I went to the ocean this weekend. For me, that’s like going to church.

It fills me up.
It quiets my mind.
It connects me with the whole world.
It makes all my worries seem small.

But damn, was it cold!

The ocean is my place.  Every single time I go, I feel my soul roots stretch deep into the earth, my heart song zing out through the water, and my joy float up to the sky.

Some people love the mountains.  Forests.  The desert.  Gardens.  Trickling brooks.  Glaciers.  Rolling fields.

Not me.  I’d honestly rather stay home than be any of those places, unless there are horses or people I love present.

But the ocean?  I will go to the beach in the cold, in the rain, I will kiss the coast on a train, in a plane, with green eggs or none.

Because it’s my PLACE.  It feels like home in the deepest way possible.

What’s that place for you?

If you don’t know, think about a place your childhood self might have fled in a moment of grief or joy.  Think about a place you’d spend irrational amounts of money to get to.

Sometimes communing with nature sounds like it has to be big and dramatic, but small doses are pretty great too.  The trick is, it has to be YOUR place, the place where you feel most like yourself.  I believe that some of the most beautiful bits of nature have been made by humans, though not everyone agrees with me.

Here are some small, easy ways to let your soul be filled up by a beautiful bit of the earth this week:

• Stand very, very close to a tree
• Hop in the car and drive to the coast!
• Sit in a library
• Go into an old church or cathedral
• Look up at the sky, especially at night
• Touch a mossy rock
• Watch a National Geographic video on youtube
• Cut out a photo of a place you want to go
• Sit in a coffee shop window and watch people go by (people are nature too!)

Spend five minutes filling up your senses with a bit of the world that feels like your truest home.  I’d bet my mittens that you’ll feel amazing.

May your year be full of little thrills and crisp cracklings of possibility.