Category: Wellness

Nature has always been my “safe space”. When life gets a little too much, I find my way to the trees, dig my toes into the dirt, and breathe. It’s there that I feel most at home, and sooner or later, I find the connection to Earth helps me re-connect to my self as well. Unfortunately, winter always brings a dip in this sense of connection. As a native-Californian, I thrive on sunshine. The snowy meadows and dreary rain clouds are not exactly what I consider inviting. By the time winter comes to a close, I find myself feeling disconnected, flustered, and a little lost. Which is why I use Spring as an opportunity to reconnect with Mother Earth. The following are a few practices that help me rebuild my connection with Mother Earth; follow along and join me in building a stronger, lasting relationship with her this Spring!

Stop and smell the roses (or wildflowers)

While I generally keep away from clichés, I couldn’t help myself with this one. Spring is a time when trees start getting their leaves back, hills turn vibrant shades of green, and wildflowers start working their way up through the melting frost. Take time this season to appreciate the vibrant world budding around you.

Watch a young tree swaying in the wind outside your office window. Pause while your dog sniffs a tree to gaze at your neighbor’s stunning garden. Plant a garden of your own and watch it come to life as the season progresses. Or simply sit outside and be. Feel the air against your cheek, smell the fragrant flowers and fresh grass all around you, watch the clouds float across the sky. Simply taking a moment to appreciate nature can help you reconnect to Mother Earth and all her abundance.

Dance in the rain

Not every day in Spring is sunshine and roses. The rainclouds will still come. But don’t let them bring you down! Embrace the showers and all they do to help Mother Earth grow more luscious every day. Next time it rains, take a moment to be with that rain.

Maybe it’s simply standing under an awning and feeling the crisp air of a rainy day while you contemplate the life that this dreary weather brings. Or maybe you put on a swimsuit, head to a muddy puddle, and dance joyously as the rain splatters on your hair. However you decide to experience it, let yourself feel the delight Mother Earth feels when the pouring rain nourishes her dry body.

Leave your shoes at home

Whether you spend five minutes standing with your toes in the grass or decide to go for a barefoot hike through the countryside, there is hardly a more powerful way to reconnect with Mother Earth than taking off your shoes.

Forming a connection between the sole of your foot and Mother Earth’s diverse landscape is a powerful way to feel the pulse of the Earth beneath you, find that center that runs from the core of your heart to the core of the planet, and remember the stability and love that Mother Earth provides every single day.

Don’t be afraid to get dirty

This spring, get your hands dirty. You can start with something small, like lying down on a grassy hill without putting a towel down, or you can go all in and spend some time playing in the mud or rolling down a hill. Embrace the inner child that longs to get as close to Mother Earth as possible, and don’t worry if some grass stains result. It’s a small price to pay for the joy and connection you’ll find when you immerse yourself in Earth.

Reconnect with Mother Earth and maintain that connection

These practices are all simple ways to find your connection, but it’s easier to reconnect with Mother Earth than it is to maintain that connection. Once you find that connection, do your best to hold onto it. One way to do that is to take these practices and incorporate them into your daily (or weekly) routine. Another is to weave it together with other practices, like journaling, yoga, or meditation, that support a deeper connection with the world around you. Whatever practices speak to you, don’t just try them from time to time. Live them. Become them. And watch as they lead you closer to Mother Earth with each passing day.

About the Author

Sarah Dittmore, the Director of Operations at True Nature Travels, is always seeking a new adventure. When she’s not barefoot hiking in the mountains of Peru, kayaking around an island off the coast of Italy, or camping in a rainforest in Costa Rica, Sarah writes about her adventures on her travel blog, Autobiography of an Adventurer. Join her as she travels the world and documents the wild and wonderful things she discovers along the way at www.autobiographyofanadventurer.com.

Is it really already time to think about spring? I don’t know about you, but the as much as I adore the sunshine and wildflowers that come with the season, I always have a difficult time pulling myself out of the winter doldrums and into the elation of spring. My body is still heavy with soups and cocoa, my eyes still droop from short days and long nights, and my mind is weary from months of hibernation and self-reflection. This transition has been, and probably always will be, a difficult one for me. Which is why I have created a sort of spring cleaning tradition to enact when the poppies start blooming and the tree leaves return. If embracing the high-energy season of spring seems daunting, this routine will help.

Step 1: Clean out your physical space

Before I can apply the spirit of spring cleaning to my lifestyle or mental space, I have to apply it to my home. I have a Spotify playlist entitled “Dance it Out.” I turn the speakers on high, open all the windows (sorry neighbors), and I dance it out. I dance out the dust bunnies, toothpaste splattered mirrors, and unvacuumed carpets. Then I dig into the desk drawers and back closet space, making “Trash” and “Giveaway” piles larger than expected.

When spring cleaning day (or week, if I am being entirely honest) comes around, I stick with three strict rules. Rule 1: If I haven’t used it over the past season or forgot I had it, I’m getting rid of it. Rule 2: Everything has a place; if it doesn’t and I’m just trying to make room for it (on bookshelves, countertops, or in my dresser), then I’m getting rid of it. Rule 3: If it doesn’t have an obvious and necessary use, and doesn’t bring me some personal or sentimental joy, I’m getting rid of it. Take the edamame growing kit my neighbor gave me; I haven’t used it, I don’t know where to put it, and honestly, I have no interest in growing edamame when it’s like $2 at Trader Joes. So that one goes in the giveaway pile. Soon enough, my apartment starts to look less like a hoarder’s den and more like a home.

Step 2: Give your routine new life

Once my living quarters have been scrubbed and re-organized, I turn the mop on my lifestyle. I grab a pen and paper (or maybe I have an entire notebook dedicated to this purpose, but that’s beside the point…) and I start sketching out my schedule. I look back on the past three months and jot down what my average routine was. When did I work? When did I exercise? When did I see friends, do art, or go outside?

On the next page, I think about what I think worked for me and what I think I would like to change. This year, for example, I started a workout routine over the winter that brought me to the climbing gym three days a week. I really enjoyed that and would like to keep in up in the spring. I did not, however, write nearly as much as I had intended to. That is something I want to carve more time out for.

So, with all these notes in mind and on paper, I start designing an ideal spring schedule. I know I won’t stick to it every day, so I try not to be too specific, but I set general goals like “write for an hour before work every morning” or “go for a 4+ mile hike at least once a week”. Sometimes the goals are specific, like “meditate for five minutes every day as soon as you wake up.” Other times they are really vague, like “say yes to new things.” Either way, I dedicate some time to giving my schedule and routine the spring cleaning treatment, then do my best to stick with it as the season progresses.

Step 3: Power wash your mental space

Finally, it’s time to brush the cobwebs away and dig into the well-packed boxes shoved into the recesses of my mind. During the winter, I go into full hibernation mode. I pretty much live off of books, baths, and tea from December through February and do my best to stay as covered by blankets as possible throughout the season. When Spring comes, I’m still content with my lethargy and my brain moves with the slow, gentle pace of a sleepy tortoise.

But spring is a time for action. It’s a time for a change and trying new things. Growth, renewal, birth; these are the themes of the season and they don’t pair well with lethargy and melancholy.

Which is why the final step of my spring cleaning routine is to clean out my mind. Not unlike my methods for cleaning my physical space and routine, my mental cleaning process involves a careful consideration of what to keep and what to let go. I usually start static; I sit in meditation or else get a journal out and start contemplating where my mind is at. How do I feel about myself lately? What about how I engage with others, with my goals, with my work, and with my environment? Do I feel happy lately? Sad? Tired? Energetic? I evaluate my mental space with a kind eye, lacking judgment and simply gaining awareness as to what is going on in there.

Then I move onto something active. I go for a hike, get out on the paddleboard, or flow through a vigorous yoga practice. I move until my body drips with sweat and my brain finds that sweet, endorphin-filled space of emptiness.

Lastly, I go back to stillness and turn my thoughts to questions like, “what brings me joy?” and “what I love most about myself?” As is my style, I make a list. I plant seeds of dreams, goals, and ambitions. I water them with love and hope. Then I get outside and let that bright spring sunshine help them grow into something beautiful.

Is it just me, or does it seem like every yoga teacher’s theme for every class in autumn is gratitude? A few weeks ago, I was in a particularly tense pigeon pose. While my hips were begging me to stop, my yoga teacher was prattling on about how we should be grateful for our bodies, even when they felt tense and sore. That we should practice cultivating gratitude even when things are uncomfortable.

“I get it!” I wanted to scream, “it’s Thanksgiving season. Gratitude. Blah blah blah.” I was not feeling very grateful.

Then again, how could I? The past year has felt like a constant battle.

I’d struggled through graduate school–one of the most stress-inducing, exhausting experiences of my life. I’d worked for a company that disrespected and over-worked its employees. I’d lost a loved one to cancer.

And it all culminated in flying back to my parents’ house because I was in excruciating pain and none of the doctors in Edinburgh (where I’d been living at the time) could figure out why.

What did I have to be grateful for?

But the teacher just kept insisting that we should be cultivating gratitude.

“Try looking at things from a different perspective,” she suggested as we settled into pigeon on the other side. “Instead of focusing on the pain and tension, focus on the good. Consider what you have to be grateful for.”

At first, I rolled my eyes.

Then I took a deep breath and tried it. I scanned my mind in search of something to be grateful for. I started to look at the past year with a new perspective.

Graduate school had been incredibly difficult and, frankly, I don’t think it was the right fit for me. But I never would have known that if I hadn’t tried. And it gave me the opportunity to live in Edinburgh for a year, which is now my favorite city on Earth. Plus, the people I lived with are now lifelong friends and some of the best friends I’ve ever had.

The company I worked for in Edinburgh was awful. Every one of their employees got injured and sick because of how hard they worked us. If I’d stayed there any longer than I did, I think it would have broken me. But I didn’t. I quit. And I learned a lot about what I need from an employer. Now I’m working a job I love for a company I adore. And sometimes I honestly think my boss worries about my well-being more than I do.

I lost someone I love very much to cancer. And I still get choked up when I think about it. But I also smile whenever I think about her. She is one of the most inspiring, big-hearted people I know. The world may be a little darker without her in it, but my life will always be a little brighter for having known her.

I was not happy about leaving Edinburgh. I huffed and puffed the entire flight back to California. And then I got home. And my doctor diagnosed me with nerve damage the minute he examined me and sent me to a surgeon who had me in, out, and fixed in a matter of hours. The healing process has been relatively fast and I am already, just two months after surgery, almost back to 100 percent. This after being unable to stand up straight for months.

So, while it has been one of the more difficult years of my life, I guess there are still some things to be grateful for.

The stubborn side of me didn’t want to admit it, but my yoga teacher was right. Even when everything feels stressful, painful, and overwhelming… there is still a place for gratitude.

As the endlessly wise Dumbledore once said, “Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light”.

I like to think of gratitude as that light. We can wallow in the pain and suffering and leave the lights off. It’s easy enough to do.

What’s much harder is to turn on the light.

In times of darkness, it’s hard to practice cultivating gratitude. But we need to let gratitude act as the light that illuminates the reasons we have for being happy, even when things are darker than ever.

For the past few months, I have been wallowing in that darkness. Which, I believe, is what I needed at the time. There was a lot of pain and anger in me and I needed to feel it before I could come out on the other side.

But I think I’m ready to turn on the light.

This holiday season, I am going to work on cultivating gratitude. After all, it is the season of Thanksgiving!

So, tell me… what are you grateful for?

About the Author

Sarah Dittmore is always seeking a new adventure. When she’s not barefoot hiking in the mountains of Peru, kayaking around an island off the coast of Italy, or camping in a rainforest in Costa Rica, Sarah writes about her adventures on her travel blog, Autobiography of an Adventurer. Join her as she travels the world and documents the wild and wonderful things she discovers along the way at www.autobiographyofanadventurer.com.