Whatever the weather

See the beauty

True wisdom, said anthropologist Jane Goodall, requires both thinking with our head and understanding with our heart.

“So much of the harm we do to Mother Nature is not a lack of intelligence, but a lack of compassion.”

Thinking matters, and so does feeling.

Speaking up matters, and so does listening.

Acting matters, and so does asking the right questions.

Compassion is what brings all these together.

The more time I spend in Nature, the more obvious this becomes.

Today, the mountain sky is sombre. The ground is sodden. The air damp and heavy.

I’m noticing the effect on my mood.

It all feels very different to the glorious autumn sunshine of just a few days ago, when the autumnal blue skies felt lighter, brighter, easier.

Then I wanted to be outside and active. This morning I wanted to stay in and hide away.

And yet…

As a leader, parent, partner, friend, on this dark and heavy day, when everything feels harder, I know what I will do.

I will show up. Just as I am. With compassion for myself, and for the people I lead and love.

Because we’re all human beings struggling to find our way. And, as Mother Nature teaches us, this too shall pass.

In the darkness, there is light. In hopelessness, hope.

As I walk out into the mountains, the whole of Nature is there. Ever present, moving with the seasons, showing me - in the words of author Charles Eisenstein - “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible”.

Whatever the weather, Mother Nature shows us her power and her beauty. And if we simply look, and listen, and feel, and sense, and not think too much, she shows us how to be.

With love from the mountain,

Sally-Anne