Totally depleted with a heavy head cold and feverish body and no Readings along with zero signups for my upcoming 3-day New York City Voyager Reader’s Certification, I remember what Greening Man told me in my “Adventures with Greening Man” e-book: “James, the solution and medicine for all things is nature.”
In need of something to heal my paining body and heavy heart, I somehow managed to walk up to my “own Walden Pond” here in Andover, Mass. I picked my green wisdom nature “Sustain Yourself Cards” as I sat and meandered around the pond.
The first card was “Desert Wind and Sound”….. listen, be quiet, calm down, listen to the wind, to the leaves, to the frogs. Such sweet freshness was restorative for me.
Walking into the woods around the pond, I asked what this walk was all about and I got the “Bee Hive” card… somehow out of this journey around the pond, I would be productive, find some nectar, and transmit it. Interesting, since I was was feeling anything but productive in my current state.
On the trail, I saw an uprooted tree. Feeling uprooted myself, I asked the cards what its message was. What came out was the “Silver Art” card, which is knockout beautiful, refined art…. certainly not like the uprooted chaos of the knocked down tree. The message for me was that creation and beauty comes out of ugly setback and breakdown. That made me feel better.
Halfway around the pond, I am finally seeing its full beauty, and ask what I am getting from this gorgeous carnival of autumn color. The card was the “Heart.” No doubt, “walking in beauty” was healing body and soul and giving me new life, new heart.
Finally, I get to a stone that inscribed on it says “Missionary of the Woods.” So, I ask, “What’s my mission?” The card is “Dispersal of Seeds.” Now, that is interesting as my new Book One of “Adventures with Greening Man” is called “Seed.” Aha! My mission is live and teach the principles of an ever-renewing lifestyle. Yes, yes, yes.
Though my body is still in crisis, my spirit is flying. I couldn’t help but ask, “What is the outcome of all this Walden Pond contemplative walk?” The card was “Bacterial Sustainability,” my favorite card because it is the most sustainable, renewable, adaptable living organism on the planet – my hero!
Out of this “walk in beauty,” I found my “path of sustainability and ever-renewing life.” I am complete, I am whole. I am. (And now I am ready to teach my Coaching class).
