Nature Heals: On Being OK in a not OK World

Sometimes the world feels so devastating, destructive and overwhelming that it's hard to know which way to turn. Don't get me wrong... I appreciate "staying informed" as much as the next person, but there are limits.

The lake isn't really a lake, but an estuary that ended up cut off from the sea when our port was expanded.

It's also really easy to get caught up in the shitshow that is the media, whether it's online news or the TV or even newspapers (if you still read those). No matter where you turn, there seems to always be somebody else standing by, ready to spread another layer of fear across our existence.

Today, I felt myself getting a little bit trapped in the media quagmire, particularly as more and more reports started coming in from the Middle East. I paused and had to ask myself "well, what can I really DO with all this information?"

Feeling somewhat discouraged by it all, I decided to take a few hours to just unplug from that world, and went for a long walk in a local State Park.

A Happy Duck

We have a lot of green space in our small town, including — or so I'm told — the most visited state park in Washington; 503 acres of public space, practically in town.

Not that you need to go very far to find green space, around these parts!

A couple of hours of watching nature's process of changing seasons, looking at the migratory birds around the park and on the local pond, taking pictures of clouds and turning leaves, and studying slowly wrinkling and drying rose hips was exactly what I needed.

Them Canada gooses are majestic!

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a fabulous thing that we can be as connected to everything as we are, but sometimes I also believe it gets to be a little bit too much to be exposed to so many different inputs that the best thing we can actually do for ourselves is not try to run faster, in order to keep up, but actually to unplug from the whole thing.

I have long held to the idea that "Nature is my Church" and I continue to stand by that.

Part of what really works for me is consciously slowing down and really looking at what is in front of my face. I feel that a lot of people treat nature as yet another "scheduled activity," and they end up missing a lot.

Consider this wild rosehip. Had I not stopped to REALLY look, I would not have noticed the minute spider silk...

After a couple of hours out there, I did feel a lot better and returned back to my circus, recognizing that there are was to be OK in a world that's not so OK.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week ahead!

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Created at 2023-10-09 00:25 PDT
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