Why is the nature connection important?

Six months before writing this I met a lady who is a Professor at one of Minnesota's fine universities. She teaches English.  She is also certified as a Master Naturalist in the state of Illinois. At the time she was very excited about a new nature writing course she had designed. A key part of her envisioned course involved sending students to nature venues to observe and write. I felt envious of her students. I would have loved such a course in my student days, especially with classes  taught by someone with worldly experience in the topic.

Recently I met her again and asked "How did the nature writing course go?" I expected to be regaled by wonderful stories of student achievement.

"It was something of a disaster", she replied. That really got my attention.
"What happened?"
"The students were afraid to go out into nature".

That is really sad. And brings up one of the reasons for this blog. I want to do whatever I can to encourage parents and their children to make connections with nature. And the earlier in life, the better. By the time we've grown up it may to be too late to easily tap into the nature connections that have pleasured and strengthened  humans from the beginning of civilization. If we deprive our children of those connections we are doing them a great disservice.

We seem to live in an age when almost everyone in the USA (I don't have recent experience of other countries) is preoccupied with "must do" activities. The "must do", I suspect is often self-imposed to satisfy some sense of "keeping up" with everyone else.

Book shelves, magazines and websites dispense endless information telling us how to relax and be healthy. Urgings to exercise and follow a certain diet are typically part of the mix. I don't recall so much frenetic advertising and unsolicited advice hammering on my skull a few decades ago. Yet all these supposedly helpful torrents of information and advice, if we take them to heart, add one more smothering layer to our busyness.

When I open my email I am barraged by forwarded messages that refer to "the good old days". They refer to the long ago when people felt less stressed. It's true that past eras always seem better looked at in retrospect. I believe most of us have a perception that life was in some general way better when we were children, no matter when that was. The reason may simply be that we were children and we lived the lives of children, more taken up in just being and less occupied with distracting concerns.

Amidst all our driving, texting, chattering and other doings we don't often escape from busyness to regenerate, to recharge the batteries of our mental and physical selves. Such "recharging" is really a time when we integrate the pieces of our lives at the level of feeling rather than thinking. Unfortunately it is the connection with our feeling level that busyness tends to overwhelm.

I recently heard an author say that our modern high-speed multitasking life is measured by clock time. Our busyness separates us from the more important personal time that she refers to as "moments". Moments are intervals when we focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else. Meditation is one way of preparing ourselves to achieve more moments. Selling meditation seems to be a good business these days, so there must be a perceived need for periods of peaceful withdrawal from the busy, noisy world that resides between our ears most of the time.

Experiences in nature can give us wonder-filled moments if we're prepared to accept them. These provide some of the same benefits derived from meditation. And they often include an educational component as a bonus. And they can usually be accessed very  inexpensively.

An experience in nature can lift us out of the world of busyness into a state of relaxation and self awareness. That's important for our personal health, the health of our cosmic home - planet earth,  and for our sense of well-being and enjoyment of life

So in a nutshell that's the value of connecting with nature, of which we are a part. Whole books have been written on the topic, but I think we've got the essentials here. In the next couple of posts we'll consider the "how" and "when" of connecting.