It was snowing pretty much through the day. I noticed that the children of my home were
at play. Not in the snow, though, but inside the house. They were at the computers, to be
precise!
Wondering about their lack of interest in snow, a magnificent spectacle of nature, which
excite me and many folks of my generation interminably, I tried to lure them into it: “Isn’t it
snowing outside?” Peeping his head through the window by the computer for a quick
disengaging look, one of them, probably the nicest among them, replied in a matter-of-fact
tone: “Yes.” He then hurriedly turned his attention back to the computer and engaged
himself with his ongoing sci-fi gigs!
No wows, and no who-hoos to the praise of nature! Just a monosyllable response, delivered
in the blink of an eye! Monosyllable responses are in fashion today, and they are
particularly useful in the airports for a quick and hassle-free completion of business at
security checkpoints.
I get it. I mean, the overenthusiastic and the freelancing obsession of children with the sci-fi
in the age of sleek and lightweight computers, tablets and cell-phones; and I am not any
less of a fan of Star Wars, Star Trek and The Avengers. But, what I am bemused is their
disconnection with nature. Isn’t there a new wave of research findings, suggesting that
people who are connected with nature are likely to be happier, and experience lower levels
of poor mental health like depression and anxiety?
As old-fashioned as it may sound, I am still fascinated to go after and get lost at the trailing
sound of a birdsong, to the fragrance of the new blossoms in the home-grown garden as
well as in the wild, to feel the mushy earthiness of the soil while planting the seeds and
bulbs barehanded, and to experience the soft cushion-like feel while walking barefoot on
the lush green grass in the Trinity Bellwoods Park, or any meadows, for that matter, I find
myself wandering. If you are one of those who were born prior to the millennials, the so
called the ‘silent’, the ‘boomers’ and the ‘X’ generations, you might feel the same. We were
taught to be one with the nature and be excited of its spectacles – snow, rain, lake, river,
ocean, wind, trees, hills, meadows, earthworms, butterflies, fish … While being with the
nature, if you are lucky enough to have an ‘oceanic feeling’, that is, a sensation of the
eternity, a feeling of being one with the external world, which is quite a possibility, is an
added bonus. By the way, when I spend time in our vegetable garden, you might think that I
am a farmer. No, I am not. I am celebrating my interconnectedness with the nature. It, in
fact, is helping me to get rid of the colonial residue in me, of treating the external world,
humans and nature with lack of respect. Amidst seeds, soil, plants, insects, birds, fruits and
flowers, the nature is teaching me a new language of decolonization.
As children, we were taught that nature is the greatest teacher of life and it can give us
incredible wisdom that no other could. The wisdom, particularly, pertaining to the physical,
psychological, emotional, sexual and spiritual domains of our living, which the new-age
dictionaries now start calling as components of the all-round or holistic health and
wellbeing!
The warmth of the rising sun, the freshness of the morning, the brightness of the noon, the
beauty of the sunset, the cool of the evening, the solitude of the star-lit night, the departing
sorrow of the midnight moon, the promise of a new life at the dawning of the morning sun
– all carry so much of life-sustaining depth, energy, wisdom and meaning.
AYears ago, on a summer day, my colleague Ian took me for a short walk by the placid creek
that curvaceously meandered at the back of our workplace. He knew that I was stressed
unduly, and my ability to take care of the affairs of my professional and personal life was
noticeably compromised. Our walk by creek taught me an enduring life lesson: many are
the obstacles that block the flow of our lives; we have no options but to keep flowing
through them, just like the creek relentlessly flows through the pebbles, the rocks and the
twigs that hinder its path. It is by encountering, and living through our obstacles without
losing our calmness, hope, energy and spirit that we learn to filter our strengths from our
false securities, inhibitions and apprehensions. Just like the creek invigorates its bounty of
the serenely flowing water with as much purity and clarity as it needs, by letting it to be
filtered by pebbles, rocks, twigs and stones! A simple life lesson from a thirty-minute
nature walk, but I feel it was worth more effective than a cycle of four to six sessions of
psychotherapy!
It still remains to be the most valuable lesson I’ve learned for maintaining my calm without
giving myself over to depressive lows and the depths of black holes when I am faced with
stressful bouts.
Nature continues to unfold its multifarious spectacles everywhere around us! I wish I had
motivated the children of my home to take their shoes off and fall on their knees to nature,
a teacher par excellence.
