It’s free, its good for you, and it’s everywhere. Take time out each day to immerse yourself in the natural world and revive your mind, body and spirit.
Abraham Hicks often recommends that if you’re not feeling great, one of the best ways to reset your mood is to take a nap. Even if you remember the same issue when you wake up, the sleep definitely takes the edge off it. Walking in nature from my experience has the same power to reset my mood dramatically. I just returned from a 1.5-hour walk. The walk was up and down a hill covered in native New Zealand forest, full of ferns, beech, even the mighty Totora.
I counted 8 species of native bird, includingbaby Weka, which look like a slim flightless kiwi bird but with really comical long legs and huge feet, who came right up to my legs to see what I was. I saw golden beaches and rich blue oceans from the hilltops and then walked on pathways through swamps filled with flax and reeds and all kinds of tall grasses. Then through green grassy meadows, and onto a path lined with 160 year old London Plane trees towering in the air and finally finished at the beach, where a strong wind was creating large waves, as the sun was setting. Bliss.
I wish all doctors, therapists, psychologists, counselors, would prescribe an hour a day walking in nature. It is one of the fastest ways I know to reconnect with the inner self, to slow down, be in the moment, to return to the childlike wonder of the world around you.
Nature is always in a state of non-resistance. It is in the flow. Water always finds the easiest way to reach the sea. Birds use their inner navigational equipment. It’s a huge living beautiful symphony of perfection. And we are part of it. We are beautiful complex creatures, our bodies, our brains, our spirits, are breathtakingly wondrous. And we are part of a bigger picture that is unfolding exactly as it is meant to.
There is every reason to feel wonderful and no reason not to. It’s only our minds, which creates problems, which is good news. Because the mind is really something we can work with. It is obedient. We just need to guide it to focus on things that feel good.
And well, in nature, it’s an easy job. I don’t know if it the endorphins from the exercise, the fresh air, the quiet, or the beauty of the colours. It’s probably a 1001 things, but somehow nature always creates a natural high in me. It changes my mood, diminishes worries, and makes me feel strong and grateful to be alive.
Even if you can’t escape to the countryside. In most cities, you will find rivers, or parks; maybe you are lucky enough to have beaches too. Make it a habit to seek out new natural places to walk. Probably there are pathways and walks close to your home, which you haven’t even discovered yet. I know in my hometown in New Zealand there are 100’s of walkways, parks, riversides, beaches, which I’ve yet to discover.
You can also stick to a few places and learn to appreciate the changes of the seasons or growth in that place. I once spent a summer living near an estuary, and would go there once a day, at different times, and it was never the same. According to the tides, the weather and the sun’s position, it was a different world each time I went.
There are hundreds of ways to feel good, but please don’t forget that sometimes basic is best. It’s free, its good for you, and it’s everywhere. Take an hour or even fifteen minutes if that’s really all you can spare, out your day, and immerse yourself in the natural world. You will never feel it is time wasted, and will more likely feel energized, balanced and healed by it.
