A Being in Nature

When I was depressed I found walking around the beautiful grounds of a Franciscan monastery providing me with moments of peace and hope. In the midst of hundreds of acres of wooded land I felt a part of something greater and more beautiful than the ugliness of my thoughts which colored everything and which felt like a glass wall that separated me from everything around me. The monastery lake was calm and looked like a sheet of blue sparkling water, with diamond -like sprouts, popping up  all over the surface.

The mood of the entire  area had a calming effect on my racing thoughts and the negative perceptions that I had brought with me into this idyllic nature sanctuary. It reminded me of Walden’s comments about the purity and freshness of the morning air at Golden Pond. He thought that it would have been wonderful to have it bottled up with its powerful scent always available. Another life giving refreshment for me came as I walked an earthen trail circling the oval shoreline.

One of the great tendencies of depression is to retreat into the comfort of isolation and aloneness. Being in the center of nature’s veritable cycloramic diversity,  I was surrounded by every kind of living growth, bush, trees and wildlife. There was an abundant activity all around and it  directs  our seeing, hearing and sense of smell, distracting us from our interior world of pain, isolation and chaos.

Just as signs on beautiful lawns ask us to “keep off the grass” so does our mind become drawn outside itself focusing onto that which is bigger than what has kept us riveted on thoughts causing us to feel hopeless and depressed. We learn that ever so slowly we can have a slight respite from worry, and the ruminations about how awful we feel.  We mistakenly believe that our misery will never end.

I believe that just moving the body in the world of nature will be a start for you, as it was for me, to have a hope that life has to get better. So, get up, get out of your solitude and find a world full of life, beauty and hope. This world of nature is waiting for you to enjoy and grow stronger because of it.

Hugh


A BEING IN NATURE is one of the Tools of Recovery recommended and  located in the drop down Menu on the depressedanon.com website  home page.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.