47. Connect with nature

This blog focuses almost exclusively on connecting with other humans … but other kinds of connection are vital to our well-being too. Connecting with ourselves, animals, and nature (today’s focus) can be deeply restorative, healing, and soul-nourishing.

Data point of the week

Nature is powerful medicine: Spending time in nature has been shown to:

• Improve mental health. Time outdoors in natural environments reduces stress, anxiety, and depression and improves well-being.

• Improve physical health. Having a window overlooking green space helps patients recover faster after surgery.

• Decrease incidents of violence. A review of 45 studies found that living close to—and having access to—green spaces reduced violent crime in urban areas.

• Increase awe. Awe is often inspired by natural settings, and it has some unique benefits. It diminishes our individualistic sense of self and expands our sense of connectedness to a larger whole, including to the people in our lives and humanity in general. Awe also increases generosity and other prosocial behaviors.

If you’re interested in delving more deeply into the benefits of nature, I’d recommend The Nature Fix, by Florence Williams.

A moment of everyday awe from my morning walk.

Reflection
I LOVE spending time outdoors … especially when it’s not too hot or too cold. And right now we’re in the sweet spot … warm, sunny days and cool nights.

Being outside is essential to my mental health. I can practically feel it calming down my nervous system. And it’s helpful to remind myself that whatever chaos is going on in the world—and there’s been a lot over the past few years—nature will eventually re-balance itself. Nature’s equilibrium helps restore some of my own.

There’s also something to be said about experiences that take us outside of ourselves—that help us zoom out to a larger perspective. Like awe. Or tapping into a sense of meaning and purpose. Or even volunteering or putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes. All have incredible mental health benefits.

Yet cultural forces constantly turn our attention toward ourselves. Is this hyper-focus on self fueling the mental health crisis?

Kalalau Valley.
Kauai had some of the most gorgeous, awe-inspiring scenery I’ve been fortunate enough to see.

Connection Skill & Action Step: Connect with nature and look for awe

To engage in this practice, spend at least 15 minutes in a green, outdoor space. Try leaving your phone behind and really taking in your surroundings

If you want to try an “awe walk” and experience the benefits mentioned above, try to go somewhere new each week and tap into your sense of wonder. Participants in a study on awe walks were given this simple prompt:

“with the right outlook, awe can be found almost anywhere, but it is most likely to occur in places that involve two key features: physical vastness and novelty.”

If you don’t have access to natural outdoor spaces, you can still reduce stress and anxiety by bringing nature indoors, such as:

• Displaying images of beautiful nature scenes

• Playing nature sounds

• Spraying or diffusing essential oils with scents from nature

Questions to reflect on or to spark conversation. Please share your responses in the comments—we love hearing from you!

What’s a time that you experienced nature-inspired awe?