These Magic Moments: Falling in Love with the Natural World

"There is infinitely more to light than we realize."

— Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

Hello, darling Friends; welcome to my blog! My name is Verónica, I am Spanish and it is my privilege to introduce you in this series to the rugged landscape of the Atlantic coast in Northern Spain while sharing my reflections on brain retraining and spirituality. For now, let’s embrace how it all began.

I was 38 years old, almost 39, when I first looked at the sky. I was peacefully sitting on my living-room couch one evening in early summer when I caught myself redirecting my eyes to the glowing light coming in through the big windows that look out over the city of Frankfurt (Germany) where I live. The white walls of the nearest block were suddenly covered in what seemed like a fine dust carpet of gold, becoming a color that I had only seen in some random bright light photography of the National Geographic I had come across by chance.

On the spur of the moment, my eyes kept climbing these high walls like following the trail of a comet in slow motion until it finally disappeared into the big blue. The Sky. Crystal clear. There it was a celestial dome so bright that it looked almost transparent.

The next thing I remember on that day was replying to my partner on a domestic topic with amazement written on my face: "The sky is so beautiful and luminous today." His prompt answer was: "You are feeling much better now, aren’t you?" —"YES!"

This magic moment came to me unexpectedly after my first ten months of DNRS brain retraining. I was ebbing and mostly flowing, rejoicing in the fruits of a well deserved harvest with the mindset of a disciplined farmer: Planting for collecting. It was already a miracle. Me absorbing the richness of the skies was an additional gift from heaven.

Not long afterwards, this time planted in front of my TV but not really watching it, I turned my eyes to the big screen. I was aware that my partner had selected a nature documentary, probably Our Planet (Netflix), that was running pretty unnoticed. My heart belonged to comedy, Alleluiah!, but then, out of the blue, I had my first magic encounter with a blue whale, in a blue sea, steady, without any marine disturbance. It was not its magnificence that captivated me; it was its glance. I was staring at tiny eyes that looked human and I felt a connection so profound that it lingered with me for the rest of the day. I now know that it was LOVE.

I began to explore nature documentaries with a growing sense of awe and wonder, discovering a new world full of beauty and deep meaning somehow larger than life. A source of enlightenment and wellbeing. Mood elevation of another dimension: Creatures surrounded by enchanting auras and landscapes glowing under the resemblance of constant rainbows. Eckhart Tolle describes this state as "presence" or "being present," I also call it the pure expansion of the heart.

Being a film lover, I got curious about movies. I immediately fantasized about a beautiful story in remarkable natural settings and my mind wandered to The Bridges of Madison County and its soft colored scenery. It is a classic I had revisited many times before, appreciating Clint Eastwood´s classicism and Meryl Streep´s. Now, how would I feel? What would I see?

I let myself fly over the tranquil countryside of Iowa. It was not the touching love story touching me this time; I was being moved by Nature. And then by the words, for Nature, that honored the movie: "There is a pleasure in the pathless woods." I was thirsty for more:

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep Sea, and music in its roar: I love not Man the less, but Nature more, From these our interviews, in which I steal From all I may be, or have been before, To mingle with the Universe, and feel What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal"

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by George Gordon Byron

"I love not Man the less, but Nature more." This verse became the anthem of my new state of being. I was raised in the countryside of Spain, always dreaming of crowded cities. Nature was there, I took it for granted. I do not love cities less; I just fell in love with the natural world. Simply because, as Meryl Streep says at the end of the movie: "There is so much beauty."

According to Thich Nhat Hanh, "Enlightenment is growing all the time. It is not something that happens once and is then complete." Absolutely. My magic moments are growing in number and intensity and they are simple. Happy to see birds playing and dancing in the air. The more I observe their art of flying, the more I trust life. Where is the connection? Well, I suppose in the belief that anything is possible.

Not only did DNRS give me my world back, it also gave me a much better and brighter one. When I need reassurance, I only have to look to the sky. It grounds me.

---

THE NATURAL BRAIN: Focused in the Healing Power of the Natural World and (Re-)discovering Nature with New Eyes

Next Edition: November

Thenaturalbrain.40@gmail.com