There are a lot of different offers where you can learn different nature skills around survival, plants, crafts, and the like. And even though they are all really valuable, they don’t tell the whole story. They help in the process of connecting to nature and your surroundings, but they are not at the core of what is needed to build real relationship with nature.
When I first experienced, simply BEING in nature, I realized, how much more it does than simply be the habitat for a lot of species. When I am in the forest – and I have observed that with others too – we feel, that there are no expectation to be anyone or do anything. The trees don’t have any thoughts or ideas of how you have to act, and there is no need to pretend or play a role.
In the forest, surrounded by all the wild planets and animals, we can be ourselves. We can be whoever we feel like being in that moment. No judgement. And the longer we stay in Nature, the more our nervous system can relax and calm down. We get back to our natural baseline state.
A few days can already work wonders, and the longer we stay, the more intense our relationship becomes.
Nature of course is not only the romanticized version we might think of. It can be rough, it can be cold, wet, hot, and dirty. You will need to spend some time so that you have fire, food and shelter. Or finding water can turn out to be harder than you thought. And all of that might be a challenge. But it is a lot more direct than working for someone else, to some time later get paid, which you can use to pay for the food that you haven’t seen growing up, or the heat that you had no hand in producing.
Being out there, you know and feel and see exactly why you do what you do, and what the outcome is if you don’t.
For most of us, living in Nature permanently is not an option, and it might not even be needed. The longer we experience being calm and connected and completely in the present, and if we do it every once in a while to remind ourselves, we can use that experience to calm down even in a stressful situation. Or maybe we can even stay calm when the storm of chaos blows all around us.
This is why it is so important for me to go out into nature at the very least twice a year for a week or two. And I’d love for you to go with me! Next time will already be Aug 11.-15., 2021!