little toad

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This little guy jumped on my leg. I didn't freak out. Yay me! Instead I grabbed D's phone and looked up the meaning of frog medicine. Never mind that this is a toad and not a frog, the symbolism is the same for me. It was all about cleansing.

Tiny little toad reminded me to cleanse my spirit. I decided I needed to bathe in the river and so I did the very next day. With thunder rolling in, I resisted the distraction and replaced the muddy thoughts in my mind with clear energy.

It was exactly the sort of ritual I needed to prepare myself for the challenges of the week. I thought of it as self-care, intentional and holy.

As a cultural orphan I reserve the right to claim all the world's spiritualisms as my own. Not being grounded in any one truth, I seek and explore aspects of spirituality that have to do with renewal, kindness and compassion. And I need a constant reminder to be kind and compassionate towards myself.

I've found that experiences like this are one the greatest things of having a woodland retreat. There are so many spontaneous opportunity to take cues from nature and apply them to my own life. Things that would not otherwise pass through my radar with all the distractions of the city. This woodland life is simple and yet overfull with reminders that not everything can be known and controlled but that everything can be filled sacred meaning.