The corners of the field are becoming particularly over grown right now. Spring is in full flourish. I feel I could bring a blanket out and spend the whole day laying and listening. Is there any feasible excuse I could find to do this?
On my walk this morning I thought about mental health and the idea of nature deficit and considered this idea of being in nature for its psychologically effect on us, it’s healing potential. The world health organisation say ‘access to green spaces can reduce health inequalities, improve wellbeing and aid in the treatment of mental illness’
Eva Wiseman’s article in the Observer last weekend interested me greatly. Her discussion of nature being used as a symbol of privilege, where deprived areas have more restricted access, while others flaunt it endlessly on social media as a symbol of spiritual depth and wellness. It being framed and ‘cleanly repackaged as valuable, a wellness product to sit alongside jade eggs and yoga mats.‘
She so eloquently points out…
‘despite its happy side-affects, nature is not for us. It exists in spite of us. It persist greenly, finding new ways to grow around our awfulness’
I love that ‘finding new ways to grow around our awfulness’. I want to ponder on this sentence.
I walk down the hill with skylarks in full swing, baby bunnies darting in and out of the hedges, two red kites gliding over my head, sparrows chasing each other along the fencing, with the warm morning sun in my face. Sunny, easy, mornings like this package well. All I need is for some little birds to perch themselves on my shoulder and I’ll break into song.
