This is day four of five in my training to become a Master Minnesota Naturalist, and I am preparing to finish the training with a deeper awareness of the world around me. But more than that, I am completing this training with a much deeper awareness of the world within me.
Yesterday was spent completely outside, first with a field trip to Glacial Lakes State Park and a second to Roscoe Prairie Scientific and Natural Area. In the first location we hiked through a dry prairie, identifying over 40 species of plant life and observing, kames, eskers and kettle lakes, all remnants of the ancient glaciers which moved through this region millennia ago.
The second stop was quite literally in the middle of nowhere (“county road this and county road that and then follow a gravel road until” directions). The wet prairie was too difficult for me to traverse with my mobility issues, so after a few minutes’ valiant attempts, I returned to my car and rested in the beauty of summer afternoon while I did some nature journaling (distinct from other types of journaling) and considered this thistle.
It is native to Minnesota (among the eighteen different types of thistle in Minnesota, a number of them are non-native and invasive), and is a delicacy for at least one bird species and, of course, pollinators. Its hue is a deep pinkish-purple, and it grows best in wetter soil. They grow independent of one another (that is, you don’t find a “thistle garden,” although you will find a thistle in a garden), and they are strikingly enigmatic amongst the varied colors of the prairie landscape.
As I considered the thistle, felt the warm summer breezes waft across my face, heard the chittering of the birds and buzzing of various insects, waves of contentment flowed through my soul. I glanced at my face in the car mirror and at my short-sleeved arms and realized I have more depth of color in my skin than I have in years. It is a healthy tan glow, reflecting the vitality of naturally procured vitamin D. I considered my thought process and realized a certain freedom with little anxiety or stress. My inner world and my outer world were coalescing into a transcendent moment of deep satisfaction.
But why? Why has spending the week in nature and learning about the natural world been so invigorating for my soul? I don’t have final conclusions to the question, but I have some initial thoughts as to what is happening for me.
The vivid, luxurious beauty of nature is spiritually transporting. I am so regularly bombarded with slick advertising and color schemes designed to get my attention. There is something “true” about nature’s transitions and adaptions: it is a virtual bonanza of visual delight.
In the midst of the beauty, the stark reality of life cycles is very present. While some life is emerging (the later blooming forbs and other vegetation), other life is fading or dead (“crispy” is what the college-age co-instructors call blossoms that are dead). This melange of blooming and fading is redolent of our human lives, represented in nature as just “part of it all.”
There is a subtle kindness offered in the order of nature. While there are moments of chaos (thunderstorms, blizzards), in time a regularity returns. The clouds roll back, the sun shines again, the raindrops are evaporated into the atmosphere. There is an order that rectifies naturally occurring disorder: it’s not something we can control, we simply are part of it because it’s larger than we are. We can learn about it, observe it, makes plan as a result of it, but nature’s order is exquisitely foundational.
Immersion into the outside world brings wholeness to our inside world. For those of us who are thinkers by nature, we need moments to just “be.” For those of us who are natural “fixers,” we need reminders that some things are beyond our control. While medication may be necessary in our lives, nature offers other forms of health and healing that can only be experienced within its realm. It is not enough to read about a hike or a beautiful natural setting: we need to step into those worlds to get the full effect of it all.
Today’s agenda includes some attention to mammals and other animal life, as well as a prairie hike to “sweep insects.” It will be a hot, humid Minnesota day, but it will be another good day to consider other glories of the natural world.
It has been so good for me to step outside of my vocational and personal ruts this week. This immersion into nature is helping me to consider the thistle, as well as so many other parts of my life.
So satisfying, so contenting, so healing.