In the coming year, I would like to renew my relationship with nature. My time in nature has always been precious to me, yet lately, I feel it has been pushed to the back burner. My time has filled up, my energy has slowed down, and I’m reluctant to go out if it’s too hot or too cold. I put on my IPod to get me up and down the street in twenty minutes, but I miss the pleasures of the natural world, and I lose perspective on what’s important. I also miss the beauty of nature, both in growth and decay, and the surprise of discovery, even in places that I’ve walked so many times before. Spending time in nature, for me, is a spiritual practice, and like any practice, it needs to be attended to, to gain any benefit. 

             Over the years, spending time outside in nature was part of my daily life, giving me exercise, fresh air, and a sense of being part of the greater world. Growing up in a fairly rural area, playing outside was a big part of my childhood. All of us kids spent time in the woods or on the mountainside; we enjoyed the freedom and were not afraid of being in the great outdoors. In my college years, I spent time near the shore or hiking in the woods with friends. When I had my own family, I spent lots of time with my sons outside, just going to the ponds, streams and woody areas around our house. It was important to me to help my children establish their own relationship with nature – to be familiar and comfortable with it, to feel a part of it.

             As an adult and as a writer, I would go to the Great Meadows Wildlife Refuge in Concord, MA, two or three times a week, observing the changes in seasons, or taking my binoculars to do some bird watching. Even at the most trying times of my life, these experiences gave me some balance and breathing room, and a good way to get out pent up energy. Plus, I had the entertainment of watching creatures at their daily lives. Many times, even as I was scanning the sky or marshes for signs of life, I would be working out writing problems in the back of my head.  Every step I took and every breath I inhaled gave me new energy and fuel for the creative process.

             This past year, I had a chance to get away to two places that gave me some of the joy and inspiration of nature. The first was Dorset, Vermont, for a family reunion in the towering and majestic Green Mountains, where the shadows of the clouds on the mountain sides are like small boats on an ocean. For a writing retreat, I spent a weekend in Ogunquit, ME along the rocky shore. The waves pounding on the cliffs and the far off horizon give such a perspective to my little problems, and the feeling of being just another of God’s creatures in this natural element. These getaways were like a wake up call to remind me how much my relationship with nature means, and how much I miss it when I don’t make the effort. And that, sometimes I have to put it first.