Nature is my teacher- Mushrooms in the fall; the importance of timing and the environment in our lives

    The rain is arriving to the nw, and the temperature is dropping. In these early days of fall, each rain brings a proliferation of mushrooms and fungi. We often walk right by these amazing organisms. Literally over night a bare field may awake to find itself covered in mushrooms, and a few days later they will disappear.
    As I was foraging for wild edibles with some friends the other day, a lesson was brought to light that I think we all know, but too often forget.
   We made several stops- First we found a patch of Birch boleets under some Birch trees. The next 2 sites didn't yield much at all. One was a perfect spot, but we were perhaps a few days or a week too late. The next was not as appropriate of an ecosystem, and the timing was off- we found nothing.
    Finally we came to our last spot, a north facing slope with mature forest, most covered earth etc. Prime conditions for mushrooms. And our timing was better in this location.
  What can we learn from this? 2 important lessons:

1) The importance of putting ourselves in the proper environment so that we can flourish.

When the conditions are right, life flourishes of its own accord. Things happen easily, and we happily go about our business and everything is smooth. We are in harmony with the rhythm of life. A mushroom will never grow in the desert. If we are not living in an environment that supports who we are and nourishes the best parts of us, we will suffer, our growth will be stifled, and we won't be able to find the nourishment that sustains us. When we live in the right environment, everything feeds us just what we need. Birch boleets grow under Birch trees, not Cedars. Its their nature.
     If things are such a struggle and we feel like our growth is being stifled, sometimes one thing we can do is examine our environment- both the physical environment around us and even more so the community in which we live. Are we around people that share common goals with us? That support our growth in healthy ways? That give us the strength to be ourselves in the best ways? That give us encouragement to change our bad habits into good ones? That help us develop our weaknesses into strengths?


    We should all give each other the strength to continue growing healthy and positive ways.

2)  The importance of timing.

Even in the most perfect of conditions, if the timing is off life cannot grow. A flower that blooms too early will be killed by the frost. A fall mushroom will never sprout in summer. They wait and they wait, and then just when the stage is set perfectly- the temperature is not too hot or too cold, the moisture is just right- they come out and they flourish. It seems to come naturally to other organisms, but for us humans it can seem so difficult to get the timing right. Yet if we can settle ourselves down, if we can reconnect with the rhythm of life I think we will find that things will become much less of a struggle and we won't feel so much like we are paddling upstream.

You'll know when the time is right, trust yourself.

Keith

health advice for transitioning into the cold seasons

Today the clouds and rain are here, and it leads me to reflect...
As late summer is peaking and transitioning towards fall, it is important for us to observe the changes in nature and reflect them in our own lives and habits. Late summer is a time of fullness, of stillness, of the harvest. Life has been outside, but it is getting ready to move inwards for the cold seasons. Yet it is still full, the fruits are ripe and ready to eat. It is a good time to clean up the yard, to take care of those unfinished projects, to reflect on what we have done over the past year, to enjoy the fruits of those labors, and to begin thinking about how we will approach the coming year.
The cold seasons provide time for inner work, for creative activities like the arts, for learning about new things, for reading, for indoor activities. So especially in the NW where it is such a long cold season, I think it is important to get outside as much as we can in these last few weeks of nice weather. This will help carry us through the rainy season.
This is also a time when animals in nature put on that extra layer of fat for the winter. We may not like this idea so much ourselves, but it is a natural part of the season- fruits and vegetables are plentiful, it is a good time for sharing group meals etc. So don't be too hard on yourself about it. Spring and summer are really the natural times to get active and try to lose weight, we are now getting into the seasons of more internal work.
    So take those walks, try to get up into the mountains if you can, take time to reflect, to enjoy the stillness, enjoy and give thanks for the abundance of fruits and vegies, and take in those last rays of sunshine!