For the past few years, I have used sleeping outside as a many leveled therapy. At first, it was to escape: my messy house, my messy thoughts, my insomnia and even depression. I found that to go outside and slip into bed was to remove myself into the world of nature, which soothed, forgave and comforted me. I got over being depressed and continued sleeping outside to marvel at the bird sounds that woke me each morning and to fall asleep with the sounds of the wind and the tide waters from MacKaye Harbor down below my rise of land.
For the first year, I just put a mattress on the porch and threw a tarp over the covers so that if it rained, I could still stay out there. It was a bit damp and crinkly and sometimes I gave up and came inside. A dear friend saw how I was doing this and gave me a wonderful gift: a sailcloth that attaches to the eaves of my roof and ties over the bed to the porch railing. Now I can easily stay outside in all weathers and do. Something about sleeping outside: snug and warm in the rain, makes me feel giddy with pleasure and just a bit smug.
This time of year, mid-May, the smells from the crab apple trees and other blooming bushes are luscious. The robins and the crows and the geese chorus away and all manner of other birds I can't identify add their two cents worth. The cat comes and curls up too. I highly recommend this therapy and feel I am awfully lucky to have the chance. May all of us get enough outside time and may we also find ways to slow down and not use as much gas fueled transportation as before. It doesn't make sense anymore, does it?
What a lovely picture you paint with your words, I can almost feel being there, actually it does feel like being there. We definitely connect with spirit when we connect with nature. A very Tagorian idea. Tagore started what he called Forest Schools where all of the teaching was done outdoors because the forest teaches us union and compassion. Check out the article by Vandana Shiva in the current issue of Resurgence titled Forests and Freedom. You can find the magazine at the Lopez Library
ReplyDeleteMy favorite sleeping outside moment--in the summer after we graduated me and some girlfriends slept outside in the woods at Iceburg. The next morning we woke up groggy and hungover to find a troop of 8 year old campers and their camp counselers walking in a line right past our tarp, the kids all looked at us, our empty beer bottles and the counselers laughed at us. We hid our faces in our sleeping bags.
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