I recently set up my tent in the backyard with the intention of being able to be outside in the evenings without getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Dusk is a favorite time of the day for me and I love the idea of using the tent to meditate, read, relax, or nap as the day's summer air gets a little cooler. There's a shift in energy that seems to occur out in nature at that time of the day and I love being enmeshed in it and absorbed by it. I'm even entertaining the idea of sleeping out there overnight, some night when I build up my courage, which I wasn't really aware needed building until recently.
I was in heaven that first evening. The tent has that mesh screening on two whole sides and on the very top. I laid there, under a velvet blanket of night blinking with stars, breathing the fresh air as it whispered through the tent and across my skin, lulled by the serenade of crickets and entertained by the luminous dance of the fireflies. I felt so at peace that my body seemed to be disappearing into its connection to all that is. If only it had stayed that way, but slowly I became aware of every little sound out there in the woods. It's amazing, when you're alone outside, in the dark, how heightened your senses become and how every little sound seems closer, bigger and scarier than what reality would reveal it to be in the daylight. My imagination can run wild! And my fears of what could be out there seem to mirror my inner fears of facing the unknown as I move into a new chapter of my life.
Suddenly I hear something hit the side of the tent and I bolt upright, my heart racing. I can feel my pupils pushing the boundaries of their ability to dilate to let in more light as I try to scan outside to see what the hell that was. But I see nothing. Must have been a twig falling from a tree...? No, I can still hear it moving alongside the tent. Visions of rabid animals and scary creatures form in my head. Jeesh-maybe I've been reading too many supernatural creature books lately. And then this creature lands on the mesh screen right in front of my face! A frog. Ha. Well hello little froggie, I greet her, what message do you have for me this evening? Frog is a totem of metamorphosis, a symbol of coming into ones' own creative power. Frog brings the energy of cleansing and transformation. This night she brought a smile to my face and her message to my heart. I finally fell asleep for a bit, waking up just before midnight to finish the rest of the night in my own bed. Tomorrow night, yes, tomorrow night I will sleep outside overnight so I can wake up to the beauty of dawn...
