Every Spring and Fall, I have a strong urge to fluff my nest. Shift furniture. Change the colors of the towels in the bathroom. Re-organize my office to make it easier to use the new printer. If I am hampered from making these changes I get really stressed. Every Spring. And every Fall.

For the longest time I thought the six month cycle of stress was a build up of unresolved emotions that needed release. But I discovered recently that the the timing was seasonal. It was the same call of nature that calls all other mammals. The deer are moving out of their quiet places. The crows are pairing off and dancing the air in amazing synchronicity. The mice are fluffing their nests.

It was a bit of a relief to discover that what seemed to be a problem I should be able to solve was actually a biological energy that is entirely natural and normal.

We are suspicious of our animal nature. Those of us who are interested in our spiritual life spend a lot of time in our heads and our emotions and our connections to energies outside ourselves. We strive to get away from our physical bodies because paying attention to spiritual matters is, well, more spiritual. We fight our animal nature because we have been conditioned to believe that it is too, well, animal.

When we feel a need to fluff our nests, we ignore it, try to control it or tame it, or try to transcend it - as though it were an unnatural and unwanted affliction. We don't trust it.

But it can be necessary to our well being to work in sync with it. And sometimes it is impossible to ignore. A woman who is one day away from giving birth can often have an urge to clean her home or organize the closets - an urge that is so strong she can not stop herself even if she wanted to. Just ask her. She'll tell you it's like trying to stop a freight train.

It may be nothing more than a biological urge, but it can be vital to pay attention. Perhaps we can hear that inner urge that will move us to high ground before a flood or take shelter before a downpour. For those with a spiritual bent, mindfulness of body is a valuable path to insight. Dropping out of concepts and ideas and paying attention to actual physical sensation adds another dimension to spiritual practice.

It's time we stopped apologizing for being human and embraced our humanity in all its complexity. It's time we took pleasure in our physical nature. It's a gift that we won't have forever.

So every Spring and Fall, I'll remember I'm a mammal. If I feel an urge to fluff my nest, I'll trust that it's saying something to me that I need to hear. And I'll fluff.

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