Nature: The Healer

We all know that nature nourishes us, and we benefit when we walk on a forest path, listen to the leaves rustling in the wind, touch the rough surface of the bark, and smell the scent of pine needles and wildflowers.

If any of my Steemian friends asked me what helped me the most during those days of the pandemic, I would say watching comedy shows that were full of humor. No doubt those helped me, as did friends, family, and a job where I could work safely from home.

But I think what really saved my soul was nature. Maybe you feel the same way? Do you remember those terrible days of 2019-20 and how little we knew about the virus yet? I coped as best I could.

I spent more time on the couch than usual those days, but one thing that helped me stay positive every day was to walk around the small area where I live, which has lawn all around.

I had adapted well to working remotely, but since my house had a lawn and plants, I would often spend time watering the plants and sitting there looking at the Black Mountains. But then another bad thing happened; during those days we saw the worst bushfire during my stay in Australia. The environment department issued a warning and asked people to stay indoors. Even the windows were kept tightly closed.

I am fond of cricket, and cricket was going on here at that time, but that too disappeared. I used to look at the trees around whenever I got the chance. Here in this area we have mainly eucalyptus, but my lawn has all kinds of seasonal flowers and plants that bloom in every season. And my plants included cherries, berries, and apples beside a fir tree.

So between all this, I kept walking, bending, sitting, and breathing as and when I had a chance. If you've heard of botanist Jagadish Chandra Bose, he did research that showed that interacting with trees and plants benefits your health and well-being and plants can listen to you both positively and negatively.

By The Birth Centenary Committee, printed by P.C. Ray - Acharya Jagadis Chandra Bose, Birth Centenary, Public Domain,

If you wish to read about him

But, of course, science doesn't work that way, but you need proof. I suggest an experiment. Sit next to a plant in the evening and talk to it, positive or negative, and see the effect on the plant the next morning.

I loved walking in the forests close to my home or, less pretentiously, walking around trees and green spaces. I used to call this soul-soothing, but I was not alone before the pandemic. Now I looked for a chance and did it even when there was no one around.

I believe nature is a medicine, and it's not only a saying, but it has a strong pedigree that you can trace back to us Indians, who have been sun-worshipers or tree-worshipers for thousands of years, and we also worship stones. And it all has a meaning.

I'll spare you the scientific details, but spending some time in nature is linked to good health and well-being. So I believe that if you go out and do nothing, you still do a lot. So if I had to do something, I always loved hiking, and when I was in the best shape of my life, I spent a lot of time hiking in the Himalaya.

I believe nature fulfills our physical needs, but it is essential for our mental and spiritual balance as well. I always admire the beauty of mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, greenery and forests that gives me inner peace and joy.

Whatever we create in this world is organized, and some formulas are used to create all this. Similarly, nature has a formula. Don't you think that nature works on a fixed formula, like the trees bear fruits, rivers provide water, Sun rises every day.

Now the question is who created nature? Certainly, it's been created by someone whom everyone calls by different names. But the creator of nature is undoubtedly a wonderful craftsman who has done such a miracle which we humans can not even think but admire.

I am lucky back in my home state which is close to the Himalayas, we have places famous for yoga, meditation and spiritual practice for centuries.