Beyond a 10! I grew up on the Delaware River in New Jersey. One block from my home was a large pond and park. I was in nature my entire childhood. It has become a beloved character in my life, a best friend and playmate. I can’t thank my parents enough for our home on the river, all the richness, creativity, adventure and deep connection it provided. In every season, we had opportunities to play outside. I visit that home often, as I love and honor it as a part of me. Nature is embodied within me and I brought that into my adult life when raising my children. Without a doubt, Nature is a healing balm that provides vibrant health in all areas of one’s life. In the test given in this article, I answered “Strongly Agree” to all the questions.
But I think we have lost something else in our removal from nature, something more subtle and harder to measure: a grounded-ness, a feeling of connection to things larger than ourselves, a calm against the frenzied pace of our wired world, a source of creativity, and the wholeness I felt in my eye-to-eye communion with the ospreys. Nature nourishes our spiritual selves. And by that I mean a feeling of being part of things larger than ourselves, a connection to something ancient and true in this fleeting world, an appreciation of beauty, and an awe of this strange and wonderful cosmos we find ourselves in. All of us feel that unnameable thing when we walk in the woods or sit by the ocean or stare at the heavens on a luminous night. Somehow, we are reconnecting with our ancestral selves and the long chain of lives stretching back to primeval oceans and unblemished land.
I think animals help us to remain connected to nature. For over a decade, I rode horses in the woods and that was an incomparable connectedness, both with the equine and with all the natural world around us. One time when I got thoroughly lost in the woods, I loosened my reins and my horse was better than a GPS at finding the way back to the barn. I’ve always walked dogs in the woods as I was raising my family of 4 kids and working. It was the most incredible stress reliever and I’d come back rejuvenated. I grew up in a city but for most of my life have lived in rural towns which has been one of the biggest blessings of my life. I LOVE this article. It rings with truth! Thanks for posting!!!
Beyond a 10! I grew up on the Delaware River in New Jersey. One block from my home was a large pond and park. I was in nature my entire childhood. It has become a beloved character in my life, a best friend and playmate. I can’t thank my parents enough for our home on the river, all the richness, creativity, adventure and deep connection it provided. In every season, we had opportunities to play outside. I visit that home often, as I love and honor it as a part of me. Nature is embodied within me and I brought that into my adult life when raising my children. Without a doubt, Nature is a healing balm that provides vibrant health in all areas of one’s life. In the test given in this article, I answered “Strongly Agree” to all the questions.
I did, too, Pegeen.
Thank you for posting such an uplifting article. An important message in today’s challenging, stressful world.
Good to go, @Pegeen ツ
I think animals help us to remain connected to nature. For over a decade, I rode horses in the woods and that was an incomparable connectedness, both with the equine and with all the natural world around us. One time when I got thoroughly lost in the woods, I loosened my reins and my horse was better than a GPS at finding the way back to the barn. I’ve always walked dogs in the woods as I was raising my family of 4 kids and working. It was the most incredible stress reliever and I’d come back rejuvenated. I grew up in a city but for most of my life have lived in rural towns which has been one of the biggest blessings of my life. I LOVE this article. It rings with truth! Thanks for posting!!!
This is beautiful