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How do you approach a walk in nature? Do you every go out in nature? If so, do you briskly stomp through the woods (essentially bringing the pace of the city with you)? Is your mind preoccupied with work concerns, or with listening to headphones, so that your mind isn't there with your body in nature? Are you observant with the eyes of a hunter, or with the eyes of a photographer, or with the eyes of a scientist, or with the eyes of a poet/artist, or with the eyes of creationist, or with the eyes of spiritual naturalist?
Nature can be a source of transcendence, peace, awe, comfort, calming, elevation, etc, for many people. But, not so much for other people. Some people just don't have as much of a need for those things as others. Others may not know how to leave the city behind when they enter the woods. Others have a desire to feel transcendence in nature more, but simply don't take the time or make it a priority.
Although I want this thread to focus on how we approach nature, I did want to make the following observation: I suppose some people would say the same about attending religious services. That they can be a source of transcendence and peace for some people, but not so much for others. That some people may not know how to leave the city behind when they enter a chapel. Others may have a desire to feel transcendence at religious services more, but don't take the time or make it a priority.
I don't even own a pair of headphones, so no, that wouldn't work for me. How could you hear the sounds of the bird calls or the wind whishing through the trees?
Sometimes I bring a camera, sometimes not, but what I look for is how the light plays in the woods and shifts as the day goes on. I write, so sometimes I've brought a notebook and just jotted down reactions or thoughts or feelings.
I would say I NEED to be in the woods on a regular basis. I grew up in a place where there were lots of woods in the neighborhood, and coming from a large family, those woods were my escape to peace and quiet and my own thoughts.
Personally I don't see how anyone could stand to live in a large city. The one I live in is mid-sized and even IT drives me crazy with all the noise.
I'm an ocean person. Nothing gives me greater bliss then being alone with my thoughts with no sound then the roaring of the ocean. THAT noise is music to me and takes the edge off all the tension caused by loud neighbors constantly revving cars, car alarms, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc etc ad nauseam.
My dream in fact is to live by the ocean...but failing winning the lottery, I don't see it ever happening. Failing that however, I MUST go to the coast as often as is financially possible, which isn't as often as needed, unfortunately. For me it's a need every bit as important as air, food or water.
Just another day at the office for me at present, although I do kick back for a few minutes every so often. I haven't been in such a " nature is beautiful" mood lately after getting attacked by wasps on every day last week.
Being out in the hills and sea is cool though. I wish all that time wasted in church as a kid, could have been spent outdoors.
Personally I don't see how anyone could stand to live in a large city. The one I live in is mid-sized and even IT drives me crazy with all the noise.
I'm an ocean person. Nothing gives me greater bliss then being alone with my thoughts with no sound then the roaring of the ocean. THAT noise is music to me and takes the edge off all the tension caused by loud neighbors constantly revving cars, car alarms, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc etc ad nauseam.
My dream in fact is to live by the ocean...but failing winning the lottery, I don't see it ever happening. Failing that however, I MUST go to the coast as often as is financially possible, which isn't as often as needed, unfortunately. For me it's a need every bit as important as air, food or water.
Agreed. I do not like living in the city, even though my city would be considered a medium sized city. As soon as I get my last two kids out on their own, the wife and I plan to sell this house and move up into the mountains.
How do you approach a walk in nature? Wow, how do you breathe the air, how do you use your eyes to see, how do you use your ears to listen? Every morning as I go out onto my front porch I listen and hear all the different morning songs of the birds as they awaken to a new day. In the spring, such as now, I see the new life of the newly born spotted fawns or the small rabbits that run around playing with one another, the squirrels running up and down the trees and the birds squawking at them, the sound of the turkeys in a distant field or the whippoorwills and the crows making their calling noise, in the distance I'll see a coyote loping along across one of the upper fields heading for its deen to feed its young pups, a ground hog scoring through the tall grass with a mouthful dry grass for it's borough, the sound of a large red tail hawk circling overhead, on the hunt to feed its young. Sometimes I sit and listen to a gentle rain as the clouds come in over the mountains. Some people from the city will say that it's too quiet in the country but they have never taken the time to sit and listen,it's full of life and it is anything but quiet, all you have to do is take time to listen.
I live in a formerly rural farm town, some 35 miles inland from Boston. I can hear the interstate a mile away, but have flowering trees outside my windows. If I want "nature," all I have to do is look or step outside, yet access to anything or job isn't a big deal.
I used to live in the city (Cambridge, anyway) and felt like I needed to live there. I had to have a "town" feeling, like the kind of houses, what you'd see on a walk through the neighborhood, a town density and trees. This, of course, comes at a premium. In the downtown expensive neighborhoods (or waterfront, which is through the roof) there were no trees and it felt like a concrete jungle, even though very ritzy. Also, the air to breathe was never OK, and on a humid day, was like pure bus exhaust. I guess I got used to it, until I moved out of the city. I was tired of crazy neighbors, crazy condo board, crazy city regulations, and I wanted a dog or two and financial control. I had always thought of not-city as suburban-cookie-cutter-subdivision (like where I grew up) and had little idea of towns or such. Also, I didn't want to live in a place that was full of families, as I don't like children around, and don't like that kind of housing.
I did stumble upon small old houses in a former summer colony around a lovely little lake, and bought a crumbling cottage the day I saw it, bailed out of the city, and found myself in the Outback (first impression). The lot was/is beautiful, with trees and no sidewalk or road, as the house is in the middle of a wooded half-acre. Over the years I've been here, the town has acquired a lot of big properties (like a 125-acre orchard) as conservation land, so there are a lot of neat places to walk or take dogs.
[i] don't get to serious wilderness/lack of people stuff unless I take my annual vacation to Colorado or Utah, and go horseback riding for a week. I'd call that "serious nature," with the horses and river and big white peaks. Twice we rode up to 13,000 feet (the Horsethief Trail, from Ouray to Telluride, if anyone is familiar). A once-in-lifetime experience, done twice while that guest ranch was operating.
In 1992, I went trekking in the Everest (Khumbu) region of Nepal, up to 18,000 feet. I don't remember so much, due to altitude doofiness, but the mountains were magnificent. Trekking on the trail meant sort of being on a superhighway for walking, as that is the only way to get around the area, so the sights were amazing, but it was very certainly peopled. I passed one guy carrying a plate-glass bow window up the mountain on his back.
Cities, well, like I said, I seem to favor a town flavor, like a lot of Cambridge or Greenwich Village. I do like the feeling of people out and about, doing interesting things, artistic, intellectual (and where I liked to go, few if any children). A very adult feel. Jazz. Ethnic restaurants. Low on nature.
I prefer to live where I do and visit the serious fun and occasionally out to the city, although have found that the same amenities are scattered around the metro area- an occasional great restaurant, some out-of-the-way places to hear blues or jazz. I don't think I'd ever live in a city again unless there was some severe reason I needed to, and then would still be drawn to the "town" sized areas.
Three or four days in NYC were more than enough, when I had an old friend with lots of money there- two plays, two jazz clubs, walking across the bridge on a cool night... but I felt like I was hyperstimulated with all the inputs and felt like I'd returned to a village to go back to Cambridge.
Back in '08, we had a family reunion on the southern coast of Maine. When we went down to the beach the first time, I was overwhelmed (to the point of being emotional) with the beauty & awesomeness of the ocean. My thoughts went immediately to praising God for the beauty of His Earth.
The area I live in is quite beautiful, in a rustic sort of way. I get that same feeling when I drive out of town a few miles & admire God's creation.
I enjoy every second that I am in the woods.
I go at least once a year to a certain part of a creek, very shallow, my grandfather used to take me when I was younger. It's in the middle of nowhere, I still remember playing in the sand and watching the tadpoles swim. I still watch the tadpoles and the birds, sometimes even snakes or boars, I sit there for hours and hours sometimes. Not only does nature bring me more peace, but the coupling of the thought of a more simple time gives me a feeling that seems impossible to explain. Sometimes when I am stressed or angry or when life seems to be spinning out of control, I like to travel there in mind.
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