”Take your busy heart to the art museum and the chamber of commerce but take it also to the forest.” --Mary Oliver
Walking in the mountains of Colorado, our guide suggested we take a moment to smell the sap from the Ponderosa Pine because of its health-related properties. It brought a tingle to my nasal passages, and I immediately felt a sense of being alive (not as corny as it might sound).
Of course, the temperature was around 30 degrees; the sun was shining, and there was fresh snow on the ground. While the scent was worth the trip, we don’t have to go to the Ponderosa Pines to find that vibrance. As Mary Oliver made clear, there’s nothing wrong with going to art museums or the chamber of commerce but get yourself into nature (the forest). Your heart and lungs and mind will thank you.
“Want to go for a walk?” I ask my husband, hoping we can get some fresh air on the greenway. Once he agrees, I find myself on the trail, marveling at the colorful leaves on the trees or on the ground, the tender ferns growing out of the velvety moss on a limb, or the way the sun dances through the grove of tall trees, and I speak. “Don’t you feel so much better being out here?”
He nods in agreement, a wise choice to avoid my having to help him see how good it is, but I typically start in recounting all the ways it benefits us and makes a person feel so much better — from inside our heads (mental health) to inside our hearts, lungs, and legs.
December is not an easy month for everyone, maybe for anyone. You might feel overwhelmed by the schedule of events (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa), you might feel overstimulated by all the scheduled gatherings on your calendar or the crowds of people in the stores.
The pressure to get just the right gift, if your holiday involves gift-giving, might be rattling your cage. On the other hand, you might be sad or lonely because you don’t have family around, have lost a loved one recently, or have not so great memories associated with the holidays. For you, the holidays are never over soon enough.
No matter where you find yourself, drowning in December is not an uncommon feeling. Dealing with it out in nature can be very beneficial.
“Out in nature” might not sound very appealing if you have been experiencing the immense amount of rain we have had where I live recently. But this is when we need to shift our thinking from the obvious, working in the yard or walking on the greenway, to the more doable.
If going to a conservatory isn’t an option, there are some things you could do in a car or at home. You can do what I often do when it’s not a walk around outside kind of day and sit in your car in the parking lot of a wilderness area (I sit with a camera) and watch for wildlife. (Don’t leave your car running, though, please.) Research says we really do reap the benefits of merely looking at nature. You could also try your hand at indoor gardening.
When I was a kid, I remember putting together a terrarium. In fact, as I was researching for this article, I decided a terrarium is in my future. A glass container with a lid (most of us have one of those sitting around the house, if even just a small jar), some little pebbles for drainage and charcoal to keep things clean, a little potting soil, and a few little plants like a fern, some moss, and some slow-growing plants would be just right.
Think of this as a great rainy-day project for kids, too, and they might want to add a pretty shell or rock or maybe a favorite toy figure they don’t mind having in the dirt to round out the scene. There is great information on the internet to help you choose the plants you’d like to use. I’m pretty sure a terrarium would be a great way to connect with nature, stay out of the rain, and maybe even entertain some children.
I do have several friends who swear they could kill a fake plant, but I still think bringing nature indoors is a big help and worth the risk. Just like the plants outside help the environment, indoor plants can help the air quality in our homes by removing harmful pollutants and releasing oxygen. Not only will we breathe more easily, you and I might notice a shift in our mood and cognitive functions.
I’m wishing I had kept more plants around when my kids were teenagers. But maybe as much as anything else, bringing nature indoors by caring for plants can give us a real sense of accomplishment, if they show signs of survival. Even though we went through a few orchids and pots to get it right, we now have new leaves and roots in our little grocery pick-me-ups that normally would have landed outside.
When I began writing this,
• I was trying to convey how important being “in nature” in one way or another could help us during this hard time of year.
• I wanted to be sure you and I recognize that not everyone is doing great with the hustle and bustle of the season or the emptiness they experience, or maybe even bad memories from another time in their life.
As I’ve continued researching and writing, I’ve realized I really want us to know that people are struggling at all times of year, not just in December. I want all of us to know that nature is a balm for the soul that is free of charge and scientifically proven to help bring calm and peace into a person’s life.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanzaa (and anything else I’ve overlooked). May you close your eyes and soak up the smells of the pines wherever you may be, and always remember to take yourself to the forest for every time you take yourself some place else.
Susan Black Steen is a writer and photographer, a native Tennessean and a graduate of Austin Peay State University. With a firm belief that words matter, she writes and speaks to bring joy, comfort and understanding into each life. Always, she writes from her heart in hopes of speaking to the hearts of others. She can be reached at stories@susanbsteen.com.