Saying Hello to Everything

Lately I've been reading and listening to Martin Prechtel, a powerful yellow-haired man who lives and teaches at his school, Bolad's Kitchen, down in New Mexico.

I have some podcasts I've been enjoying. Here's one.

  He has a new book I've been reading too: The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise. It's a synthesized version of what he has been writing and speaking about for many years. It has some practical instructions for recovering from the Industrial Growth Society with primary focus on moving Grief and Praise through the human heart. He encourages me to FEEL my grief and let it roll, "so that you look bad when you're finished" he says. After the grief there is more room for the praise. And that is the heart of LIFE. 

At one point in the podcast he says something like, "When I'm out in the world I am constantly greeting everything and every body. I am saying, 'hello, hello , hello' to everything."

This consistent acknowledging is something he attributes to his indigenousness. Maintaining connections — he actively interacts with the multi-dimensional world that he inhabits and directs his attention out into the world, allowing his nerves and senses to be open and available so that he might see and be seen.

Hello. Hello. Hello.

As you wander in nature, give this a shot. Try saying hello to everything. Look into each tree, rock, stream, blade of grass, bug, bird, scurrying rodent, speck of sand, polished river pebble and acknowledge it and greet it. Introduce yourself. I suppose you cannot really say hello to everything. You would have to probably choose one spot to sit and that would be your afternoon of nature reconnection. Might be valuable.

On your slow walk into nature I encourage you to try saying hello to as much as you have time and energy for. Greet the natural world with humility and reverence and with your beautiful self. See what greeting you receive in return.

Like any relationship, your's with nature begins with an acknowledgement and a greeting.

Hello. Hello. Hello.

In my experience out loud is best -