The Greatest Teacher

Nature is our greatest teacher. So much can be found in the wild. Fragility, strength, flexibility, disease, death and regrowth are found all around us - in the willow, the nettle, the oak and the dandelion.

We can recognise ourselves, our own contradictions and varying qualities in a fallen tree, diving back into the earth and resurfacing, regrowing from an entirely different plot only meters away. The story of growth, of movement - much like a lifetime - is expressed and shown clearly in nature.

We can always find aspects of ourselves in the landscape around us - be it flat, vast and endless, a mountain peak or a bottomless lake. There we are.

This is mapped by weather patterns, sky formations, in seasons and cycles of birth and death. At moments we are like a young sapling - fresh, inexperienced and yet to expand. At other moments, we express the symmetry and balance of a bonsai tree. At others we are wise in emotional years and intelligence, like a thousand-year-old Yew.

Nature is also thorny, poisonous, messy, brutal and full of stings - much like us. It is important to recognise ourselves in the land, the soil, the wildlife we belong to - and identify with the qualities, shape, textures, age and parables in front of us. We might draw strength in regrowth, resonance in the delicate, vitality in colour and solace in cycles of birth.

Notice how alike you are to the eco-systems around you and observe how your character, your emotions, your journey and perspectives can always be reflected, mirrored and recognised in the trees, the animals, rock formations and elements you stand in and belong to.