I’m always talking about the benefits of nature.
Of course, I’m not unique in this… there’s so much research that shows being in nature has a positive impact on our health — physically, mentally, and emotionally.
But after recent events, it got me thinking.
Ironically, this beautiful, gentle thing called nature with all its healing abilities, can also wreak havoc.
Think acts of nature… and natural disasters.
From major thunderstorms, to floods, bushfires and cyclones.
They can have a devastating impact on people’s lives, and for many people it results in increased anxiety.
I remember after The Gap storm in 2008 – how stressed I felt every time a thunderstorm was forecast.
Which, in summer here, can be on an almost daily basis.
I still scream if there’s a really loud thunderclap.
Just after ex-tropical cyclone Alfred hit our region, my cousin messaged to say how it was bringing back memories of 2011, when their home flooded.
We are told repeatedly things will only get worse in the future.
Hotter, colder. Wetter, dryer.
So how do we equate this beneficial nature with this disastrous one?
My thought is it’s all about balance… and respect.
In his statement on climate change, mindfulness teacher Thich Nhat Hanh said we’ve become disconnected from nature and the planet.
We work too hard, our lives are too busy, and we are restless and distracted, losing ourselves in consumption… But if we continue on our current course, there’s no doubt that our civilisation will be destroyed sooner than we think.
Instead, he said, we need to find our interconnectedness…
We need to realise that the Earth is not just our environment. The Earth is not something outside of us… Look around you – what you see is not your environment, it is you.
To look after ourselves and our future, we need to look after the planet, the environment… nature.
The concept is both beautiful and devastating at the same time.
Just like nature.
I did a course about a year ago -‘Meditation for connecting with nature’ – which introduced this notion of reciprocity.
The idea that not only does the Earth sustain us (plants provide oxygen so we can breathe etc), but we have the capacity and responsibility to sustain her in return.
Mutual nourishing if you like.
We were asked to reflect on this idea of being one with nature.
I wrote: I love the sense of being one with nature – I am nature, I am the Earth – the interconnectedness. I am in awe of nature and yet I am nature, does that mean I am awesome?😉 (Yes, I really wrote that!)
In nature everything is awesome (good or bad)… and we all have the potential to be too.
Ann 🙏