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Reset

I knew I needed a reset. All the signs were there. I was grumpy. I was lethargic. Work was frustrating. I wasn’t feeling good about myself. I didn’t feel like praying. And you know that person whose only purpose in life, it seems, is to pull you down? That special deluxe order hater? Well my super-hater was getting more and more under my skin than normal. I desperately needed a reset.

Yesterday, I had planned to go to the beach after work but got ambushed as I dropped in the house to change my clothes. “Where you going daddy?” “To the beach.” “Without us?” (puppy dog eyes) “Uh…no… sigh. I have to do groceries, you all wanna come?” “Yay!” And just like that my reset plan turned into a grocery outing, which was not too bad. I enjoy spontaneous moments with my little ones, but it was not what I really needed.

This morning I woke up feeling worse. I was desperate now. I had to do something! Then as though manna fell from heaven. Angels sang as an outrageous plan floated into my mind.  What is stopping me from doing a bike ride to the waterfall? Exercise, nature, water, fresh air, natural beauty, all the ingredients of a blissful morning.

An hour or so later I was rounding the last bend and there it was…exhale. The stepping stone path was lined on either side with thick, verdant foliage bearing small white flowers. The flowers were littered on the path as well and just coming into sight was the Maracas waterfall. It isn’t fed by a much of a stream but what it lacks in volume it makes up for in height. The water cascades down the cliff face, connecting with various outcroppings before stinging the huge rocks at the bottom. As you near the bottom, fine mist covers you and then as you get closer it gets progressively heavier until the main downpour thrums on your head and shoulders.

At first, I just sat on a rock and drank it all in. Everything spoke to me of the goodness of God. His fingerprint was on everything. The rocks, the trees, the clouds scooting across the sky. I saw His beauty all around me. I felt His love in the mist on my face. His mercy and grace flowed over me in wave after wave, unceasingly, like the water flowing over that waterfall that somehow never ran out. I sang praises with the birds and washed away the cares of the world as I stood under the cascade.

My soul needs periodic refreshing in the bowels of nature as much as my body needs food. It’s not just a luxury. It’s a necessity. I couldn’t live an urban life. I often wonder how those sterile, concrete housing schemes are affecting the souls of its inhabitants. I know I couldn’t survive there.

But I need to do more. Currently, I’m just surviving. Living for nature top-ups. It’s not just nature but general soul care. I need to formulate a plan. Less technology. Less noise. More stillness. More solitude. More play. More bare footedness. Less busy-ness. More walks and runs and rides. More sun, sand, sea, forest and river.

I realize that it won’t happen unless I make it happen. So, I’m making a commitment. Making some changes. Little habits I will inculcate every week, every month, every year to ensure that I’m not just surviving but thriving. What about you? Is your life feeling cluttered and rushed? Or maybe just a little less alive than you know it could be? Maybe you need a reset?

Joyfully,

Copyright 2018, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.

What Is Life?

I live in an area that’s surrounded by forest and yesterday after I went for a short jog I took a detour into the bush. Venturing into nature is one of my favourite pastimes. For me it is deeply restorative. Yesterday, I felt more alive as the sights, sounds and smells of the forest invaded my senses.

I have always found that nature is so full of life. I was hearing several birds calling, crickets chirping and the river bubbling over the rocks. I felt, heard and saw the breeze blowing through the trees and rustling the leaves and causing branches to sway. As I stood beneath the trees pondering that thought, a question rose like bubbles to the surface of my mind, “What is Life?”.

Science says that what distinguishes living creatures from inorganic matter is:

  • Metabolism
  • Growth
  • Adapting to the environment
  • Responding to stimuli
  • Reproduction

While this is meant in a very physical sense, I began to look at it much more holistically. What does it mean for a human being to truly live.

Metabolism

We take in food and oxygen and produce waste and carbon dioxide. Other organisms depend on our waste for food and we depend on others for our food. It’s a wonderful symbiosis. But we are not only physical beings. How do we nourish our minds, our hearts, our spirit? And what do we give off to others? To live, is to be engaged in a symbiotic relationship with all of life where we give and receive in an endless rhythmic cycle. Life is an artful relationship with our world where we are both giver and receiver. If we only inhabit the role of the giver, we are already dead. If we are here only to receive, we are already dead.

Growth

We are constantly changing from the day we are born until the day we die. The inevitability of death is in fact another evidence that we are alive. Life is our continual addition to what we already know and believe. Every new experience should add to us and alter the whole. At the end of our life we should be like an old tree where every ring of its trunk tells a story. Evidences of storms and droughts and sunny days and times of plentiful rain are all written in its flesh. Our minds and hearts should be no different; constantly expanding with the providence supplied by each day of life. Life is leaving wiser and fuller than when you arrived. If we decide that we know it all already, we are already dead.

Adaptation

Our mindset has to adapt. We can’t stay stuck in the same songs from yesteryear and refuse to embrace the technology of today. We have to remain relevant. We have to learn new ways of thinking. New ways of being. New ways of expressing the variety of life. Life is about survival. If we do not change with the world we are already dead.

Responding

Inanimate objects do not respond to stimuli. Love.. no response. Hate.. no response. Our ability to relate to each other is perhaps one of the most intangible expressions of the joy of life. Everything is connected. There are trillions of interactions (stimuli and response) taking place on planet earth every second. Life is relationship. Cut off our minds and hearts from the rest of humanity and we are already dead.

Reproduction

We are hard-wired for sex. The primal urge to reproduce is powerful. Not only physically,  there is also a deep human need to leave a piece of ourselves behind or to live on in some meaningful way. We somehow know that we are meant to have impact beyond the length of our days. We want to leave a mark on the world. To live is to leave a legacy that outlives your body. If we are not fulfilling the purpose for which we were born, we are already dead.

Choose to live!

Joyfully,

Copyright 2018, Matik Nicholls