Radical Acceptance and Finding Meaning in Small Moments - Written By: Marilyn Laughlin, LCSW, RYT-500, Certified Nature Therapy Guide

After a recent rattling of my health status, I found myself in a situation of not being able to drive - putting a stop to my usual come-and-go-as-I-please travel when and where I want.  

Choosing to modify my lifestyle wasn’t on my agenda.  How can I still enjoy life at the same level when I can’t live it the way I chose and have become used to?  Does a small experience still provide the same renewed mindset as traveling to a different location, one that offers large, expansive perspectives?  Does it still count?

Determined to still manifest wonder and grounding from the ordinary, I began to visit the small park a few blocks from my home every day for a walk.  What I found surprised me.

Recurring natural messages received included: 

Gray feathers - most likely from the multiple types of doves we have - Eurasian Collared, White Wing Dove and the Mourning Dove.  Gray - often viewed as gloomy (gray skies), boring, or as a sign of aging or unavailability (grayed out).  But, gray is the color of neutrality, softness and calming.  It communicates a sense of balance (between black and white), wisdom and peace (no extremes). For me it represents the need to find inner calm and acceptance and remaining open to gaining new knowledge about my heart.  I can extend compassion for what it’s going through and learn to nurture its health and not see it as something that is causing me inconvenient challenges.  The color gray can represent the promise of hope and harmony after turbulence. Gray feathers also represent an end to karmic debt and the unselfishness and humility that come after tumultuous times that result in recovery and a new direction.

Crows - some people scare them away and see them as a nuisance.  But any research will advise of their intelligence and abilities to connect with humans and/or remember a human’s treatment.  They can hold a grudge like no other when mistreated and even teach their progeny to carry the grudge!  Some see them as a foreboding of death, but the positive side of these birds instead reveals life emerging after death.  Their calls invite us to trust our intuition and embrace what you can’t understand (that’s radical acceptance!).  A group of crows, called a murder, signify the importance of disengaging from ideas or habits that hold us back and free us up for new creations.  These shiny, ebony Corvids convey messages of capability and having the backup to stand a chance against whatever will come your way.  They represent protection, guidance, collaboration and support and a shield to take us through a period of harsh or difficult circumstances.  

Yellow sulphurs or clouded yellow sulphur butterflies(colias) - These small yellow butterflies that I saw everywhere represent happiness, joy, and transformation.  The males have pink edges on their wings and represent love, happiness, and playfulness.  Their constant presence reminds me to embrace the lighter side of life while experiencing transformation and personal growth.  They find sustenance in hidden places and unexpectedly release burdens and embrace spiritual liberation.  Their bright yellow color is a flash of beauty in the small moments of my walk and reinforce my connection to the natural world.