Nature

“Nature is an endless combination and repetition of a very few laws. She hums the old well-known air through innumerable variations.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Interesting that Emerson calls Nature “she.” Maybe because we think of Mother Nature. The idea, though, is that nature is something we can count on. As unpredictable as nature can be, we do know that the sun will rise, the seasons will change, that rivers will flow to the sea. There are these laws in effect that go beyond our powers of human manipulation. Nature is much bigger than we are, and yet, at the same time, it is an essential part of who we are. The same laws that govern nature affect us as well.
-Lissa Coffey

Nature

“Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another.”
-John Muir (1838-1914)

Who taught the grass to grow, or the bird to sing? Who makes the wind blow, or told the lion roar? It is nature. It is nature being true to Itself. Does the bird aspire to roar? Or the lion “really want to direct?” We can learn from nature, to be true to ourselves, to let our natural talents and instincts shine in endless song. And then, to grow and change and go with the flow, knowing that all of our roles in this life eventually turn from one beautiful form into another.
-Lissa Coffey

Nature

“Nothing in nature is isolated. Nothing is without reference to something else. Nothing achieves meaning apart from that which neighbors it.”
-Goethe (1749-1832)

Everything we have, everything we see, everything we are, has its roots in nature. We are all made up of the same basic materials! Look at your desk, the paper, wood and wicker that come from the trees, which grow from the earth. We feel disassociated from nature when we work in an office, and yet we can never get away from it. The water that runs through the rivers, and through our taps, and through our bodies, is all a part of nature. We are connected to the planet, and to each other, in ways seen and unseen.
-Lissa Coffey

Nature

“Ah, dear nature, the mere remembrance, after a short forgetfulness, of the pine woods! I come to it as a hungry man to a crust of bread.”
-Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

Nature can nourish us, refresh us, and replenish us. Time spent with nature helps to still the mind, to quiet the activity of our thoughts. Nature provides us with everything we need for our bodies with its bounty of fruits, grains and vegetables. Yet nature’s “food for thought” – its pure silence, is just as necessary for our health, mentally, physically and spiritually.
-Lissa Coffey

Nature

“ The natural world is dynamic. From the expanding universe to the hair on a baby’s head, nothing is the same from now to the next moment.”
-Helen Hoover, The Waiting Hills, 1963

It is true that we are constantly changing. We understand and even welcome change when it comes to nature. We look forward to the warmth of Summer after a rainy spring. We do not mourn when Autumn turns to Winter – because we realize that it is time moving forward, that it is all a part of the cycle necessary for growth and evolution. And still, as humans, we tend to resist change, to deny it, or fight it. But Nature and its laws understand that we all fit into the big picture, and so we are along for the ride, like it or not! We might as well enjoy it, appreciate it, and learn and grow from the experience.
-Lissa Coffey