How Nature Safeguards My Creative Capacity

Walking to work I pass someone dressed for the office and suddenly a smile crosses my face as I become aware of my blessings!

It’s sunrise and I’m dressed in comfy clothes, walking boots and a rolled-up picnic blanket slung over my shoulder. I stop to scrump a russet and carry on up a winding vibrant green track dotted with berries. I stop at the top of a hill and lay my blanket down at the edge of a wood. I have a view of the Somerset valley I live in. I sit, open the lid of my flask, and note how the steam rising reflects the sight before me; the heat of the newly risen sun is warming the land, due rising, clearing the misty hills on this fresh September morning.

Part Privilege, Part Choice

It's hard not to smile when I realise this is how I’ve chosen to begin my workday. I plan to spend at least a couple of hours here writing and planning, before returning to breakfast with my daughter who seems to be training herself to be a late riser now that she’s on the cusp of her teens.

I can hear the morning commute in the distance, I can also hear the morning birdsong, I even have a cranefly come to join me quietly on my blanket!

It is a privilege to live so close to the countryside, and to be able to craft a career of my choice. I choose to take myself out into nature to infuse my soul with the fresh energy of this new day, and I’m revelling in it!

Inserting what I Value into my day

I love the energy of this time of day. I wake to my mind chirruping like a happy bird, celebrating the dawn of a new day and all its mystery and potential. If I protect my head from too much modern-day input, I can connect more easily to my creativity.

Last winter, oddly enough, I discovered the joys of stealing away for early morning work in quiet outdoor spaces. I wanted to get myself away from the desk as I was feeling too sedentary, indoors and uninspired despite my beautiful wall paint, trailing house plant and blackberry bush outside my window which attracted pink bullfinches!

I decided to set myself a challenge and make it public to ensure it happened. I gave it clarity by naming it. The challenge was called, ‘Get Outdoors in December’ Challenge. I’d committed to going outside every day in December and imagined it would be quite a challenge. As it turned out, it was less of a challenge, and more of a delight!

If fact it turned out to be the happiest most relaxing run-up to Christmas I’ve ever experienced as a home-ed mum! Obviously, I do now have the luxury of leaving my children at home now that my two sons are both teenagers and my daughter is coming in close.

Besides learning that regular time in nature fills me up and increases my capacity to live in choice and be the mum I want to be, I also discovered, (much to my surprise), that with some warm clothes and a waterproof picnic blanket, it’s easy to enjoy a number of hours working outdoors even in December!

Noticings

My specifications were to be away from roads, people, dogs and cows, out in nature, undercover if raining, (although it hardly did), and somewhere that I could prop up my phone for my daily Facebook Live sharings. Some days I only got as far as my garden, most days I walked 10-20 minutes. I found it adventurous and exciting and came to wake each morning wondering where I’d end up today!

The daily Live Facebook check-ins were to attune to:

1. a Nature Noticing, and

2. an Inner Noticing

First turning my attention to that which is outside of me, the sky, the air, the sounds and scents. I find this grounding and settling. I then allow my awareness to slip inwards and note what’s going on inside. I ask myself, ‘How am I feeling right now? What are my hopes for today?’

Allowing space for this gave me a real sense of spaciousness, something I’d been longing for years. As a home-educating parent raising three children, I often noticed how much I said, ‘I just need some space!’. Nature gives me that longed for space, both outwardly and inwardly.

A New Phase

However, I must acknowledge that this is a new thing for me, the freedom to walk out the door with ease in the early morning, (or at all!), after 16 years of prioritising being physically, emotionally, and mentally present for my children above all else.

My life is so very different now to the majority of our home-ed journey. My eldest now in Sixth form, my 14-year-old son having just started college, my daughter missing them terribly.

I look back and see how I incorporated nature into our home-ed life in a big way, and the absolute importance of that. How it contributed to our flourishing and deepened relationships. Especially through deep long stretches of outdoor time with other home-ed folk. I miss spending so much time with our community.

I’m also enjoying my newfound freedom. Time to myself working out the ways I can craft my herbal health coaching business in way that supports other home-educating parents. Inspiring them to create a life that nourishes. One that’s aligned to personal values and matches the needs of each unique family.

A home-educating life is a sensational path to choose, and one that has bestowed us with more blessings than we could have ever dreamed, warts ‘n’ all!

My Cranefly has now left me…

My scrumped apple tastes just as it’s been freshly plucked from a tree, (it has!), and my tea fresh like foraged leaves, (they were; dandelion & walnut!). My companion cranefly has left me and I’m also ready to take my leave.

This month’s challenge to myself is to write 21 blog posts so that I can learn the Art of Blogging. It’s the 15th of the month and I’m up to number 6. I’m not sure I’m going to make it, there is so much to learn!

I’ve drafted this with a pencil and paper on a clipboard. I will return to my desk to type it up and attempt a reader friendly structure.

Please do comment if you have any tips or appreciation!

I’d also love to hear from you if you’re a home-educating parent in need of accompaniment to regain the energy and value clarity which keep you firmly carving out a path unique to you and yours! A combination of herbal medicine and ongoing check-ins will make all the difference!

sarah-janecobley@healthneedsthyme.co.uk