The power of Nature
A month ago, my husband and I came with our kids to a family-owned chalet in the Alps for a week of holidays. (Little did I know I’d be here again under very different circumstances and for an indefinite period of time, since we have chosen to confine ourselves here until this Covid-19 pandemic passes. But that’s a different story…).
If you leave aside the fact that I still woke up — or was woken up — everyday at 6:30 (same as every day since I’ve had kids), that I checked my computer for e-mails every couple of hours, continued to wash and fold laundry and cook…(wait a minute — maybe these weren’t REALLY holidays?); getting away from my routine, from my desk (those who know me know I work on my dining-room table), and from my everyday walks to daycare / school / park, etc. had a very positive influence on my creativity.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve realised that when I always do the same things, I end up living on autopilot and my brain doesn’t register anything new; whereas as soon as I leave my natural habitat, all five senses are suddenly in alert, as if wanting to record every smell, every flavour, every image out of the ordinary.
That’s how one morning, as I walked in the snowy mountain with nobody around me, that landscape I know so well and which carries the sound of birds of prey, marmots and crickets in summer, was completely silent. Not relatively silent like when we’re home (there’s always a car passing by in the street, or the router purring in the living room, or water running through the pipes), but end-of-the-world silent, a silence that many would find deafening.
And in this silence, my system was reset. I remember breathing in deeply, as if wanting to make that silence, that quietness from Nature, get inside of me. Filling me with good intentions, just like when I begin my yoga practice and focus on what my body is trying to say. I know I’m not the only one who finds Nature regenerating. I was reading an article by Megan Mayhew Bergman who says “when we can’t go to school or work, or gather in restaurants and bars, the woods and rivers are there waiting for us (…) Perhaps more of us will realize the healing quality of being outdoors, and the reverence and protection we owe nature.”
I really do hope, with all my heart, that when all this is over, we will not only make up for all this “lost time” by going out for drinks and spending two full paychecks on shopping (and believe me, I miss going shopping more than anyone). I hope all this makes us better appreciate all the positive things our modern society offers (and which we obviously have been taking for granted) and start to take up concrete actions to protect that Nature which, for now, keeps welcoming us back with arms wide open.