Connecting with Nature - An Essential Element of Your Well-being

When I visit New York City's Central Park, I am always amused and heartened by the seeming unconscious human need to connect with Mother Nature. In the very heart of Manhattan's urban civilization, the park draws in thousands of people every day. I, myself, live in a magnificent rural setting, constantly surrounded by nature's presence - both glorious and challenging. I smile inwardly, listening to the vast variety of languages spoken around me in the park. I watch worldwide visitors to this great metropolis seeking sanctuary in this patch of domesticated wilderness. Humans need to connect with nature, even if just a bit of it. Research now supports what our instincts 'know': contact with the natural world is important to our health.

Though most of us value nature, few of us actually enjoy a deep connection with it. This is unfortunate as it is through this connection that we both receive and release. We receive a limitless source of energy and inspiration and we release worry, stress, and strain. In fact playing outside, in any form, is a well-known kind of 'therapy' to find balance and to rejuvenate. The "Great Mother" soothes the spirit, sharpens the senses, and focuses your thinking.

When you consciously create environments for yourself that support and inspire, you become extremely productive yet relaxed, and more successful achieving goals. The natural world you inhabit (or visit) is one of the many 'environments' of you. All of our environments deeply affect our well-being. These include your home, your family and friends, your intellectual life and the internal world of your thoughts and feelings. The natural environment helps us recognize our oneness with the life process. Taking us beyond our limited and linear view of life, nature celebrates growth and perpetual renewal.

This celebratory quality is at once inspiring and energizing. Spending time in nature, especially when exercising in some way, makes the body feel awake and alive. Physical rejuvenation and centering leads directly to mental centering and increased clarity. Nature supports the mind-body connection.

Part of mental centering is the meditative state of coming deeply into the present moment. After spending time in nature, the actual moment, the present, re-establishes itself, like a clear, melodic chime being struck. The future and the past stop crowding you. This is deeply relaxing and allows stress to effortlessly dissipate.

There are countless ways to connect and recharge with Mother Nature. Hiking and canoeing are two classics. Their quiet rhythmic qualities are especially soothing. They require a sharpening of the senses and the sensibilities. You learn to better use your ears, eyes, sense of smell and balance. In it's own sense, we become more alive when we become more mindful and present. Even the simplest ties to the natural world can boost your health. Observe an aquarium, look at landscape photography, or visit a garden. Connect with nature, connect more deeply with yourself, and create energy and harmony.

"When you know nature as part of yourself,
You will act in harmony.
When you feel yourself a part of nature,
You will live in harmony."
Tao Te Ching (Tao 13)