The healing effect of nature on a busy mind, thoughts from a reflective evening.
In recent years, I have been drawn back to nature. I left it behind in different stages in my life, but after experiencing tough times, I came looking for it once again.
Throughout the years, many of us drift in and out of a relationship with nature. The routines of work and daily life can be exhausting and draining in more ways than one. Over time, this can lead to an unconscious separation from the natural world. Living in towns and cities, it is often difficult to find the time or space to step away from it all and reconnect.
As humans we need this interaction with nature, there is definitely a spiritual or emotional response when walking through a woodland or beneath other natural structures. Maybe this humbles us, makes us aware of how small we are in comparison to the beasts of the forest, or lofty cliff faces.
After difficult periods in life, I found myself paying more attention to living things. Each creature in the garden, driven by instinct and the will to complete its life's mission, is an admirable sight to behold, encouraging in fact.
For example, the keyhole of my storage unit. A spider regularly builds its web across the face of the lock. Many times I've had to tear the web to open the shed, yet whenever I return, it has been rebuilt. There is something admirable in that persistence. The spider simply starts again, unaffected by what came before. Observing small acts like this reminds us how resilient life can be, and how often nature recovers from disruption without hesitation.
Being surrounded by growing plants, trees, and other forms of life seems to have a kind of concentrated positivity about it. It's difficult to put into words exactly, but if you've ever walked through a forest, or even sat quietly in a garden no matter how big or small, you've probably felt it too.
In my own experience, what really helped me quieten my mind was either physically being in nature or vicariously being in nature by consuming content.
Immersing myself in trees and plants gave my mind somewhere to rest. I spent hours reading and watching videos, moving from one subject to the next. During that period, it became a way of coping until the worst of those feelings began to ease.
Maybe that is why this site exists, what started with an interest in trees became a deep appreciation for the preciousness of life and a shield against smothering emotions, nature has the ability to overcome great hardship and disruption and come back in abundance. If you coppice a tree, two heads will take its place and so on. You need look no further than your own back garden to witness this.
There is a great healing quality to plants, you will find I am sure that many people with this interest, have experienced similar life paths in one way or another, gardening is like your own private source of dopamine. Growing a plant, the prolonged suspense of waiting for a bulb to surface or the buds to open in spring are wonderful experiences in life, and one of the best parts is that this is a sustainable source of good energy for your mind. Spring comes around every year. The plants and trees are ever changing, and there is an endless well of material for you to read upon or watch.
I hope you can find solace, if you are searching for it. The forest may be a good place to start.
Take care,
Adam