Re-connecting with Nature
Do you ever feel like you are having trouble re-connecting with yourself? That nudging feeling - you just have no time for you? The sensation that you are getting lost in the flow of the constant needs of work, family and friends – rushing around from one place to the next without a break –smartphone is always on hand just in case you get that emergency call, text or email – and all the while you forget to take much needed time for yourself.
A few days ago, I hit that brick wall. I said – Enough! I knew that I needed to re-connect with myself, and let everything else go – if only just for few hours. My go-to is walking on the beach or in the woods. I love nature. So, that’s what I did. I took my dog and went for a hike in the woods. Just me and him. No phone. No computer. Just me and my pup.
Nature quiets my mind. Opens my heart. Invites ease into my body. While walking in nature, I am able to feel the living connection with life all around me. It allows me to open up to something so much bigger than me. Nature allows me to transform, awaken, and heal. Walking in the woods with the squirrels, the deer, the frogs, the rabbits, the birds – this simple gesture – helps me to get a boost in creativity, health, and quality of life.
If you often feel like I did a few days ago, I invite you to start re-connecting with nature. Don’t wait until tomorrow. Take a few moments or a few hours and do it now. Go outside, take off your shoes and socks, and sink your bare feet into the grass. Find a tree and place your palm on the trunk. You can even give it a big tree hug – simply lean in and wrap your arms around it. Did you know that hugging trees can have health benefits? Access to nature can significantly contribute to your mental and capital wellbeing. It can even alleviate symptoms of depression and promote attention and working memory.
While walking in nature take a few moments to really focus on your senses – what can you smell, what can you hear, what can you feel?
You can even play in the dirt – tend to an herb garden or plant flowers. Just as sinking your bare feet into Mother Earth will ground you, so will digging into it with your hands. Bring nature indoors. Buy some houseplants and keep a jar of fresh flowers in your home and your workplace. You can even place a crystal on your desk or place a jar full of seashells and sand in your living room.
When you awaken in the morning, open your window and stand in front of it. Watch the sunrise. Breathe in the beautiful colors of the sky, the shapes of the clouds, the sounds of the birds. Allow the natural world to ground you into the here and now.
“Well, one can't get over the habit of being a little girl all at once.... I'm sure I'll always feel like a child in the woods. These walks home from school are almost the only time I have for dreaming.... [H]ere in the woods I like best to imagine quite different things…I'm a dryad living in an old pine, or a little brown wood-elf hiding under a crinkled leaf. That white birch you caught me kissing is a sister of mine. The only difference is, she's a tree and I'm a girl, but that's no real difference.”
~Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea, 1909
Let’s soar together!
