Dear friends,
Here’s a question for a sunny Sunday evening – why “Mindfulness of Nature”?
Why am I so passionate about inspiring us to bring our awareness back to nature? Why is it so important for us to (re) connect with the natural world within ourselves and around us?
When put on the spot, I often find it challenging to put the answer into words because the number of reasons seems infinite to me – and sometimes even the most accurate words that come to mind can feel like they fall short of the truth.
As you may be aware, there are increasing numbers of scientific studies investigating why nature connection is so important and the ongoing research in this area is invaluable and fascinating. It’s immensely inspiring to witness scientists from a range of disciplines – biology, physics, social sciences, psychology, medicine, economics – gradually converging in revealing the same undeniable fact: all life is interconnected and whether we choose to accept it or not, when we don’t live in harmony with this reality, we destroy life, our own included.
Being alive at a time where this conscious global shift from disconnection to (re) connection desperately needs to take place is both terrifying and incredibly exciting. And the good news is, a shift is beginning to happen!
However, I feel we need to go beyond science and ‘reasons’ to answer the question “Why Mindfulness of Nature?”. The real answer is found right here, right now, in our own humble, felt experiences of life. I’d go even further and say that we already know the answer, all of us. However, we’ve been conditioned to forget it.
The answer lies in our moments of (re) connection with nature within ourselves and around us. It’s different for each one of us because we all have unique experiences of life – but simultaneously it unites us all – beyond belief, culture, politics and religion. We’re all innately Nature. We’re all alive, part of this shared, interconnected, human experience.
This is why I created “Mindfulness of Nature”. My books, blogs, workshops and holiday retreats, are an open invitation to directly experience our own perspective on “Why Mindfulness of Nature?”.
Bringing people together in workshops, walks, meditations, games and discussions to share in our common human aliveness is what I love doing. In a world of increasing disconnection, it feels vital, now more than ever.
Although I said words can sometimes fall short, I came across this extract from Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle which sums it up very well for me…
“We depend on nature not only for our physical survival. We also need nature to show us the way home, the way out of the prison of our own minds. We got lost in doing, thinking, remembering, anticipating – lost in a maze of complexity and a world of problems.
We have forgotten what rocks, plants, and animals still know. We have forgotten how to be – to be still, to be ourselves, to be where life is: Here and Now.
Whenever you bring your attention to anything natural, anything that has come into existence without human intervention, you step out of the prison of conceptualized thinking and, to some extent, participate in the state of connectedness with Being in which everything natural still exists.
To bring your attention to a stone, a tree, or an animal does not mean to think about it, but simply to perceive it, to hold it in your awareness.
Something of its essence then transmits itself to you. You can sense how still it is, and in doing so the same stillness arises within you. You sense how deeply it rests in Being – completely at one with what it is and where it is. In realizing this, you too come to a place of rest deep within yourself.”
Why not join one of my upcoming workshops or holiday retreats to explore your own answers to the question “Why Mindfulness of Nature”?
Alternatively, I would love to read your experiences in the comments below!
Claire x
Good piece of writing Claire.
Thank you! A message that I hope resonates with you? 😉
Some very stirring points Claire. The fact that there are so many words can be spoken about the vitalness of (re)connecting with nature suggests that we can all find something to say, to experience, to share. Every one will be no less worthy. I don’t think nature knows borders other than those those evolution has not yet crossed. To tell ourselves that we are separate is to cast ourselves out into a desert.
Thank you Anthony. I completely agree and really glad to hear that it resonates with you too!