What if I told you there was a place where all your worries vanished, a place where you feel protected, a sanctuary for your thoughts and dreams. This place seems impossible, doesn't it? In reality it is not far from your reach, you just need to open your eyes and soul and let it in. When I need to escape, I run to the forest, and it welcomes me just like the finches resting on its tree branches.
It's time to be honest with ourselves: our lives are filled with distractions. It takes our minds and our hearts away from things that we once held close. Humans are drifting away from respecting and utilizing the Earth to being selfish and disruptive. We no longer rely on the natural world for entertainment or for food. A trip in our gas-guzzling cars takes us to a big-box store such as Walmart where we buy packaged frozen food shipped from across the country. We do not rely on our gardens for produce or for our wells to drink water. When we do not rely on the earth for these human necessities we forget about how much they really mean to us.
Trees are natural Brita filters that regurgitate fresh air for us to breathe in. Without transpiration from trees, we wouldn't survive. The sun gives plants, animals, and humans alike, substance to live. These environmental services are constantly functioning and giving us another day to be present on Earth. Yet we often take for granted their importance and often cut down their sources of life. It is time for us to take action. We can change our own perspectives on nature. We can all to set aside at least an hour a day to be outside in nature. Take a walk, ride a bike or even watch the stars. Whatever you do, do it with an open mind so you can appreciate it fully.
Don't bring your problems with you into the forest. The chipmunks and the robins do not need your added stress. So relax, you are safe. Take a deep meditational breath. Let the swaying leaves catch your worries as you release them from your stream of consciousness. Watch the leaves fall, taking your burdens down with them into the abyss of the golden pine needles and decomposed organic matter. Smell the sweet honeysuckle and feel the morning dew captured on a fern. Use all of your senses because they were gifted to you for these very reasons.
Once you allow yourself to be vulnerable and to open your heart, mind, soul and body to the wonders of nature, it will change you forever. A connection to nature, something that man once valued, needs to be reclaimed. Once we accept that we are part of nature, we will be able to appreciate and protect it to the best of our ability. It we become a part of us, woven into our lives forever.
I urge you to get up, get out into the green. Leave your Netflix binges and Tinder swipes behind you. There is no Wi-Fi, but I promise the connection you will find will be better.
