The Love of Nature

Lately, with the pressure of work, my heart has been a little anxious. I am afraid that if I do not work hard enough, I will fall behind this era, afraid that one day, I will be left behind by it.

This anxiety, this thinking that will not stop, is like a mountain pressing down on my heart. It keeps me from flowing freely, like water, and it keeps me from seeing the new worlds beyond.

And suddenly, I longed to go somewhere.

I want to go to Gordon Gu's tea garden. There is flowing water there, and trees that have lived a hundred years. And in a place like that, I want to slowly practice a set of tai chi.

I want to feel it, with my own body.

Not to think it with my mind, but to feel it with my body. To feel the earth beneath my feet, to feel the wind, the sunlight, and that current of breath, moving slowly through me. Every movement of tai chi is soft, and round, and flowing, just like water. And as I move, the mind that has been calculating, and worrying, seems to slowly, grow still.

In a present like that, a person has no stray thoughts. You do not think of the past, nor worry over the future. You simply are, in that moment, together with heaven and earth.

What I long to feel most, is the love of nature.

Have you ever noticed, that nature never judges you. That tree, a hundred years old, does not keep count, does not fight with you, is not afraid you will surpass it. It only stands there, quietly, holding, with its very being, the one who stands beneath it. That flowing water runs day and night, asking nothing in return, only nourishing every inch of earth it passes.

It is a very quiet, and very vast, kind of love. A love that asks nothing of you, needs you to prove nothing, and only, unconditionally, accepts you.

In a love like that, a person can fully let go. You need not guard yourself, need not fight, need not fear. You can simply be yourself. And in that moment, the things in my heart, so tightly held, so hard to release, seem gently, dissolved by that love.

Slowly I have come to understand that we, as human beings, are ourselves a part of nature.

We came from nature. Our bodies, and our hearts, are, in truth, connected to that tree, and that water. It is only that, in our busy lives, we have wandered too far, and forgotten the way back.

And so I think I will return to nature often. To feel it, with my body. To let that quiet, vast love remind me, again and again, of who I truly am. To let me be, once more, like a tree, standing at peace, and like water, flowing free.

— Marie

🌿 The tea garden and nature I long to slowly feel my way through:
The Gordon Gu Showroom →