guarantees emotional tides. But when they bounce in and jump out, like my orange boy cat trying to scare me, I don’t get it.

It was like a dark cloud hanging over me. But I went on with my day–shopping at the natural food store in Pensacola, planting veggie seeds in the garden, potting plants for the courtyard fence and I still felt weird. So I decided to head south.

Our sea turtle team has a nest very close to hatching so I drove down to the beach for sunset with my camera and tripod and visited with folks and took photographs. At one point I sat on the damp sand near the water’s edge and just allowed the motion of the waves to cleanse the cloud from around me. I sang a while to the sea and by the time I left, was feeling better. Still a bit ‘off’ but lighter.

No matter what I’m going through, a healthy dose of nature seems to make everything better.

What Magic!

By Simone Lipscomb | August 25, 2013

Today was the last of the 2013 Sea Turtle patrol walks for me. My Sunday morning strolls looking for mother sea turtle tracks and picking up trash are done for this nesting season. And what a beautiful day it was!

Storms were just offshore and provided a glorious display of nature’s power. There is something about a storm out over the Gulf….they key word being ‘out’ as in offshore and not over the beach.

It’s difficult to believe that another nesting season is starting to end. Of course we still have nests that will be hatching throughout September but as far as the females nesting…out team walks will be done at the end of this month.

I enjoy the Sunday morning walks…those sunrise excursions where the elements and I are one. Where wind and sea and sun and clouds affect me so deeply, so powerfully. I will miss this time alone on the shore.

It’s rather amazing how something so simple as a walk along the beach at sunrise can set the intention for the entire week. How it can open a person to the wonder of nature and the wild elements of it..birds, waves, sun, lightning, sand, salt, dolphins, sharks, rays, jellyfish, fish, seaweed, turtles, shells….what magic. What a treasure. May we honor it as such.