Get Back To Nature | Tuesday Tea

Good morning. I hope that you have had time to get outside recently, that you have gone for a walk, went for a swim, or smelled a beautiful flower. For all the people cheering on autumn, I’m not quite done with summer yet. I am in no rush for crisp autumn air, colorful leaves, or pumpkin patches, although I do cherish them all every season. I am in no rush to say good bye to summer because time is something you can never get back. Why wish time away, especially beautiful warm days where getting outside becomes so simple?

Matthew and I went for a walk and found a local reservoir in the woods not too far from our apartment. All this summer it was hidden there and we had no idea. Wildflowers grew along the waters edge in patches. I recently heard of a term called “forest bathing.”

Forest bathing is the idea that we can cleanse our weary minds and nourish our souls by soaking up the beauty of the forest and savoring green space. The health and mental wellness benefits of getting outside are plenty and widely known and accepted. How many times as children did we hear our parents tell us to get outside and play because it was good for us?

As you are sitting with me today, I hope that you take the time to get outside, even if it just for a five or ten minute walk. And as you do, take in the sounds of birds and the atmosphere, smell the scent of local flowers and plants, and appreciate the beauty of the little things you see. I challenge you to find some place new, some place that may be hidden right down the street from where you live.