Just *be* in nature. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
| A number of you have asked me over the years how to connect with nature when you’re not necessarily into backpacking or getting dirty, or maybe you’re stuck inside a big city without easy access to large tracts of natural land. When I say “getting out and connecting with nature,” I don’t mean you have to drive a day out to a national forest for dispersed camping without toilets or potable water. It doesn’t mean having to get your knees dirty or get bitten by bugs. Those are all valid ways to do it, but they’re not the only way. For most of our existence, humans have been controlling nature in the battle to survive. Getting enough animal protein has always been, in part, a battle to exert dominion over nature. And in doing so, we gained benefits from it. But it’s ultimately about comfort, about shaping our surroundings to better suit us. So being comfortable in nature, whether that’s glamping or sitting in a manicured city park with birds and wildlife around, is a valid way to connect with it. Think about what North America looked like in the pre-Columbian era. The popular conception is of an untamed, wild landscape with vast forests and Indigenous Americans traveling through it, leaving no trace. But the reality is that they were incredible shapers of the land. Rather than being ancient incarnations of Greenpeace, Native Americans across both continents created large agricultural zones, thinned forests, and used fire to change the landscape on massive scales. The modern obsession with wild, untouched nature is just that: modern. As soon as we were smart enough to use fire and craft cutting tools, we started altering the world around us to make it more comfortable and more suitable for human flourishing. It’s quite likely that the ancestral way to appreciate green space looked more like a tended garden than an overgrown pine forest. In fact, much of the modern research into the effects of green space on human health deals with city parks. Spending a day in Central Park or Golden Gate Park is therefore a completely legitimate way to connect with nature. Gardening is another option. So is joining an outdoor sports league, like beach volleyball. The key, I think, is being outside. Touching the raw ground, preferably with bare feet or your hands. Being around growing things like trees or flowers. Moving your body in some way. And last but not least, entering a kind of flow state. A low-level presence where you’re not thinking about the email you have to answer or the meeting tomorrow, and you’re not feeling compelled to scroll your phone. It’s an almost thoughtless presence of mind. If you can hit all those marks, congratulations. You’re getting the benefit of nature. How do you get your regular doses of nature? Let me know on Instagram or Facebook. |
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Mark's Daily Apple 1101 Maulhardt Ave. Oxnard, CA 93033 |
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