What's Your Nature?

How are we connected to the natural world and how on earth have we become so disconnected? What can time in nature teach us about who we are? Can it help save a hurting world? Is it possible to care about the planet when disconnected from the nature’s rhythms and beauty?

Most of us have very busy lives. The majority of people live in cities, where connections with nature only happen occasionally, if at all. It takes planning now to get to and be in the wilds of nature. This is a relatively recent change. Until the 1950’s many people were deeply involved in the land as part of their work and survival. My grandparents were prairie farmers and coastal fishermen, intimately tied with the sun and rain, wind and tides. Two generations later, I am indoors a good part of each day, “protected from the elements”. What have I sacrificed through this disconnection with nature?

When you spend quality time with nature there are impacts on your body, thinking and feelings. A few days into an outdoor adventure like sea kayaking or hiking, I start to go with the flow of what is happening in the natural world around me. I really hear the sounds of the birds. I feel my face connect with the element air as the wind starts to blow. Seeing in fresh ways, I notice details like the shape of the edge of a leaf or a tiny flower close to the ground. The smells of the unique fragrance of the sea or the plant I bring to my nose are the perfumes of nature. Have you noticed that food always tastes better outdoors? I wake up to some primal part of myself and in that waking discover a profound relaxation, a feeling of belonging to the world that brings love and caring for self, for fellow travellers, and for nature and all its creatures.

A practice to try:

Go out alone to a place you love in nature. Pay close attention to what you are feeling, seeing, hearing, smelling, and perhaps tasting. What happens to your breathing? What emotions arise as you are there? What are your thoughts? Notice what nature teaches you about yourself.