Mental Health Awareness Week - 10th-16th May 2021
In Praise of Nature
It’s no coincidence the theme for Mental Health Awareness Week is nature and our environment. You may have noticed my monthly blog is in constant praise of the power of our natural world and its energetic resonance. Natures monthly rhythms and cyclical patterns have an awesome effect on our beings.
Most of us, have at one point in our life experienced this powerful connection to nature, especially so in this last year.
Anxiety and Depression
I am also not alone in experiencing mental distress at various points in my life. The Mental Health Foundation reports that one adult in six has suffered with either Anxiety or Depression. They also go on to say, that whilst there are a myriad of mental health dysfunctions, it is Anxiety and Depression that are most commonly suffered in our society.
Anxious or depressive thought is insidious, so much so, that they feel incredibly real, along with mind-body symptoms. These thoughts have most likely been a part of the story we tell ourselves since childhood, they are so powerful that they override our actual reality, the truth of our situation, life, events and our core being.
The Pain of Disconnection
Disconnection from reality is pain and suffering. Disconnection can be understood as an interruption or detachment. The very idea of experiencing either, can bring up feelings of isolation, doubt, lack of worth, vulnerability, fear and anger. Detaching ourselves from the natural world can create deeper dysfunction where we feel even more alone, sad, scared and ultimately worsen anxious or depressive thoughts.
Connection however is a type of contact or attachment, here we may experience a sense of relief and attune to feelings of ease, comfort, fulfilment, joy and satisfaction. In these moments of union, fear and isolation are removed.
Paying Attention keeps Connection
Nature is constantly asking for your attention. “Be here now” the birds chirp, “smell my delicate scent” the red roses say, “look at my stillness” the quiet waters proclaim. Nature is real and true and is happening in this very moment. It is living presence.
By attuning yourself and being amongst the natural world, you are experiencing connection. The more we are able to connect with nature in the present moment, the more we are practicing acceptance with what is real and true. Aiding a letting go of dysfunctional thought that keeps us trapped in mental distress.
We Are All Connected
We are continuously interconnected and interdependent in nature and are part of its biodiversity. We are in relationship with our environment at all times and often forget that we are in fact nature ourselves.
Our very beings are part of this earth and respond like all other life to the sun, the moon, the wind, the rain and our seasons. We are all connected. The mental dysfunction is the thinking that we are somehow separate.
Your Relationship with Nature
Being in a healthy relationship, we must make time to connect by listening carefully, paying attention, staying open, staying present and loving your intended.
So as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, take pleasure in building your relationship with your natural world. Delight in the fact you are connected to something much bigger than your thoughts. You are not alone.
Wherever You Are, Find A Trail
The sky is not falling for the Cedar tree.
The Heron’s infinite blue world has not changed.
The marsh shows no signs of Wall Street volatility.
Trees and grasses are golden with the sun.
The ocean and sky still join like lovers here, now, and on the horizon too.
The swan content, faces a gentle breeze.
The cormorant dives, resurfaces, belly once again filled.
Follow that trail.
Find the bench or stone that waits for you there.
We must learn to walk away from the carnival of the world -
to become still and remember
what it is that holds us;
what, in us, is held.
by Ingrid Goff-Maidoff