There is a part of me that remembers the wisdom of the land and yearns to be connected to nature. When I lived in Singapore I became starved of this earthy truth. Several years of weekly country hopping across Asia, where airport lounges became my second soulless home, I eventually became sick, denied it, and got spectacularly sick.
The Japanese symbols for being extremely busy are ‘heart’ and ‘killer’.
In an artificial environment my heart had been deprived of nature. Being beyond busy left me disconnected from my self, and the world around me, I desperately needed to dig my hands deep into the earth.
When I finally surrendered and took one more flight, I returned to a farm in Cornwall that had been a sanctuary for me in the past; back to a land that was as raw as I was. A land where trees stood vulnerable in their nakedness, where plains flooded and rivers swelled from the sky’s tears, a land where powerful stags roamed and swallows took their flight.
As time healed, I chose a slower, more conscious pace of life. It’s not always easy, there’s so much to tantalise and tease me back to busyness, and then I remember, if I fail to Pause, then life will do it for me.
Sometimes, when people I coach are feeling stressed, anxious or overwhelmed I speak about giving it all back to nature. But what does that really mean, and how do you do it?
Here are some simple ways to reconnect to yourself and allow nature to absorb the feelings from your body:
- Sink into the earth: either lay down on the grass or walk barefoot in the morning dew.
- Let the water soothe you: sit by a river without your smartphone or swim in the ocean.
- Lose yourself amongst the stars: take a blanket and star gaze into the night.
- Rest with a tree: plant yourself at the base of a tree and let the trunk support you, feel the depth of the roots beneath you.
- Savour a sunset: slow down, stop what you are doing and watch the beauty of the sky changing colour.
- Sit by a fire: as night falls watch the flames dance into the night sky.
Connect to nature and come home to yourself…
