Mindfulness, relaxation, calm: the need to step back has become more and more common, as people react to the pace of life. Everything now moves at speed. With communication easier than ever, it feels like responses should be immediate, and the 24/7 news stream never shuts down. This has to contribute to nature’s importance in wellbeing. Nature’s pace is altogether different, and the more time you spend surrounded by nature, the more your perspective can change.
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Nature moves at a pace that is slow but sure. Look at a tree or bush. Change is so very gradual through the year, as buds form weeks if not months before they open, leaves unfurl and live for further months, then tint and fall before the tree stands bare for the long months of winter. Conifer, evergreen trees have even less change to be seen, just a constant steady casting off of needles here and there. Trees look so solid and steadfast that they can feel reassuring. Or think about planting spring bulbs. Placing a bulb under the soil to sit out the winter, developing slowly, requires patience. If I plant a crocus in late summer, I might have more than six months to wait before the flower opens. Growing fruit trees or bushes is another slow activity. A new fruit tree or a grape vine can take years to reach maturity and produce edible fruits.
Seeing cows feed on hay in an outdoor pen over winter, or graze the fields in summer, or seeing sheep and alpacas graze a field day in, day out, can be an image of continuity and constancy, an existence that seems less complicated than our own. Using the sun to mark the passing of time through the day is another way to slow yourself down and live by nature’s timescale.
All this might feel unfamiliar, boring, frustrating. Being in nature might set you overthinking, which could be negative. Even your response to nature itself might take time and patience to develop. As you look out for different species – insects or birds – there’ll be more to notice and more slight but significant changes to observe. A tree might change only slowly in itself, but as an ecosystem and habitat, home to myriad creatures, it can look a lot more active.
Partly it’s nature’s sheer unfamiliarity that is making more people turn to the outdoors these days. Now that far more people live in towns and cities, time spent in the countryside or by the sea is a welcome contrast. Living in the countryside, it’s easy to take for granted quiet roads and wide open spaces – while living in the town, being surrounded by nature once in a while is a tonic.
The appeal of a slower pace of life has inspired slow radio and TV, where not a lot happens, and slow food – cooking from scratch with fresh local ingredients. Now that slowness has become rare, and speed is usually of the essence, living life slowly can be treasured once more.
How do you think nature’s slower pace can help wellbeing and calm us down? If you’d like to share, just go to Medley’s Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002
