THE MINDFUL FAMILY: Connecting with Nature: A Great Place to Start
By Charlton Hall, MMFT, LMFT-I
Last week we talked about eliminating the barriers that keep us from connecting with others. Sometimes it can be difficult, especially when learning connection skills, to jump right in and begin practicing on human beings. Human relationships are complex and sometimes demanding, so we’re going to start with something a bit easier. That something is nature. Since nature is usually non-threatening (unless you find yourself in a jungle or an African savannah teeming with hungry lions!), it’s a great place to start forming those spiritual connections.
What ways could you feel more connected to nature? Think back on times in your past when you felt that connection. Perhaps it was a fishing trip, or a nature hike, or a camping trip. Maybe you felt connected while skiing or skydiving or canoeing. If there was ever a time when you felt at peace with yourself and your surroundings, look back on it and ask yourself how you could recapture that experience. What was different about it? Where were you? What were you doing?
There is a wealth of research demonstrating the healing power of nature. You may not live in an area where you can go out into the woods every day, but studies have shown that even having a few houseplants or listening to recordings of nature sounds can have a calming and soothing effect. So even if you can’t go on a three-mile nature hike every day, you can find some ways to bring more nature into your immediate surroundings.
We all need to feel connected to someone or something outside ourselves. Not only is such a connection a means of developing emotional security, but it is also necessary for physical health and even for proper brain development. Ongoing studies with feral children (children who are raised with extreme neglect; in other words, with little or no opportunity to connect with other human beings) continue to demonstrate the extremely detrimental effects such a lack of connection can produce.
Brain scans such as MRIs and CAT scans have been taken of children who were allowed to develop normally, in contact with other human beings. Brain scans have also been done on feral children. The brains of feral children show markedly undeveloped areas when compared to healthy children of the same age and stage of development. In other words, connecting with other people is actually necessary for healthy brain development, and those deprived of such contact fail to develop normally.
Such studies with feral children demonstrate that humans need connections with other humans in order to develop properly. So connectivity is very important!
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Charlton Hall is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapy Intern and the Director of the Mindful Ecotherapy Organization (www.mindfulecotherapy.org). You may contact him at: chuck@mindfulecotherapy.org.