Connecting with Nature

One of the most healing, relaxing, recuperative things we can do is to connect with nature. There is a real need for us, particularly those of us in the city, to find ways of connecting with the earth around us.

It might be as simple as looking out a window at the trees swaying in the breeze. It might be a walk through a woodland trail, with no sight of human habitation around. It might be watching a mountain stream, laughing as it flows over rocks and stones. It might be gazing at the great ocean as it surges over the shore, and seeing how it extends to the horizon and beyond as the sea goes on and on and on. Or it could be lying in a meadow at night, staring up at the stars, and realizing how small this huge earth is in the infinity of space. (I will talk more about this experience in my next post.)

It doesn't matter. For each of us there is a need, beyond our connections to each other, to be connected to nature and the earth itself. In the machinations of this society it is easy to forget that we come from the earth and return to the earth, that this very earth supports us--even if it's buried under asphalt and concrete and linoleum and glass and steel.

This is truly returning to our roots and each one of us needs to see that we are a part of nature and not apart from nature. We need to feel that connection because that connection will heal us--and we can't be whole without it.



Resources:
Tom Brown, Tom Brown's Field Guide to Living with the Earth--It seems a bit hokey in parts but the introduction and first chapter ('Earthmind') talk clearly about our need to be part of the earth around us
Chellis Glendinning, My Name is Chellis & I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization--I talked at length about this book in my post of 12/26/08, One with Nature 1: Recovery
Starhawk, The Earth Path--I've mentioned this book in a number of my early posts in this segment but it is a clear call to connect with nature along with some steps for doing so; I wrote about The Earth Path in my post of 12/28/08, One with Nature 2: The Path
Henry Thoreau, Walden--A friend of mine told me that her avid love of nature began with reading Thoreau in high school; a 'Thoreauvian' noted that this book influenced the national park system, the hippie revolution, the environmental movement, and the wilderness movement among many other things

Quote of the Day: "...we are not separate from nature but in fact are nature. ... For we are part of the living earth, and to connect with her is to connect with the deepest parts of ourselves." - Starhawk