Learn the Language of Nature — Lessons My Mama Taught Me (Part 6) 🎧Episode 69

🎧 Episode #69 Learn the Language of Nature — Lessons My Mama Taught Me (Part 6)

Today's lesson from my mom (lesson 6) is about learning the language of nature. How to let nature inspire your creativity, channel and reflect your emotions, and bring comfort and micro-moments of mindfulness into your life.

This episode begins with a spoken-word piece on the subtle ways we are connected to the natural world, from a whale song to moss-covered branches to wind, water, and soil. It’s inspired by my childhood trips to Cape May with my mom, where we heard whale songs, collected pebbles and shells along the shore, and admired the patterns and shapes of driftwood, horseshoe crabs, and jellyfish.

Those same natural objects, patterns, and landscapes would shape our creativity, help us regulate emotions, and now even hold a space for my grief. From found objects to seasonal rhythms to quiet moments of observation, this episode explores how nature makes a creative home for us and offers us companionship through life’s changing seasons.  

Press play and let's slow down to notice the natural world and embrace its imperfection and beauty.

💭Key Takeaways from this Episode:

• Nature can be a creative language. Patterns, textures, colors, and forms in the natural world can spark artistic inspiration and shape how we process emotions.
• Our nervous systems respond deeply to nature. The influence of wind, the flow of water, the sound of birds, and the smell of fragrant flowers are sensory experiences that elicit physical and emotional responses, inspiring creativity and reflection.
• Nature sets a slower rhythm for life and can mirror or reflect the season of our lives. Observing seasons, growth, and decay can remind us to move at a gentler pace and honor our own creative or restorative seasons.
• Imperfection is part of the natural design. Just like driftwood, leaves, and reefs, our lives and bodies carry marks of time that can be understood as beauty rather than flaws.
• Nature can hold our emotions. Landscapes, objects, and natural places can act as companions through grief, memory, and healing.

Sunbeams Are Thrown

By Jill Hodge

The whale song only comes but once in a lifetime
An underwater spell that haunts our nights for years
And nights turn into decades
The sound echoes to far-off lands, then reaches the shore in silence
As our presence dampens its unfolding sound
Time doesn’t count, space is stretched,
Knowing is a feeling that can’t be contained

The tree branch grows east and west as much as
North and south, and we wonder what secrets
Are hidden in that nook
Why does the moss grow on that lone branch?
We can’t know the answer, but we have the questions

The morning dove makes a sound when it flies off
Like a call, it asks us to follow it
Those dull brown feathers signal nothing spectacular,
And yet we wonder what we don’t know
Its language hidden by the shifts in the wind
Talking into the vast pockets of air between us

The dirt smells lovely tonight, alive with musk
And life and droplets of water that have kissed old leaves
And are now resting on a soft, billowy bed
While underneath the worms progress and the grass grows
In all directions, they move as we trample on them
Not knowing that our lives and theirs are doing a dance

It is the dance that binds us to them
Like hands clasping, that won’t let go
And we shouldn’t want them to
As the wicked wind blows,
As small birds scatter for crows,
As the wild flowers grow,
As the winter light reflects on snow,
As fresh water flows

So do we know, that our sorrow and woe
Are but a season that will change
We know how nature goes, and we look up each morning
To feel the certain warmth of the sun as it glows
and the patterns of light that cast a shadow
See over there, sunbeams are thrown

Journal Prompts to Explore the Language of Nature

Here are some journal prompts to cultivate nature as a companion to your creativity and as a channel for your emotions. Write or reflect on these prompts.

In many ways, my fondest memories came from time spent in nature with my mom. Our summers along the shore in Cape May, the ways we would make collages out of found natural objects, the tree calendars I bought her each year, and the decades of smiles on her face when she opened each one on Christmas Day.

Our shared memories were steeped in nature, and now, when I walk in nature or touch natural objects, I feel her presence. I feel her energy, and they help contain my grief long enough for me to see beauty in my feelings as well.

Connect with nature to nurture your creativity, ground your feelings, and find comfort through natural rhythms. That is the 6th lesson my mom taught me. 🌞

Podcast Music: My thanks to all the musicians who make incredible music and have the courage to put it out into the world. All music and sound effects for my podcast are sourced and licensed for use via Soundstripe.

Songs in this podcast episode: Ocean Meditation by Shimmer; Some Kind of Wonderful by Nu Alkemi$t; Con Sazón by In This World

Related Episodes:

Being Hateful is Incompatible with Being Whole – Lessons My Mama Taught Me (Part 5) - Episode 68

Giving Without Expectation – Lessons My Mama Taught Me (Part 4) - Episode 67

Take Notice of Little, Beautiful Things — Lessons My Mama Taught Me (Part 3) - Episode #66

Recognize the Good in Others — Lessons My Mama Taught Me (Part 2) – Episode #65

Let People Know You Love Them — Lessons My Mama Taught Me (Part 1) – Episode #64

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Journaling Resources

30-Day Journal Challenge (Writing Prompts to Get Started)

Here’s a fun & simple 30-day journal challenge for beginners (or those who need inspiration). Use the daily prompts to rediscover yourself.

Let the Verse FlowJill Hodge

Journaling 101: An Inspirational Guide to Start (or Revive) a Practice

Whether you write, doodle, draw, or keep memorable quotes, journaling uncovers YOU. Let your unconscious mind speak, download my free guide.

Let the Verse FlowJill Hodge

Let the Verse Flow (and its companion newsletter Flow & Voice) is a creative project created with love by writer, podcast host, and narrator Jill Hodge. If you subscribe today, you'll have full access to the website and newsletter, including articles, podcast episodes, and the Flow & Voice monthly note. Members are vital to building a rich community of diverse voices. Join us by subscribing today; consider a paid subscription to support Jill's work. Thank you!