Talk2theAnimals is delighted to welcome Tracie Nichols as our guest blogger today. Tracie helps secretly fierce women to free their fierce and love being at home in their own skin. She is a recovering “secretly fierce woman” and kick-butt intuitive who loves finding all sorts of creative ways to serve some of the most courageous, inspiring, worthwhile women she’s ever known (Yes, that would be YOU). Her well-loved newsletter appears in inboxes on the new and full moon and she blogs (nearly) daily. Stop by Tracie’s site, grab a cup of tea, settle in and enjoy! She LOVES when a lively conversation springs up under a post. You can also find her on Twitter and on Facebook at EcoAudient and Alchemy for the Earth. You can hear Tracie’s episode Connecting to Gaia on Talk2theAnimalsRadio. This episode is one of the top 10 episodes in the history of the show.
The Earth is Whispering to You ~ Are You Listening?
I must confess … I’ve been having a not-so-secret love affair with nature beings for most of my life. It’s amazing. Peaceful. Ripping-good fun. And, the most natural, sane thing I do every day.
So, when Janet offered me the chance to talk about having loving, reciprocal relationships with more-than-human beings with you I jumped! (When she sweetened the deal by offering to publish the post on Valentine’s Day, I laughed – out loud! (really!)) It was just so perfect…
For years, stones, trees, and other more-than-human beings and I have been doing what any new friends getting to know each other do. We’ve swapped stories. Cried with each other. Held each other. Loved and respected each other — as equals.
Yes, equals. True friends. I ask after their seedlings. They watch over my children. I grieve with them when storms tear apart their (stream) beds. They sang softly as we buried a cat companion near their banks. I carry stone friends from place to place when they want to move — or leave them in their home when they don’t.
One sycamore tree wanted to know what it felt like to be so mobile — so free to move from place to place. So I invited him into my consciousness for a while. He decided he liked the feeling of walking, but didn’t like being squishy and soft bodied. (“Too flexible!”) Then he helped me know what it feels like to be rooted and strong. Tall (ohmygosh are they tall!) To live so long.
We taught each other. We laughed. We appreciated our uniqueness. We respected and loved each other as equals.
It can be really tempting to not interact as equals. To either put nature beings on a pedestal turning them into guru’s or mythical wise elders, or to treat them like children, or worse yet, like tools or resources.
We are all nature beings, though. I am no more or less important than the orchid on my desk, the microbes in her soil, or the air surrounding us. We are all truly essential to the thriving of our shared ecosystem. How cool is that?
Since this is a post about our relationship, some of my friends wanted to talk to you themselves, so I’ll end with their words. I hope you go swap some stories of your own with the nature beings where you live. You never know what kind of love affair you could start 
“Dear ones, please stop and listen to the stories of the mountain beings in your Place. Remember, even places now flat once rose tall and strong with mountains. Their presence is still there in the soil and stream beds, in the sands and stone.
Stretch out your mind/heart towards the land that is the foundation of your lives. Listen…sense… be open to perceiving the requests you receive for communication and exchange. Notice invitations to be part of the nature community. Become more curious. Be more exploratory and more willing to discern the difference between mind chatter and the quiet thought-forms of the land around you.
We all need each other, dear human friend. We are all family, and we can love each other into thriving.”
Sage Mountain, Whitehall, Montana, U.S.
“Dearest one, each day there are an infinite number of thoughts I can share.
It is the song of your heart that calls them into being the words, images, and sensations that you can interpret.
What do you want to know today? What can I share to ease you? To expand or evolve your experience?
Whisper it into the wind. Then listen for my response with your whole being…
With deep love,”
Gaia
What a delicious and nourishing post. Thank you. I am going to listen more deeply today. The Gaia words are wonderful. Thank you Janet for inviting Tracie. And thank you Tracie for sharing.
You’re very welcome Deborah. Isn’t Valentine’s Day a special day to listen deeply? Thx for stopping by and sharing your comment
How wonderful Deborah! Enjoy your budding new relationships… And Gaia says that your words are pretty wonderful, too! (she especially likes being described as “delicious and nourishing”)
I love this Tracie and know it is true. One of the biggest barriers I have found in truly appreciating the essence of all things is to stop seeing them as tools or stuff. We are taught that the animals, plants and rocks have no conscious, therefore beneath us. It takes an effort to break those old perceptions but how glorious it is once we do.
Thank you for all that you are teaching us!!
Monica, thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment. You’re right – it is when our mind defines other sentient beings as tools or stuff that we humans loose out. It is time to move from our minds to our hearts, and Tracie exemplifies that movement well!
You are so right Monica! In fact, you’ve named the biggest stumbling block I’ve seen most people facing. Breaking those old perceptions…because we need to come back to them over and over again to fully unlearn what we’ve been taught.
And, yes, it is SO glorious to break them and discover all the new friends and family!
Psssttt… Thank you Janet
Tracie Nichols recently posted…Radiantly beautiful Union