Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Learning: Nature does comfort


We had a hailstorm today. On the first day of spring, a battering of ice balls fell from the clouds, rain poured and thunder rumbled.
Afterwards, when I left work this evening, the air felt so comfortably cool. And it felt clean.
When I got home, before I went inside, movement high in one of our oak trees caught my attention. It was a squirrel.
A lot of squirrels hang out in our yard. I see a fluff of gray just about every day.


See the squirrel?


But this evening, this squirrel, high up in the tree, kept my attention. I don’t know how the small limb, a mere twig from my viewpoint, held the squirrel’s weight. But it did as he or she walked back and forth.
I still had my head back enjoying the play when my husband opened the door to greet me.

Periwinkle around rocks

After going inside and saying hello to my husband and cats, I grabbed my camera back up and went outside. I had to capture some of the beauty of this spring evening, our first spring evening this year.
Being among animals, trees, flowers—nature—calms me. I love the beauty I see. I love knowing that all this life goes on, even while I’m gritting my way through a long day at work.
Today was layout day. We went to press tonight, so all day I sat at the computer and created pages. I drew text boxes, formatted copy, input photos, wrote cutlines, made the stories fit.
My shoulders are telling me that I used poor posture most of the day. My jaw is tight, my stomach a bit unruly.
But I feel good, too, because of my little walk in nature, my little adventure.
That nature can calm and comfort is not my discovery, not a new idea. But I need to be reminded sometimes that there’s more to life than the four walls around me, my thoughts, my worries, my concerns, much more to life than I can even imagine.
It’s not that I had such a terrible day. Life is very good in many ways right now. But the darkness of depression and the anxiety of obsessive-compulsive disorder are there, in different degrees on different days. And I’m old enough to know that sorrows happen to everyone.
We all need comfort sometimes, different kinds and for different reasons. And nature is a form of comfort.
I have so much to learn about what is in nature. I grew up on a farm. I’m a country girl by birth. But I don’t know the names of all the trees around me, the birds, the flowers. I can enjoy nature without knowing such things, but I want to learn.
I love to read about nature. One of my favorite collection of essays is called “Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature,” by Kathleen Dean Moore.
I turned to her writings last fall, when I was mourning losing my Waddles, when I couldn’t sleep because of the pain.
Moore, too, finds comfort in nature, as her title states. I highlighted the following passage from the introduction to her essays:

“I don’t know what despair is, if it’s something or nothing, a kind of filling up or an emptying out. I don’t know what sorrow does to the world, what it adds or takes away. What I think I do know now is that sorrow is part of Earth’s great cycles, flowing into the night like cool air sinking down a river course. To feel sorrow is to float on the pulse of the Earth, the surge from living to dying, from coming into being to ceasing to exist. Maybe this is why the Earth has the power over time to wash sorrow into a deeper pool, cold and shadowed. And maybe this is why, even though sorrow never disappears, it can make a deeper connection to the currents of life and so connect, somehow, to sources of wonder and solace. I don’t know.” (“Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature.” By Kathleen Dean Moore. Page 10-11, e-edition.)

I am not a hot weather person. Spring in Virginia seems to so quickly lead into the hot, humid days of summer.
But I welcome the blooms, the green, the robins. I welcome this part of nature.
Do you find comfort in nature? What part of nature? How does it comfort you?

28 comments:

  1. I was never much of a nature "person" until the last few years. I do find it comforting. There's a certain peace that comes over me when the sun is shining and I'm surrounded by beauty. I find that it helps me to feel closer to God because I'm in the middle of all of His handiwork.

    I particularly like color: flowers, birds, butterflies. Saw lots of those in Florida and it literally made my soul sing.

    It's funny, I'm not usually a hot weather person either. Hence the 71 in the title! I found that I actually somewhat enjoyed the heat when I was in Florida. I may have to change my title ha ha.

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    1. Oh, no, Sunny, not higher than 71! LOL

      I love the colors of nature too, especially the blues, purples and pinks. I love yellow forsythia too, especially when the shrub isn't "groomed" but just looks wild!

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  2. Nice post. I spend a lot of time in nature and feel like something is missing when I don't.

    We are in the midst of a cross-country move, in large part because we love the nature of Washington State -- the mild climate, the hiking, the trees, the hills. I'm having a great time planning my garden, including getting ideas for additional landscaping to bring in more birds, bees, and butterflies. Happy spring!

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    1. Nadine, that sounds like so much fun, figuring out what to plant in your new garden in a new part of the country. I hope the settling in process becomes easier soon!

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    2. Oooh, Washington State IS beautiful! If you get a chance, a visit to the Columbia River Gorge on the south border of the state is well worth the trip. I'm jealous of you Nadine!

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  3. I do love nature. It seems to calm and clarify things. I'm not surrounded by it where I live, but I try to take any moment I can, even in my little backyard, to observe it. And it always, always leaves me feeling happy.

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    1. Even little backyards can contain all kinds of little worlds to explore, can't they!

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  4. Your love of nature just shines through on your post, Tina. I feel the same way, and though I am usually aware of the natural beauty all around me, I know the names of very few trees, plants, etc, and that really bothers me (though apparently not enough for me to learn them :)). Your post reminds me of the "No Child Left Inside" movement which promotes the importance of children "getting to know nature," especially in these days where electronic devices rule our lives. Great pictures also!

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    1. Thank you, Janet! I haven't done much to learn the names either. I do have a few field guides, but I seem to have a problem matching the photo with the right leaf, etc. :-( My husband knows more than I do, so I'll just hang out with him!

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  5. This post is so beautiful, Tina! I'm glad you can find comfort in the beauty of the grass and trees and wind. If you like to read poetry, you should look at William Wordsworth's poems. He's written a lot about nature, and it's very beautiful: http://www.poetseers.org/the_romantics/william_wordsworth/library/

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    1. Thank you, Sarah! I love poetry, and I love William Wordsworth. It's been years since I've pulled out his work. Thank you for the link! It's a good time to go back and read.

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  6. WOW! My status update on FB today was a challenge to my friends to find one beautiful thing today, to enjoy it, and to share it. Then I went outside, took pictures of some of the beautiful flowers in our yard, and posted them for all to see.

    The beauty in nature, in architecture, in music, it all helps me see that no matter how many bad things there are, there are still just as many good things, beautiful things. This reminds me that the depression, the anxiety, it will all pass, just like the cycles of the earth. The things we sometimes see as negative are actually wonderful things that help replenish the earth and it's beauty (rain, winter, even death and decay). It always helps me put things into perspective. So does staring up at a starry sky and realizing that I'm just a small blip, on a small planet, in a small solar system, in a small galaxy, in a vast universe, so really, how big are my problems??? It really does bring about a whole different perspective.

    BTW, I LOVE that quote (and the beautiful picture of the redbud tree at the beginning of your post). I LOVE redbuds!

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    1. Kat, I agree--the cycles of nature remind me that there's so much more going on than I know about. Things move in full circle. I love to look up at a starry sky. I become so overwhelmed by the hugeness (is that a word) of it that I almost get dizzy!

      I love red buds too. The branches seem to "float" amongst the other trees.

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    2. They do seem to float! That is a great way of putting it! : )

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  7. Love, Love, love your pics!

    One of the things that was very hard for me about contamination ocd was that i couldn't garden anymore (you know dirt = dirty , leaf MOLD, :), or very much. We have a house set on the side of a forested hill and one of the reasons i agreed/ wanted to move here was the feeling of being at a campground just driving here. Fortunately, someone before me was a gardener here, so there are already lots of perrenials here for me to see. I really miss early spring-time flowers tho, so will have to plant some of those where the deer won't get them. This summer is garden year. I hope that my ocd will be able to stand it because i'm not giving in on this!

    I, too, love red buds- have always wanted a red-budding tree on my property but never did it. I'm better at flower names than tree names (except for a few standard trees) because for years i used to read gardening magazines from the library dreaming of what i could do when i finally had money to spare for lots of plants.

    That was the best thing about living in the suburbs- being able to see everyone's flower gardens. I didn't realize that in the woods here, i'd only be seeing the ditches and some grass/ wildflowers on walks.

    Of course, now that anxiety has lessened, maybe i'll see stuff i never noticed before.

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  8. Karin, I'm so glad you're planning to garden this year! I hope you will discover some new things with the lessened anxiety. Anxiety takes up so much of our attention and time, doesn't it?

    I don't know if we will plant anything this year or not. We have a lot of deer, and they love coming to the Barbour Buffet and pigging out. One year, out of about a dozen tomato plants, we got about 3 tomatoes. And that was with a fence around them!

    Oh, well, the deer were here first. And they are so beautiful. I can't begrudge them. I love to see them.

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  9. Tina, I love nature and need time in it daily. I haven't been able to be out in it lately due to allergies so the way I get my nature time is by looking at beautiful pictures that I have on a pinboard on pinterest called "Natural Beauty." Most of the year, I can get out and enjoy nature but right now, it makes me too sick so I have to come up with a creative solution :-) Oh, I also stare out my window at work and look at all the beautiful trees and flowers blooming since I can go stand out there with them right now :-) The night sky also soothes and calms me.

    I love your blog! You always uplift me!

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    1. Elizabeth, Thank you, dear! :-) Allergies get to me, too, but mine are worse in the fall. I wish I had a window in my office. Well, I do have a window, but it looks out on the main office, not outside. I love the night sky, too, and love the coolness of a spring evening.

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  10. Virginia does get so humid so quickly. I would prefer spring not go too fast - I like the days that are in the upper 60s and we never seem to get enough of them.

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    1. I know. Spring is too early for the 80s, at least for me. And humidity just drains me.

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  11. "We all need comfort sometimes, different kinds and for different reasons."
    I used to find comfort in reading, listening to music or chatting with my online friend, Nothing seem to be working for me this week.

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  12. Nikky, Thank you so much for visiting my blog and commenting. I very much appreciate it.

    I'm sorry things are especially difficult for you this week. I, too, sometimes find that all my little "tools" don't make a dent in my anxiety and depression. I try to have hope that I will start to feel better as I make my way through the days and try to find time for the things that comfort me.

    I really enjoyed your blog, and I hope others will check it out too.

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  13. Oh yes, I have been saved in nature more than once. Loved this post, and felt it especially after my walk here in Ft. Greene park here in Brooklyn this morning. I used to love springtime as a college professor. Here's an old blog post about the joys of language in Springtime.http://www.shirleyshowalter.com/2009/04/22/holding-class-outdoors-a-springtime-mini-memoir/

    Thanks for reminding me of an old love. Think you will enjoy the Wordsworth poem if you haven't found it before.

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  14. Shirley, Thank you for your comment! I enjoyed your post--how wonderful to lead your students out of the classroom with a Wordsworth poem! I don't remember that poem, but I enjoyed it. I recently read "I wandered lonely as a cloud" for the first time in a long time, and it touches me in a different way now than when I was in college many years ago. I better appreciate his view of nature.

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  15. I love your pics! And I love being outside, too .. although most days are still too cold for me and the littles and by the time Husband gets home, I'm beat. BUT. Once it warms up, I am OUTSIDE. :D

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    1. Hey, OAG! I hope you are feeling well. We are already warm every day here. I bet it will feel good for you to be out in the sunshine once it warms up. Thank you for your comment!

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  16. Nature is my church ... I have never found more peace, been more overwhelmed with the emensity of our universe (and realized how very small we really are), been overcome with joy to the point of tears... than when watching the sun rise over the Sierras from the vantage point of a mountain ridge .. or feeling the wind and spray of the ocean on my face ... or sitting beside a river watching the world within it flow by .. or gazing at the night sky and the amazing milky way ... It fills my heart and soul and centers me ... that is what nature does for me.

    Namaste ... I honor you!

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    1. Thank you for your lovely comment! Nature is like a church for me too. I feel closer to God when I am closer to nature.

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