“I work like a gardener,” the great painter Joan Miró. Virginia Woolf had an electrifying epiphany on what is an artist while tending to the flower beds. Being playful in nature is nothing less than a triumph of resistance against the merciless race of modern life, so compulsively focused on productivity at the cost of creativity, fluidity & sanity. A great naturalist John Muir said, “when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. Return to what’s the most natural & child-like in us”.
There’s something deeply human in listening to the rustle of newly leaved trees, in watching the bumble-bees romance the blossoms, in kneeling on carpets of soil, in gently moving a startled earth-worm out of the way! It’s the simplicity of nature – fresh air, lush green fields, light of the sun & the stars that rejuvenate & inspire.
I find nature essential to peace, joy, balance, resilience & creativity. Love wandering in the gardens, by a timeless stream or climbing a mountain. Nourished, re-invigorated, engaged in the mind, refreshed in the body & revived in the spirit. Nature exerts an unmatched warmth, compassion & strength. Powerful, profoundly restorative & healing powers. Nature calls to something deep, something real within us.
The role that nature plays in our health is even more critical when working long days in the office or living in a crowded neighbourhood with low access to green spaces. Often, I find myself walking softly on the rich undergrowth beneath the trees, not wanting to crack a twig, to crush or disturb anything. Instills such a sense of stillness that with one wrong sort of movement, even my very presence is felt like an intrusion! Sometimes, it’s worth detaching from our timescales or expectations to build an innocent, natural intimacy with our earth.
