nature's zodiac

Through the mist of a neon October morning, those lilacs are blooming again. Something about environmental stress is supposed to cause these beauties to be born anew, like living ghosts.

Like last year, Libra season has been so charming. We have been to an apple pressing gathering, where the children took to a treehouse in various costumes for a dance party. Misty mornings of soccer practice, with the older way taller kids giving the little ones tips and challenges bring such warmth to my heart in the gently cooler atmosphere. Forest hikes with other homeschoolers find us in a setting of babbling brooks with art supplies strewn about rocks.

Subtle pleasures pop up, like sitting in pleasant conversation with friends, in cozy clothes, as the sun sets, as the boys race up and down the bike ramps. I find myself appreciating these joys, like an artist appreciates their subject and their own engagements with it. There is a canvas-like quality to these events, I just want to sit back and marvel for a bit.

So I will bring it up again a year later, a term that I find dear. Biophilia. Coined by biologist E.O. Wilson, biophilia is an innate affinity for life and lifelike processes. It is innate because, as we have evolved within nature, we have a biological attraction to nature. This connection to nature enhances our well-being, creativity and emotional health.

More often than not, whatever unrest I feel bubbling in me can be soothed by turning towards life, betting on nature and lifelike processes to bring back my frequency to its recognizable buzz.

The sweetness of it all is that it is effortless to return to a biophilic perspective. Life and lifelike processes surround us as sure as the atmosphere does. The only obstacle towards our engagement with it is a tendency to overlook it.

So, sometimes the lilacs have to show up in the fall, as lovely ghosts, and say “look!”.