Dora Nudelman
Taking Our Cues From Nature

Looking out onto the lake yesterday I started thinking about the nature of water and how versatile it is that it is able to move so gracefully from one form to another. It can go from a liquid to a solid as it freezes in the winter, demonstrating its strength and fortitude. It can soften and flow freely in the summer, effortlessly allowing the winds and currents to guide it along its way. It can evaporate as steam when heated, mimicking how our own passion is eternal and manifests according to our temperament and will. And it falls from the sky as rain, demonstrating its adventurous and nourishing spirit, unencumbered by dogma or any judgment of where it is "supposed to" land.
Then I watched the birds and how they fly so freely with no restrictions, no limits, and no rules. I see how purposeful they all are and how they haven’t a care in the world as they fully trust themselves and nature to always find a way to sustain them. This, then, reminds me of my own sovereignty that I know belongs to no one but myself, and that I too am as free as I allow myself and my mind to be.

I see nature all around me, enjoying its bounty and surrendering fully to the flow and cycles of life without any concern. I see its total faith in always finding its way and path for sustenance to be had. Consequently, this inspires me to surrender myself too to the Divine order that conducts this symphony that we all call life. And it reminds me that I also have all of the resources that I could ever need to fulfill anything that my heart truly desires.
Nature does not abandon its inhabitants. Instead, it exists to nourish and provide for them. Consequently, I look at this sacred ecosystem of life and I see the Divine order in it all, realizing that I too am a part of this magical order of things. And because nature follows its own Divine path with complete trust and faith, I know that I can follow mine too.
So, whether you live in the heart of the city or in the burbs, by the water or somewhere in the hills, always try to find a way and time to stand within nature and actively observe the gentle and intelligent order that surrounds you. Then realize that you are one with this order too, and that you always have been, and always will be.
Us humans, we think that we are so smart. But then we observe nature in all of its brilliance and we quickly realize that we still have so much more to learn.