Environment – Page 3 – Spirituality & Healing

The love of trees

Published on October 25, 2017October 23, 2017 by lindseybiggs2 Comments

There is something so wonderful about being in nature. Perhaps because it is a time when I delight in beauty.

I love getting to spend time each day in nature. For me, this means simply taking my dog and son to the park each afternoon as a family. We are fortunate enough to live near a park with beautiful trees and lovely wooded trails.

This “outside time”, as we call it, feeds our souls. The trees in this park are beautiful sugar maple and black walnut trees, surrounded by wooded hills, caves, mountain biking and hiking trails. It makes me want to go and plant more trees for our children’s children to enjoy for decades to come.

Trees are like quiet, uncomplaining sentinels, giving of their energy. They are familiar old friends. I am in awe and gratitude for trees. They are a spiritual symbol of home to me.

Studies show that average Americans spend 90% of their days indoors. This tells me that specific effort is needed to carve out time to spend in nature, to enjoy the stillness around us, to take deep breaths and slow walks, and to give space to notice the little wonders around us.

Nature is where I feel God’s presence. It is so beautiful and wonderful that it reminds me of how much She loves us. I believe divine Love is the creator of the universe, and I am in awe of Her majesty all around us. It is as though She is showing off Her beauty, grandeur, order, stillness, and harmony, whispering “I love you” in Her still, gentle ways.

Satisfaction, nature and being in awe

Published on August 5, 2017August 5, 2017 by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

Nature teaches grand lessons.

This summer I got the opportunity to sit in awe of the ocean, the beautiful sand, and tall trees. I felt like I was in heaven. Sand and water are so simple, yet their purity and consistency can entertain one for hours as you stare at the waves coming in and out, in and back out again.

I was reminded of a blog that a colleague wrote about the healing power of being in awe. Scientists have found there are healthy physical and mental effects from the state of being in awe. What gives us this profound sense of awe is as diverse as we are. For me it’s nature, the trees, moon, animals. There is something so spiritual about pausing for a moment to just be in awe of this wonderful creation.

I was reading an article about retails shops and malls closing down at a rapid rate across America. One town is looking to make up for the lost business by attracting people to stop for the hiking trails, state parks and a new whitewater rafting outfit.

Studies have found that as people consume more, they are less and less happy. Spending money can actually be an addiction, similar to drug addictions, because, as studies show, spending can give people the same temporary high that drugs can.

So how do we break these cycles of addiction? Through knowing that man (more than just human beings) — men, women and children — are the spiritual manifestation of God. A friend once told me that she thinks of the word “man” as short for “manifestation.” I like that. We are much more than the flesh and bones that we see. We are actually each the image and likeness of God; the reflection of the one creative Spirit. Getting to know God and expressing this infinite wonderful being is the way to satisfy.

Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man... The senses confer no real enjoyment.

What can we enjoy then? I find that thinking in terms of qualities helps. The Bible says:

God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful…

So true enjoyment comes from our spiritual sense. Spiritual sense is actually how we perceive beauty, peace, love, satisfaction, comfort, joy. It’s how we feel safe. It’s how we give generously. It helps us make the right decisions. In fact, it is our constant connection to the Divine, to our real, native being.

God’s being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss.

So it makes sense that as we become conscious of God, we are becoming more aware of infinity, freedom, harmony and boundless bliss and can be truly satisfied.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Mary Baker Eddy, Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 60:31
Galatians 5:22 CEV
Science & Health, p. 481:2-4
Matthew 5:6 NIV

Harmony is the natural order of the universe

Published on June 17, 2016June 17, 2016 by lindseybiggs2 Comments

I love exploring the idea of harmony. Harmony is a beautiful attribute of God, which we can bear witness to in all of our activities. It’s actually pretty fun. How is harmony being expressed right now? How will harmony be present today? These are great questions to ask ourselves when we want to see where our thought is dwelling.

Here is a quote that I love about harmony (although it was originally written to a group of Christian Scientists, it can be applied to everyone universally).

The real Christian Scientist is constantly accentuating harmony in word and deed, mentally and orally, perpetually repeating this diapason of heaven: “Good is my God, and my God is good. Love is my God, and my God is Love.”

Seeing harmony expressed around us is enlightening! And it has added benefits to our health. Today there are many people who recognize the power of consciousness on the body. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science 150 years ago, described health as the “consciousness of harmony and of nothing else.” And many people today are finding physical healing, restoration of relationships and financial difficulties through a change in consciousness — through a more enlightened sense of the Infinite and the natural, beautiful laws of harmony that govern our experience.

Here is another quote that I love:

God is harmony’s selfhood.

Wow, what an idea! When we are focused on our a personal selfhood, it’s much harder to see harmony working in our lives. However, when we focus on the whole picture and perceive through a spiritual lens, we can see harmony working around us. You could even say that we perceive harmony, because we are spiritual! We are perceiving who we really are, our Maker and the natural order of existence.

Focusing on harmony’s selfhood enables us to see that we are an active component of a whole Being. Perceiving harmony is perceiving wholeness (perhaps that is why it’s linked to health).

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

What fun it is to discover more about harmony everyday. Enjoy the joyous adventure!

___

Quotes are (in order) from:
Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings, p. 206:19
Mary Baker Eddy, Rudimental Divine Science, p. 11:13
Mary Baker Eddy, Unity of Good, p. 13:8
I Cor 13:12 For (only) KJV