Nature!!!

I miss the trees, the grass, the stars, the animals, and the fresh scent in the air so much! The city has its perks, but nothing can beat all-natural, home-grown, full-bodied dense woods. Sure it doesn't have shopping malls, sidewalks packed with people you don't know, tons of pollution, advertisements every which way you look telling you what to buy, where to go, and what to look like; but I kinda like that it is missing those things. Don't get me wrong I love the city-the freedom, the adventure, and the challenges. But my roots have me always aching for a walk in the woods, or a swim in a stream, or something as simple as reading my book on real grass.

I think what most people that go through feelings of depression, anxiety, or just emptiness are missing is a reconnection with nature. We are living, breathing, animals (sorry people but it is true, we are in the animal kingdom). Doesn't it make sense that we would naturally want to be in a living environment like the great outdoors, the country? I have heard some people say they hate nature or they are afraid of it. I don't know if those are accurate emotions but if they are I feel terrible! Life is beautiful, and real life is what comes from the Earth, not what is created and manufactured by us. These things do have their purpose, but I think everyone should experience that amazing feeling of being surrounded by life.

Go into the woods or find a nice meadow. Hear the silence, allow yourself to breathe the fresh air, take a minute to not think about anything but just to exist. Peace. Feeling the dirt beneath your bare feet, touching the leaves, smelling the flowers, hearing the animals talking, climbing a tree, and just feeling apart of something greater than yourself. I mean think about it, the entire planet is connected. Sure we are on different countries, but the soil that is under you comes from the same place as the soil across the world; the water that feeds your trees is water that may have evaporated from a lake in China. We are all one system, one world. And people, every last human being, are a part of the same planet just like everything else. When you hug another person, you are hugging life, real life.

It is very hard to explain, I just love life so much. Not my life, not living, but life. The biological living, breathing, moving, thinking that everything does. And all life breeds life; as one of the greatest Disney movie says, it is the "circle of life." I am going home, back to the woods, in a few days and the first thing I am going to do is go for a hike and talk to the trees. Yes that sounds crazy, but man does it feel good.