Naming or framing our relationship with the world as a “nature connection” is a bit risky. When we use those words, we somehow assume that it is going to be easily definable in a way that everyone understands. But it isn’t. Even the brilliant work at the University of Derby, which outlines the five pathways: beauty, emotion, meaning, sensing, and compassion, shows how vast it is. If we are able to define it, we assume that must be the right and only way, which leaves out so many intangible, feeling-level aspects of connection.
The word ‘nature’
In recent years, I have actually started to dislike the word “nature” because it always leaves you out. If you start paying attention to how the word is used, it often just refers to green spaces. The more digging work I do, the more I feel that nature is inside my home as well, even with a microwave and all these modern things.
This planet is a closed loop. We don’t create stuff out of thin air; everything is created from materials that were produced right here on Earth by earthlings. In a way, you could say that even human housing and buildings are nature because they are made of earthly materials.
Nature connection, or our connection to the living Earth, on its own is one thing. It is incredibly useful to define it as it helps us to plan activities, processes, housing, conservation, and public policies. Sometimes it is experiential in nature, and has a utilitarian character. You go out into nature to experience it, to pick berries, and to use it for eating healthy or capturing moments.
Awareness
But I think things start to shift fundamentally once we become aware of our connections to everything living. It changes how at home and familiar within ourselves we feel, and how aware we are of our interdependence to each other as human beings. Finally, it changes how we interact with all beings on this Earth, from that spruce in my yard to a grain of sand on the beach in Barbados. That is when your nature knowledge starts to tie into your heritage. You begin weaving yourself into the history of the land, and all of a sudden, your nature connection ties into generations.
Everchanging
An important thing about nature connection is that it evolves. For me, it started with just pure amazement. It came from playing in it and spending time outdoors simply because there was nothing else to do. I didn’t know anything technical back then; I just knew the feeling of it. Then, I became mesmerized by the things I saw during our family’s travels during my childhood, and I started to explicitly learn about the world. But that learning soon turned into panic as I found out about climate change, pollution, and all that environmental destruction as a young adult. As I was going through my personal crisis as a teen and later on as a young adult and not-so-young adult, I always found solace in nature. Later on, settling down in a very urban environment, I started feeling airy and floaty and restless, and I realized I needed to ground myself by feeling physically closer to nature, i.e. those green spaces. That was when I really started missing nature on a visceral, body level, seeking the nervous system regulation I had always found in it.
Finally, nature has helped me find my place within my body and my friendships. Nature is the ultimate force that brings us together. It is the reason why I now feel more comfortable with others. I know now that people who care about nature the same way, or wonder about the same existential things, can really find each other and mean a lot to one another on their paths.
Creativity
This interesting-looking spruce was part of the collection of the Arboretum in Salo (Finland), where the entrance fee is 2 euros and it is collected on an honor system (nobody is paying attention to whether you pay it or not). The man who single-handedly plants and maintains this mostly coniferous, rhododendron, and azalea garden in Southern Finland doesn’t care about making profit. He is doing it from his love for plants, the possibility to see things grow and to shape them. Whatever wets his whistle, but we all get to enjoy the fruit of his creativity.
Forest Bathing
In the past decade, my journey has been me trying to feel comfortable facilitating ways for people to find solace in nature in a calm and contemplative way that allows them to experience moments of deep calm and serenity. I did not realize it, but all this necessitated that I first feel the serenity within myself. I think the work continues in this next chapter.
Appreciation of Beauty
My CSA in Heusden (Belgium) makes wildflower fields available for also the wider public. These people who serve our community of about 500 happy organic veggie pickers are living and breathing their connection to the living Earth. They cultivate the land and the community around them in a gentle and firm way, staying true to their calling. An inspiration.
This past chapter has been about how I relate to others, humans and other living beings alike, and how I help others relate to themselves in the safety of “nature”. Right now, I can look at a spruce tree, which is amazing by itself. The next step I find myself doing is consciously pausing to sense the tree and feel it perhaps sensing me. I am breathing out carbon dioxide, which the tree might use, and I know it is giving me oxygen. But beyond the mechanics, it is just grounding. I actually receive all these benefits out of it, but ultimately, I am just happy that it is here. The living Earth welcomes us every time because we are part of it. The welcoming feeling we feel in the arms of a forest is because we belong there, just like the other beings.
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