Nature Moments- In Solitude
Truly the most profound way I have discovered to reconnect and ground- through silence and solitude in nature. Simply observing. Being awe struck by her beauty. The ego is gone when you acknowledge that nature exists without you. You are gifted that moment. You notice the minutia and understand that nothing is really minute. Everything has its place. The interactions that play out between animal, plant and element are due to a long and winding road of coexistence. We are but a glance in their presence. They continue with or without us. Feel that. Be humbled. Embrace it. It is powerful and beautiful. It will reciprocate if you offer it only love.
I’ll post about nature moments often as I continue to explore the wider benefits of nature connection and eco psychology. For now, I’ll start off with this story of a most treasured nature moment.
Looking out of my quarantine hotel room.
It is the one that REintroduced me- REminded me- that nature is there to catch you and guide you and love you and forgive you. I knew that as a child, but it retreated to the recesses of my mind somewhere along the way. It took an important journey to bring it to my consciousness again.
It was July 2020 and I had returned to Australia via an odd and awakening path of Covid and quarantine. I’d gone to see my nan. To give her a hug before I could never hug her again. She was thankfully alive for the duration of my visit, but I had to leave Australia and come back to the UK with the knowledge that I would never see her again. If you’ve never had to go through that process before, it’s a tough one. I thought I’d be ok. Everyone told me I’d seen her for the important part and that may be so. But still, saying goodbye to an alive human, one that I cherished, had a big impact on my soul.
On the last day, before I said goodbye to nan and left for the airport, I visited my home town. I call it my home town even though I haven’t lived there since I was 14. But every element of the little town and the forest it dwells within sits in my bones. It is like I was born of the forest there. And so, I visit whenever I can.
I drove by myself to where the forest meets the river. A popular spot for recreational activities, but this was mid-winter and early. When I arrived, all alone, the fog was heavy over the water. I found my space on a rock near the waterfall and I cried. I let it all go. My tears matched the falls and indeed spilled from my face into the cold water below. I knew though, this was exactly where I was meant to be in order to release. I knew that the forest and the river were holding me. Were nurturing me. They knew my grief and told me I would be ok. I washed my hands, my feet, my face in the icy water. I asked the trees if I would return again (as the world was in such an unknown space) and they resoundingly said yes. I belong there and so I will always return.
As I had these connections and my tears eased, the fog lifted and the cockatoos flew by. It was magical and mystical and all along, the only human eyes to witness that moment in time and space were mine. I’m not naive or self centred enough to think it was for me at all- I was merely an onlooker. Nature weaves her most captivating spells when we simply sit back and take her in.
If you can carve out a moment in time to sit alone in nature and allow her to hold you, you just might find that she is what you are missing.
If you have an important moment that happened to you alone in nature, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
