Nature Reveals Our Deepest Selves

by Sheila McEntee

On May 15, we publish Sheila McEntee‘s debut essay collection Soul Friend and Other Loves Notes to the Natural World. Well-known to many in our home state of West Virginia, Sheila’s collection will be a welcome addition to the collection of any nature lover. Detailed black-and-white illustrations by Sophie Kromholz make this the perfect gift. 

NB: Orders made after May 13 are unlikely to arrive before May 21. This book has proven so popular! For our friends in West Virginia, Sheila has a number of events planned. 

Imagine lifting the window shade early one morning and finding a half-dozen neotropical birds, with deep-rosy breasts and jet-black wings, poised amid a maple’s budding branches. Or, in the midst of pandemic isolation, eavesdropping on a congenial trio of turkey vultures keeping company outside the kitchen window. Or, looking up from your cereal bowl to see a rare woodpecker, its head the color of red velvet cake, clinging to the side of an oak so close, you could almost reach out and touch it.  

Such are the discoveries that delight and comfort me, and that I write about in Soul Friend and Other Love Notes to the Natural World. It is these sightings and others that call me to slow down, pay attention, and embrace my own place in nature’s scheme. 

When I walk on a forest trail amid ferns, wildflowers, and birdsong, I feel not only joy but relief, as if a hefty pack has been lifted from my back. When I immerse myself in forest life, I know that I, too, am part of it. Though we may feel separate from it, our deepest selves are revealed in the natural world.  

We recognize ourselves in the box turtle’s slow, uphill climb, its valiant plodding through dry, crumbly earth. Watching a newly transformed swallowtail butterfly unfurl and flex its wings, we find hope in our own evolution. And how could we not be inspired by the tiny ruby-throated hummingbird’s arduous, nonstop flight across the Gulf of Mexico, and then continued journey north, to finally sip nectar from our flowers and feeders? 

In our hurried, technocentric world, even a minute can feel like an eternity, if we are waiting for an upload, a download, a login, or a new password. Yet, what might happen if we slowed down enough to stroll instead of scroll? To sit by a stream instead of streaming? To immerse ourselves, if only for a few moments, in a nature scene instead of a screen? Who and what might be revealed? 

In Soul Friend, I invite you to explore the natural world. It awaits in every landscape—city, suburb, forest, and field—for you to discover its wonders, and the wonders you hold within.