Are you awake? - I mean really awake!

 Are you awake? - a straightforward question, or is it?

I don't simply mean are you not asleep in the physical sense, I mean are you properly awake?

Are you awake to nature, are you awake to the Universe, are you awake to the possibilities?

Recently, in the last few months, likely triggered by renewed contact with a very special friend with whom I have a very special connection, I have started to wake up. I have started to understand, I have started to become aware.

What do I mean by that?

Take this week for example, I have spent a few days with my friend in a beautiful area of the Country.

We were able to visit a few beautiful places. The connection I experienced with nature, with the Universe, was more than electric. It was truly magical.

On entering a stone circle, though in the past I may have experienced the 'atmosphere' - for the first time that I can recall I felt the 'energy', it was as if I had walked into a strong Electric field, the hairs on my arms, the back of my neck instantly stood up, I got goosebumps everywhere, I could feel the 'buzz' of the energy fields and it was intense, and breathtaking.

A while later we were walking down a beautiful tree lined path, I got the goosebumps again, feeling the energy of the trees, bushes and animals within them.

Then standing on a cliff top, taking in the views, you could feel the energising effect of that beautiful Nature.

It was astonishingly magical.

I've always loved 'nature', I've always loved beautiful places, I've always loved taking my time and appreciating the beauty, I've never, ever, experienced anything like I did this week.

With my friend helping guide me through what was initially something very strange, I am now finding myself more and more receptive to the possibilities of our wondrous Universe. I am 'receiving', I am 'open'.

Our lives, our society, is set up to suppress being open to the possibilities, we live our lives of drudgery, of having to work, often in jobs we don't truly enjoy, we have to slave, simply to earn money which is needed to 'live'. Most simply aren't aware of why they are then, at heart, deeply unhappy about something, about why something seems 'off'.

We have lost touch with the wonder of nature. Yes many get out into and enjoy nature, but few are truly receptive to the wonder.

Of course our ancestors 'knew', they celebrated, venerated and worshipped nature and the wonders of the Universe, it occupied a special place in their lives and their souls.

'We' have lost that.

You can take steps to reconnect, you can take steps to make yourself open, even if you don't truly believe at this point.

Get out into nature, even if it's only a garden within the 'walls' of a city or 'oppressive' new housing development. Slow down, don't hurry, don't rush. Look at the sky, notice the clouds, notice the birds, hear the murmur of the atmosphere, hear the conversations of the birds.

Slow down even more, slow your breathing, concentrate on the smallest details.

Close your eyes, sense the movement and sounds around you.

You probably won't notice anything to begin with, but keep doing this, whilst at the same time becoming open to the possibility that there are things we have forgotten, things we are now told are nonsense but that our ancestors 'knew' were real, and perhaps you will begin to sense and feel things that you have previously missed, perhaps you will begin to feel more alive than you have in years, or ever.

Perhaps you will walk around with a near permanent silly grin on your face marvelling at the wonder of it all as I have been this week.