Can you Read the SIGNS??

The signs are all around us. 

We can look to our ancestors for prophesies that speak of this time of change, transformation, and the birth of a new world. 

We can look at the world and see the spirit of revolution rising to the surface, old systems falling, failing, and new hope emerging.   

We can look to our lives and see great shifts, unforseen changes, endings, beginnings, and rebirths. 

We can look to nature, and see the climate evolving, seeking balance, giving voice to the turmoil that so many feel within. 

We can look to our bodies, and listen to the subtle and not so subtle ways that they are calling us to a sustainable way of life. 

Yesterday I spent the whole day in jammies with my kids, listening to the ebb and flow of rainfall, tending the fire, and taking it slow.  When we finally made it outdoors for a walk down to the riverbed it was nearly sunset, and the mountains emerged from the cloud cover just enough to reveal their snowcaps.  I am always listening and looking for signs, and a giant rainstorm, followed by the flowing of our seasonal creek after weeks of being dry, followed by snowcaps on the mountains, and a beautiful sunset...all these are good signs.  And then the topper was this giant eagle that my daughter spotted swooping over us to land on the telephone pole along the street.  We stood and watched as it proceeded to settle in for an evening snack, having just come fresh from the hunt.  We even walked around and got right underneath this massive bird as it threw chunks of fur into the air and they drifted down to meet us. 

So there are signs, and then there are SIGNS.   An eagle eating a rabbit after a rainstorm qualifies as a SIGN in my book, and set me to thinking about what indeed was the message from this monumental visit.  Because Signs for me are like Medicine: take them right, and they cure what ails you.  Take them wrong, and you are in a world of hurt. 

So I'd like to share a couple little things about signs, which may seem obvious, but sometimes, that's exactly what we need: to master the obvious. 

• The first thing about signs is, they are no help if you don't know how to read them.  Which is ok, if you just don't read them.  
• The second thing is, lots of times we think we know how to read them, and we don't, or we only sorta do, which can create even more of a problem than if we just ignored the signs altogether. 
• The third thing is that if we don't know how to read the signs, more often than not we assume they are saying whatever it is that we want to hear, or whatever story we are looking to reinforce or make right. 

So rather than pointing us in the right direction, signs have the potential to send us right over the edge if we are not careful. 

The good thing about signs is this, perhaps equally obvious, but we are on a road to mastery, right?

• Signs are always in a language.
• Signs are generally made to be SIMPLE. 
• Signs are not alone...they usually come in groups. 

So my SIGN came in the language of Nature, which fortunately I have been studying for a number of years.  I can't say that I am completely fluent, which has it's inherent dangers as we mentioned, but there is one more thing that applies to signs from nature, which is that we always have a translator. 

Nature speaks the language of the Heart. 

So, all we need to do to read the signs of Nature is to be in the Heart.  Sounds easy enough, but we all know that getting from the mind to the Heart has its lion's share of challenges. 

As it turns out, there is a SIMPLE solution to this, and an underlying message from all signs in nature, which is calling us into our Hearts, and simultaneously back into Nature.  

Because one of the easiest, and most reliable ways to get into our Hearts, is to get into Nature.  And the more time we spend learning the language of Nature, the more we know about the language of the Heart. 

Simple, right? 

And again, since Signs are not alone, we have a kind of built in insurance policy that protects us from misreading signs as long as we keep looking, listening, reading, and conversing with Nature in the language of the Heart.  Nature will keep sending signs until there is no shadow of a doubt left as to what the Simple clear message is.  

Mine was clear.  I needed to write to you to extend one more invitation to join us in Nature for a lesson in the language of the Heart, in understanding the Signs of the Ancestors, of Revolution, of Nature, of our bodies...a weekend to Find your Medicine.  Registration closes this Tuesday, and we only have a few spots left for this intimate weekend immersion in the Heart of Nature.   (Feb. 25-27th at the Ojai Medicine Wheel. )

And, I need to make time to get into Nature by myself, because my Heart has a bigger message that it is ready to share, but I have to take time to listen, more signs to come...or else I'm gonna get torn up like a little bunny rabbit and find my fur in chunks on the roadside. 

Sometimes nature can be brutally honest.  :)

One more thing about signs, and then I'm done.  When you ignore them, they get louder, and more brutally honest. 

So if you have been getting the signs, and have been ignoring them, this is my friendly reminder to listen to your Heart, and follow the signs.  They are all around us, and there are some that are just for you.  Don't be distracted by billboards and neon lights, just follow the SIGNS and Find your Medicine. 

From the Heart of Nature, and a Dad who's still in his jammies,

eric