05/24/2024
Hey Everyone! Thanks for taking some time to read this! Last Thursday Jen and I met with some of you and discussed some important and balancing effects of being outside more. It was a lovely gathering and I can’t wait to do it again. But in the mean-time I wanted to make the contents of the gathering available to everyone. This is the birth of that intention.
Here is a link to our blog!
https://joykaruna.org/joy-karuna-conversations/f/the-sound-of-birds
Here is a link to the live talk at Joy Karuna!
https://youtu.be/Ffe3YpWFr9c?si=wx_a0ifjVdaJlDHT
The sound of birds. Most of us love the sound of birds. Nearly everyone loves a gentle breeze flowing over their skin. We all feel a certain way when we are near the ocean, small and insignificant, yet part of something huge and awe-inspiring. Maybe you’ve noticed how going outside helps calm you when you’re stressed. Or when we go camping, how after a couple days to get adjusted, our stress falls away and we find a contentment amongst the trees, squirrels and birds. I know not everyone loves to camp lol. But the idea is that the more we are exposed to nature, the happier we are.
If you think about it, really take stock over the course of your life and remember the times you have spent outside. Through all the phases of your life and all your incarnations, there has been one constant. Nature has been a refuge. This is not mere coincidence. There are many good and healthy reasons to go out and bask in the beautiful, mysterious, healing environs of our dear Mother Earth.
One
The Earth is literally our mother. We are created from her fertile soil. More than that, along with all the other animals, plants, rocks and dirt, we are made of her. The elements that make us up are the same that make up the earth. When we are outside, we are soaking in the nourishing environment that created life. In the womb of our creation. If you think about it, it’s not hard to see how we may feel better in the natural, ancestral, elemental environment we were created in, than we do behind 4 square walls, full of latex paint and unnatural light. Houses are necessary, but they are merely shelters. They are not our homes. The earth is our true home and has been since the beginning of human existence, 300,000 years ago.
Two
Whether we evolved from a different species or we were designed by an intelligent higher power, there is no doubt that we were designed to be on earth.
Our sight is made to be outside. It is designed to be able to see very far and very near, very quickly. To gauge distance. We are able to discern shape and detect movement very well. The complex, layered environments outside allow us to use our eyes as they were intended. It allows our brain to function as it was intended to and opens up neurological pathways not utilized when encountering near task, predictable, repetitive visual environments.
People’s eyesight is changing. Myopia or nearsightedness (poor far vision) is rising among younger and younger populations. Not just your average nearsightedness. The kind that causes glaucoma and retinal detachment. The thought is it is from the near constant near site tasks people do. From looking at a computer, phone or tv to being surrounded by walls rarely more than 20 feet away. We spend very little time using our eyes for their intended purpose. Spending 40 minutes a day outside can improve vision and protect against age related myopia.
Our hearing is made to be outside. It is designed to give is spacial awareness. By hearing something, we can tell direction and distance. We have identifying markers in sounds that give us a host of emotions and other information about our environment. The complex, multi-directional, layered sounds outside allow our auditory system to function the way it was intended to. It opens up neurological pathways that are not utilized when we are in familiar, predictable, sound controlled environments. The sounds of our world are magical and healing, because it is the sound of our creation.
You may be detecting a pattern here. Our sense of smell is much the same. The complex, layered smells of the outside world are what our scent glands have been picking up for hundreds of thousands of years. Only very recently have they been dominated by artificial scents, cleaning products and odor blocking agents. The smells outside open up neurological pathways not utilized in scent controlled, predictable, repetitive environments.
The sun on our skin. A cool breeze picking up our hair. The rain on your face. The multitudes of sensations that we feel when outside are almost uncountable and immeasurable. Compared to the sterile, predictable, repetitive environments we create inside, outside is like an explosion of physical sensation. Our neurological pathways look much different than when we are “inside”.
Our relationship with food is different when we are outside. It tastes different. We instinctively eat less and choose better, healthier foods.
My point is that outside is not just outside. IT IS HOME! In so many ways it is difficult to quantify. The result of all those different neurological pathways being used is happiness! It’s contentment. It is the full expression of our humanity. The key to unlocking our potential. It is us, existing in the environment we were made for.
Three
Nature is the perfect analog for the spiritual path. Nature adapts. Nature is patient. It is nurturing. It is symbiotic. Nature is pure. None of the human neuroses exist in nature. And when you are in nature, you realize that they don’t exist in you either. Nature strips away the constructs that keep us limited and cause us to suffer. It shows us our true selves, free from the influences of our past or future. When in nature, you exist in the now, because nature exists in the now. I will say it again, this is how we are meant to exist. In the now. In an environment that demands and allows us to be free in the now. We are made to exist out in our natural environment. In our natural, complex, ever changing, neurologically demanding, life giving environment.
So there are some reasons to go outside more and maybe some different ways to interpret natures impact on our happiness and health. Again thanks for reading and hope to see you out on the trail. - Josh
