What Nettle Taught Me About Paying Attention

It isn’t necessarily that someone is smarter, more tuned in, or more magical.

It’s more about being open, inviting, and then observing.

There’s this thing that happens when you invite plants into your life.

I mean truly, with an open heart and an open mind, you invite them in.

When you desire that connection, they will show up in surprising ways.

Crystals and other “energy-centered” things follow a similar path, but the mechanism is slightly different.

With plants, there’s direct interaction, biology, chemistry, and ecology. With crystals, the connection leans more into symbolism, intention, and how the mind anchors meaning to physical objects.

The stone becomes a kind of compass point for your focus.

It isn’t that these things make the decision to perform for you,

as if they owe you something. It’s more about you opening the door to your perception.

There is a concept in psychology called “selective attention.” It’s our brain’s way of filtering reality.

When we decide something is important to us, our brain begins highlighting it.

Maybe you’ve walked the same path every day, and suddenly nettle shows up.

It was always there before, you just didn’t notice.

Once you invite plants into your life,

you begin seeing them more because they matter to you now. Similar to when you buy a vehicle and suddenly you see that same type everywhere.

With plants, it feels deeper than just a mental filtering process.

That’s because they’re living. You’re slowing down to experience them. Taste them, smell them, feel them, and build a memory with them. That’s where it becomes a relationship instead of just observation.

This doesn’t take away from the magic. It actually makes it more magical,

because somehow the plant you notice is exactly the one you need in that moment. The magic is our subconscious mind being able to determine these things on such an intricate, microscopic level that it feels almost unbelievable.

For example, my experience when I met nettle.

The week prior to my wild kayaking adventure, I had listened to a podcast about stinging nettle, and the guest shared his interesting experience. I remember thinking how much I wanted to meet medicinal plants in a similar way. I wanted to get to know them, not just read about them.

When the kayaking incident happened and I had to walk through a field of nettle, it wasn’t that nettle appeared there to entertain me. It wasn’t that nettle decided I was worthy, or that it needed to perform for me because I’m more tuned in than others.

Nettle was there either way.

I was the one who showed up. I was the one who recognized nettle as something interesting., and I was the one who decided my brain would see nettle as something magical and important.

The real magic is that I subconsciously chose nettle without consciously thinking about it.

Almost as if something in me already recognized it.

Nettle stings, nettle grabs your attention, nettle is not easily missed.

It’s not going to introduce itself with a whisper, and in a way, I relate.

For me personally, I crave connections that have depth and aren’t easily forgotten.

Nettle is also deeply nourishing.

Herbalists use it as a tonic. It’s nutrient-dense and packed with iron, calcium, and magnesium. I was struggling with my iron and magnesium levels at the time. It felt like nettle was calling to me, and instead of gently saying, “hey, I can help you,” she grabbed me by the throat… well, technically my legs… and demanded my attention.

Nettle is like me.

At the time I met nettle, I was going through a disturbance in my life. I felt broken. I felt like I had been tossed around, which is why I was kayaking. Kayaking was my therapy. Nettle thrives in disturbed soil. It’s a plant of aftermath and rebuilding, which was exactly the phase of life I was in when I encountered it.

Her sting isn’t meant to be mean.

Similar to me, a Scorpio, our stings can seem harsh, but there’s no malicious intent behind them.

Nettle’s sting can feel painful, but there’s something purposeful behind it. There’s an old practice called urtication, where people intentionally brush nettle on their skin to stimulate circulation and ease joint pain.

I've been noticing the real magic is within us.

It isn't something outside of us, it isn't something some people have and others don't, it isn't some mystical thing that can't be explained. 

Magic, is us paying attention, it is us allowing ourselves to be present in the moment, it is us allowing ourselves to actually slow down and interpret the language of the universe as she speaks to us. 

Nettle and the river both taught me to pay attention.

Not the drifting, daydream kind, but the sharp kind. The kind that asks you to be fully aware. They taught me that pain isn’t always punishment. Sometimes it’s a doorway, more often than we like to admit, it’s the thing that moves us forward.

Nettle showed me that we don’t have to be one thing or the other. We can hold multiple sides at once. We can be gentle and fierce, healing and uncomfortable, grounded and wild.

So I’m curious…

Have you ever invited a plant into your life?

Have you experienced something like this?

I’d love to hear your story.

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