Green and Blue Spaces

Nature is the antidote to the modern world.

Step away from the daily distractions, and the bigger picture reveals itself. 

There is quite literally more space to get space from our problems. 

Silence the noisy media and escape the cultural division and advice-giving, and a soft mind emerges with enough spaciousness to glean insights.   

Our symbiotic relationship with nature is often forgotten in the modern world, where we find ourselves confined to four walls and two-dimensional screens. 

Yet nature is always there, a constant to return to if only we make the time.

Why do we need nature? 

Nature offers us a chance to reinstate connection as we stroll in the local park, see our smallness as we visit astounding national parks, and feel our interdependence with the earth as we hike in the forest. 

We can cultivate willpower step after step up a steep mountain. We can let out tears on a nature walk with the space to finally process a discouraging conversation. We can sit on a felled tree trunk and watch the birds soar high as the feeling of being part of something greater takes over. 

Canada and New Zealand prescribe time in nature to patients to help with high blood pressure, diabetes, and lung diseases. Research shows that we improve our immune systems when we come into contact with microbes (microorganisms) in green or blue spaces.

In a recent survey, spending time in nature has been the most highly-rated activity for improving people’s mental health. Even 15 minutes of walking in a park are enough to improve energy and vitality, with a recommendation of five hours in nature a month to get the “minimum dose” for maximum health benefits. 

Researchers have looked at measurements of blood flow, blood pressure, and various cardiac parameters (key indicators of our health) and found that even when people gaze out the window to a natural environment, there are benefits. Research is pinpointing what has the restorative quality among sounds, with river sound being the highest effect. 

River sound, Glacier National Park

Some authors posit that since we evolved in wood grassland, rivers, and lakes, we derive benefits from these natural environments and thus have a positive relationship with nature, called the biophilia hypothesis.

Ten thousand years ago, we had to attune to our physical environment to survive through sights and sounds, creating a solid bond between us, nature, and living creatures. Perhaps this attunement to sights and sounds of nature is why they have such a positive effect on us still today.

Scientists of the Biophilia hypothesis believe our deep connection with nature is why humans share phobias of snakes or thunder and lightning because we were consistently vulnerable to these predators or phenomena. 

What can nature teach us?

Everything is in flux

The trees appear still, and the dirt solid. Yet, upon a second look, ants are rearranging the dirt, worms are inching their way across it, and approximately one billion bacteria are moving around in a teaspoon of dirt. The ground is alive, our topsoil sustaining all of the world's crops. The trees seem solid, yet they are quietly growing twelve inches annually. On a grander scale, the seasons come and go, changing the landscape, and influencing where wildlife graze and sleep. 

Buddhism teaches us that clinging makes for suffering, especially without recognizing impermanence. We don't want to embrace impermanence – that everything is constantly changing and is the only constant. We grasp onto anything pleasant and cling with dear life to the raft boat of our expectations and goals. We avoid anything unpleasant without facing it and urge it to pass. 

The pain of recognizing that we can't hold onto anything with certainty that it will last and be unchanged from this moment is great. But there is freedom in accepting impermanence and allowing things to be in flux; it removes the pressure and demands we put on ourselves to perfect our lives. We step into allowance and acceptance for a greater range in our experience, living more fully in what is present and authentic for us now. We recognize wishing for an experience to stay or leave because it will all eventually pass, even the most pleasant experiences.

Nature is fierce and gentle

A thunderstorm rolling in during a hike spikes my heart rate like nothing else. Seeing the dark clouds pummel toward me, thunder that seems to crack rock, and lightning strike down in the distance is scary. Witnessing the fierce storms in the mountains reminds me of the power and strength nature has that we possess too. The gentle breeze picks up where the raging storm left off, and the birds begin firing off chirps while the sun naively gleans out from the clouds as if nothing happened. It's incredible to witness the ferociousness quickly followed by the tranquility. 

Just as we experience rage and sadness in our bodies, we notice how peace and contentment follow it. Our emotional and physical storms can feel grand and scary, yet they pass. 

A resilient tree facing a storm, Colorado

When I am in a raging thunderstorm of emotions, I gently remind myself that this, too, shall pass. Like Nature, we have the capacity to witness tumultuous thunderstorms show up and eventually move on. We acknowledge our ability to be powerful and gentle, whether it's having tough conversations that are clear and kind or expressing compassion in place of advice. We are as powerful and gentle as Nature. 

Nature is chaotic and orderly.

Like life, Nature embodies paradoxes. Hiking through a forest after a winter avalanche looks like an apocalyptic mess. Trees curl and grow sideways from high winds in Colorado. The ocean tangles seaweed and branches on the shore. Yet there is order and organization in Nature. 

Seeing a river wind beautifully back and forth as it was designed with intention. Perfectly symmetrical petals blossom from a flower, and Aspen trees look like someone planted them in even rows. The special arrangement of flowers, branches, or a raindrop hitting water are organized as fractals. 

Florence Williams writes in The Nature Fix that fractal patterns in nature create alpha waves in our brains, which puts us into a relaxed state. Accessing alpha waves is hard in modern life and easier in nature. These brain waves lower stress, reduces anxiety and improves creative thinking. No wonder it feels good to be surrounded by green trees and blue oceans. 

Fractal pattern in tree branches, Costa Rica

Nature teaches us to embrace the paradoxes of life, such as life being orderly and chaotic, and allow opposites to find their place in our lives. Carl Jung, a famous psychologist, said that a paradox is when two ideas seem to contradict themselves and help us comprehend the fullness of life. 

Nature has the strength to hold opposites, and we can learn to do the same. We are quick to label, divide, and deem things good or bad, or right or wrong. Instead, if we can embrace nuance and let opposites exist in our lives, it may help us with life’s biggest challenges. 

Have you ever felt wronged by somebody? When we feel hurt, it’s easy to fall into a victim mentality as our sense of self strengthens and gets ready to defend (“I am hurt. They hurt me! It's their fault!). But if we can see the other person's stance as valid and true, just as we have our validity and our truth, it becomes easier to step into acceptance for what is true for both of us instead of deciding only one of us is right. 

The paradox is that both of our feelings in the situation are valid and true, and both of us are right and wrong. While paradoxes invoke mental cramps and require effort – that effort pays off in a higher capacity to be more understanding and compassionate to the situation we are in, even as we hold space for our pain and hurt that the other person ‘caused.’ 

Everything is interconnected  

According to the National Forest Foundation, the actual seeds of many plants in fire-prone environments need fire to germinate. These plants produce seeds with a tough coating that can lay dormant, awaiting a fire, for several years. Whether it is the fire's intense heat, exposure to chemicals from smoke, or exposure to nutrients in the ground after a fire, these seeds depend on fire to break their dormancy. How incredible that the destruction of fire can result in the creation of new trees. 

Aspen groves, many trees connected underground as a single organism, continue to grow even in winter and provide food for deer, elk, and moose when food is harder to come by in winter. There are endless examples of feedback loops and ecosystems in Nature. Without all of the parts, the whole fails. 

The New York Times captured how interconnected nature is with research by Dr. Greene showing that birds, mammals, and even fish recognize the alarm signals of other species. They are acting as a neighborhood local watch. Red-breasted nuthatches listen to chickadees. Dozens of birds listen to tufted titmice, who act like the forest's crossing guards. Squirrels and chipmunks eavesdrop on birds, sometimes adding their own thoughts. In Africa, vervet monkeys recognize predator alarm calls by superb starlings. 

Deer grazing on a hike, Colorado

When I stroll through nature and hear the birdsong and think of the neighborhood watch calls and interdependence of forest decomposition providing soil for the next layer of overstory, I am reminded of how much Western society prizes individuality. 

Interdependence has a bad reputation in Western culture, with co-dependency being negatively labeled, a pervasive cancel culture, and our inclination to label relationships as toxic and walk away if there is any negativity. Our insistence on tribal and identity politics divides us further and is ineffective at driving real change. 

Our approach is failing, given loneliness and mental health challenges are on the rise, and Americans are in worse health than any other developed nation. We need each other in our communities, neighborhoods, companies, schools, churches, and temples – wherever one convenes. 

I'm as guilty as anyone of judging and criticizing others for how they live, vote, and raise their children. I’m actively trying to cultivate more awareness of my judgments and see our differences as okay and our similarities as more common than initially assumed – especially around heated politics. 

Nature reminds me that the micro-actions I make in a day affect someone whose micro-actions affect someone else, and so on. I am more conscious of making better decisions, acting more compassionately, and being kinder, especially when every fiber in me vehemently disagrees with that person. 

It's a work in progress for me and probably for many of my readers, and it’s a good reminder from nature to see how interconnected and interdependent we are with each other. 

Nature is fun and free of modern distractions

While swimming in the crisp ocean waves can help us get space from our problems, it’s also - quite frankly, fun. We need more fun. Animals play in nature. Scientists have confirmed animals playing, such as octopuses who blow streams of water in a pushing game with empty bottles. Sheep bounce around, elephants play soccer, hyena cubs play with branches, and ravens perform aerial acrobatics like flying upside down. 

It’s easy to get caught up in the seriousness of life, tipping the scales toward our masculine sides of achievement, goals, and logic. When we frolic in nature, the feminine earth energy reminds us to let go, open up, and let loose. We can be our free selves and play without goals. The lack of modern distractions can be unsettling at first since our brains seek the next dopamine hit from our phone, but after a while, watching the sunset drip into the ocean or the cloud shapes move through the sky, our hearts open and our minds settle. 

Nature speaks to us, begs for our attention, and is a sounding board for some of our most profound questions.

It may not have all the answers, but it’s one of the most beautiful places to ask the questions. 

Will you visit blue or green spaces today?