A Wi-Fi Connection for the Soul
If it seems like I’m a bit of a nature enthusiast, it’s because I am. When I need to reset and restore myself, I tend to gravitate to nature. I crave hiking in the woods or kayaking on a lake. I need to be surrounded by nature, and how I manage that is usually determined by the weather and the season. If it’s just warm enough and the skies are clear, I want to be in a kayak and on the water. If it’s anywhere from cold to not that hot with clear enough skies, I can be found on a hiking trail. Several mornings a week, with the exception of brutally hot Southern summers, I can be found running outside.
I don’t do it for the exercise, although that’s a side benefit. I do it because my soul needs to connect to the earth around me. No matter what trail or road or lake I choose, all of them lead back to the same destination. They all bring me home to myself.
We try too often to fit ourselves into all the “appropriate” boxes: the work box, the home box, the relationship box, the parent box, the student box, the friend box. We try to be everything to everyone, and we don’t always get the time to remind ourselves of who we are beyond labels and relationships.
So you have a boyfriend, and you’re a Democrat. So you’re married and a Republican. So you’re single and in every way progressive and Independent. Fine. Whatever.
But who are you at a soul level?
What makes you tick? What are the things that you value at a level deeper than politics or even religion? What are the things that bring a smile to your face or move you to tears? Who are you when no one is looking and no one will judge you for what you think and feel?
That’s returning home to ourselves. It’s more than just slapping a label on a few commonalities that bring us together with a group of people who feel the same. It’s understanding that the relationship we most often neglect that needs us the most is the one we have with ourselves. That’s the relationship where we so often overlook the hard questions because we don’t want to see the answers and the relationship we put last while taking care of every other. But it’s also the most important relationship.
Too many of us prioritize the connection with others above all else, acting as though a soul mate connection has magical, healing powers that will make us who we know we have the capacity to be. We forget that only we have that particular power. We seem to ignore the fact that our connection with ourselves is by far the most useful and most valuable because it can lead us into greater self-awareness, compassion, and depth of feeling for both ourselves and others. That soul level relationship with ourselves is the most necessary ingredient for an authentic connection with others.
Which is why I find myself on a trail or on a lake or listening to the sound of my own sneakers against the pavement as a I choose a path through town. It’s why my favorite sounds include the wind in the trees, the crunch of leaves beneath my feet, and the steady sound of a paddle moving through the water. I need that soul connection worse than I’ve ever needed a Wi-Fi one. I need to reconnect to who I am without the noise.
It amazes me when I’m on a trail, and I pass someone carrying on a conversation on their phone or busily texting. While I can’t know their circumstances and shouldn’t judge their choices, I wonder how much better of a connection they would have if they allowed themselves to be alone with their thoughts rather than trying to connect to another person.
It’s not that I don’t carry my phone on the trail; I certainly do. I use it for photos and in case of emergencies. I don’t typically answer a lot of messages when I hike and rarely, if ever, answer the phone. I’m not in nature to connect outside of it. I’m in nature to connect with me.
We seem to worry so much about having a solid Wi-Fi connection, but we seem unconcerned with having a weak soul connection. But once we reconnect and know what it feels like to have a strong connection to who we are at a deeper-than-surface level, we begin to crave that experience in longer and more frequent doses. I keep returning to myself any way I can because the world around me offers so many distractions, but it doesn’t offer what I need. It’s all noise and flash and demands for attention, but the attention I need to pay is to me.
I’m there to touch base with the mom who works so hard and still feels like nothing she does is good enough. I’m there to reconnect with the single woman who has never had a healthy relationship and sometimes feels like she never will. I’m there to make a connection with the artist who has so many stories to tell and such a drive to tell them and such exhaustion from being the conduit with so little reward. I’m there to remember gratitude and beauty and those random things in life that just make me happy. I show up to remind my soul that I matter, that I am not in last place in my own life, and that I am capable of just being present without having to multitask to make it as a single mother with so little practical support.
Maybe there are people out there who find this connection in a gym or in an urban environment, but the only place that works for me is nature. A beautiful body of water. A trail up a mountain or through the woods. A scenic route. I go there to make a soul connection with myself. All those trails lead to that one destination. Because I need it. Because I matter.
I lost my power, and then I went out into nature and got it back. Reset, restored, and recharged to my full capabilities.
What does that for you? Where’s the power station for your particular soul? Have you visited it lately?
A Wi-Fi Connection for the Soul
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