Today I’m sharing a chapter from the book “Notes from Nature: Tune Into Your Inner Voice by Letting Nature Take the Lead” called Mind Your Mind.
You have a sacred inner landscape that makes up your interior life. This sacred inner landscape is created by your experiences, feelings, beliefs, thoughts, and opinions.
You alone are responsible for the health and care of your sacred inner landscape. This place, when you first discover it, could be full of what I would describe as weeds, thorns, and invasive species. Things that are sharp and potentially painful. Or broad and remove all light. Or thick and push out all the others. These live in your mind. The weeds, thorns, and invasive species are metaphors for limiting thoughts and negative beliefs about yourself and your place in the world.
• I am not good enough.
• I am not lovable.
• I have to do things perfectly or people will get mad at me.
• I’m not creative.
• I’ll sound stupid.
• I’m alone and that is a bad thing.
• I’m not smart enough.
• I’m not pretty/handsome enough.
• I am not rich enough.
• I’m not successful enough.
• I am not thin enough.
You did not consciously plant these metaphorical weeds, thorns, or invasive species in your inner landscape. Some were planted by you as you learned life lessons from family members and friends. Some were planted by authority figures out there in the world (think school, church, community). Some blew in on the wind of clever advertisements created by marketing strategists.
And there are also wonderful things to be found in your inner landscape: beautiful trees, happy shrubs, glorious flowers, and whimsical mosses. Consider those things metaphors for loving thoughts and powerful beliefs about yourself and your place in the world:
• I am lovable.
• I am perfect just the way I am.
• I have a great sense of humor.
• I belong.
• I matter.
• I am part of something bigger than myself.
• I am successful (and I get to define what “successful” means for me).
• My body is perfect just the way it is.
• I am beautiful inside and out.
• I am rich in so many ways.
• I am smart, clever, and creative.
Interestingly, many of these things were also planted by family members, friends, authority figures, or religious institutions, marketing strategists, etc.
As an adult, it is now your responsibility to explore your inner landscape. To make a regular habit of examining what’s there by digging deep and seeing what you uncover.
The good news is you get to decide what stays and what has to go from your sacred inner landscape. This means you get to gently pull out anything that doesn’t serve you. And you get to plant more of the things you love, including positive thoughts and joyful beliefs.
Spend as much time as you can tending to your inner landscape. Make it a priority to weed, water, and plant new, empowering thoughts regularly. Nurture this part of yourself and you’ll see the metaphorical fruits of your labor spill out into other areas of your life. Those positive habits (the beliefs and thoughts you’ve carefully tended) will ripple out to affect your family, your community, and, eventually, the world, in wonderfully healing ways.
Interestingly, I found as I began paying attention to the inner landscape of my own life, it dawned on me how fully connected nature wants to be with me!
I discovered spending time in nature — reflecting, receiving messages, and finding the way home to my true nature — is what allowed me to become aware of what was in my inner landscape. I have suggested an exercise below to help you get started exploring and tending your inner landscape.
First, something important: because it is my responsibility to remove the things I don’t want in my own inner landscape, I can get rid of certain weeds and invasive species and/or just prune or cut back the shrubs and trees. Some things are just old and overgrown, and it is time simply to trim the excess. Some things, though, need to be pulled out completely, roots and all. I do this gently, with care and compassion. I don’t want to rip anything out in anger or frustration, lest I accidentally leave pieces of the roots that still have a hold and will continue to grow stronger. I also don’t want to leave seeds that might re-emerge later. Anything unworthy of my sacred inner landscape has got to go!
Here’s an exercise to begin examining the inner landscape of your life: Sit quietly (preferably outside where you feel safe and won’t be disturbed). Ground and center yourself with your breath. Sit firmly on your butt. Breathe again. Allow your thoughts to wander.
Notice the feel-good thoughts that show up. Examples: I like myself. I am loved. I feel so connected to my family. My community is so loving. I adore my dog. Those are the ones to nurture, fertilize, and encourage. Plant more of those!
Next, note the ones that don’t feel good. Examples: I hate myself. I’m a failure. Nobody loves me. Life is hard. These are the thoughts that are begging to be pulled out, gently and with compassion. Make sure you pull the roots and don’t leave any leftover seeds. In their places, go back and plant more good thoughts. Examples: I love myself. I am worthy. Many people love me. Life is good. Nurture those thoughts daily by saying them out loud and finding one sincere example for each of them each day. Write them down as a practice of daily gratitude each day for 21 days.
Next, there are some thoughts that simply need pruning. They’ve run amok but a little trimming will turn them around. For example: I am a jerk when I am driving could be pruned to when I am driving, I practice patience. Another example: I am not creative at all could be pruned to I am creative when I’m working on X. Describe X in detail. Write this down and practice saying this as a gratitude statement each day for 21 days.
Repeat this exercise often until your inner landscape is full of joy, love, and abundance.
If you’re struggling with this, just reply to this email, and let’s talk. If you know someone else who is struggling with this, forward them this email.
Warmly,
Angie
P.S. This newsletter info is directly from book and (c) Angela Mattson Stegall 2021.