Think about the last time you read a piece of good literary fiction. Can you imagine that story without a single sentence describing elements of the natural world? Descriptions of trees, slants of light, weather rolling in; these signs of nature are present in every novel we read, even the ones centered in a metropolis or indoors.
After a year of isolation, pandemic, and letting go on so many levels, it is time to calm our nervous systems and regain equilibrium in the natural world. I believe our collective road to recovery can be built by reconnecting to the natural world in two simple ways.
The first way is to begin to think about time in nature as medicine and make it a part of every day. It does not have to be far away from home or even for long periods of time, although you will officially be Forest Bathing if you spend two hours or more in a natural setting.
The second thing we can do to reconnect to the natural world is read a piece of good literary fiction slowly and pay attention to the signs of nature within it. What passages transport you into nature? Some novels do this better than others. Where The Forest Meets The Stars, by Glendy Vanderah, promises to do it superbly.
"Kinney Cottage was perched on a hill facing the woods... a weedy lawn separated the yellow clapboard house from a few acres of moonlit grassland. (The) prairie was regularly burned by the owner to keep back the encroaching forest."
-Where The Forest Meets The Stars
To boost your health and reconnect to the natural world by reading Where The Forest Meets The Stars in a Spring Curative Reading Community click here or below.
An 8-week Curative Reading course teaches the benefits of reading and creating healthy connections with others and the natural world for our brains, bodies and overall health. Participants read 30+ pages of the story per week. In addition they receive weekly Curative Reading Prescriptions and Companion Text suggestions to enhance their health from experts in the fields of medicine, science, literature, nature, and more.
Curative Reading can be a bridge to reconnect us with the natural world taking us out of isolation and landing us in the place that is our true home.
May you find your home in the natural world and may you be well.