A nature-connected mind is peaceful and present.

My mind used to be typical - cluttered, overactive, and maybe a wee bit neurotic. :)

In my 30’s my life fell apart and, in an effort to find some inner peace, I took up meditation. I started by attending an intensive retreat and then I meditated an hour every morning for years. I liked the ritual of it, and how it slowed me down and taught me about myself.

But my mind was still busy, noisy, and not so peaceful. I kept meditating, but I gave up the idea that my mind could be any different.

Five years into meditating, I got into deep nature connection. After trying out a couple of the foundational practices for a couple of weeks - essentially sitting outside, paying attention to nature through my senses (what I now call the most ancient form of meditation) - something radical happened. My mind went completely silent. I didn’t even know this was a thing!

It was a long, delicious moment during which my thinking stopped. There was no reviewing the past, no planning the future. There was no judgment, criticism, shame, doubt, anxiety. No thoughts. Just silence and space. In the silence and space, I experienced radiant sparkly peace.

It was the most spectacular moment of my life up to that point. I thought it was a one-off thing. But those moments came with increased frequency over the weeks and months. Over time, I noticed that my mind was becoming more relaxed and peaceful all the time; its baseline setting was changing.

It turns out that this is just what happens (and I thought I was special!). Nature connection re-wires our brains, waking up neural pathways that have gone dormant living as busy, stressed out, tech-addicted, domesticated humans.

Let that sink in…Simply being outside for short periods of time on a consistent basis paying attention to the wonders of nature (which is very fun and delightful in its own right) effortlessly brings peace and quiet to the human mind!

In my experience, there is nothing that affects the quality of my life more than the quality of what’s happening inside my own head. Happy, relaxed, peaceful head = happy, relaxed, peaceful life (even in the midst of a crazy world).