Animal, Anima, Animist

A reflection on the relationship between animist & Nature
​BY REV LYNX

     Can you feel it? The shifting of seasons is upon us. In some places the nature is already bursting forth through the fallen leaves and decay of Autumn & the melted snow of winter turning into the water needed to give all the seeds, bulbs and new saplings that extra little push. 
     As an animist this is where I look for inspiration and guidance. We're blessed at home that our backyard backs up a 7 acre forest that is home to much variety of flora & fauna. 
    Deer, squirrels, skunks, a hawk family, blue birds, cardinal, ble birds, hummingbirds and much more live in those woods. Its to all these natural movements I try to be aware of. 
     A core practice for me is active listening and active perception/awareness of the natural cycles around me. Just sitting on the porch and gazing into the woods letting my awareness shift from all the rabble in my head the hustle and bustle of nature. 
     Nature offers so many lessons and perspectives: strength, wisdom, teamwork, perseverance, tenacity, humbleness & humility. Sometimes it's hard to see or hear with our own thoughts being so distracting at times. But that's where the work comes in, one of my most valued tools I learned as an animist is the perspective shift. Of letting your own self awareness drift from what you mind hears and see to let your SELF shift perspective to nature. Aware of the birds building nests, aware of the squirrels skittering about in the search for food, aware of the neighbors bush which has become a main food source for the local & traveling deer. When my minds a mess sometimes i just let myself shift to the woods and look for the infinite lessons that wait to be aware of and discovered.  
    It's hard to put those moments into tangible sentences as the moment is very much a meditative state and then nature kinda flows and I just flow along until something catches my awareness and a ramble of thoughts, feels and experiences juxtaposed into a moment that exists outside of spatial reason. It's all very ecstatic and impulsive, letting go of the physical mind and giving my SELF to the woods to see what lessons await. 
   Everything is bustling and awake though, the cycles continue and the lessons and experiences are there, waiting. What will you perceive when you let yourself go to the Wild of nature?