This Is Your Brain On Nature Analysis

In his book, The Nature Principle, Richard Louv talks about how nature is a natural resource to many of the problems we as humans are facing today, if we would just go outside and take advantage of it. Louv talks about how we (as American’s) have increased our use of technology vastly in the last ten years. While this is not comply bad, it does have negative effects on our physical, emotional and spiritual being if not kept in check. Louv goes on to share that, “the more high tech we become, the more nature we need” (Louv, 2011). Think about a time you have sat in your office for hours on end, working on your computer, at last lunch time came and you went outside for just five minutes because you forgot something in your car. In just those few minutes of going outside, you might have noticed a slight increase in your happiness level. Can you then venture to understand how this could be applied to children, or even increased with taking more time to enjoy nature? Richard Louv challenges his readers to not only be in nature, but to live with nature (Louv, 2011) .

While reading different essays addressing the topic of nature, I came to the conclusion that they all shared the idea that being outside can make an impact in everyone no matter if you believe you only belong in a city or forest because it can bring you serenity and show you all the amazing things you wouldn't be able to see anywhere else. In Wendell Berry’s essay “An Entrance to the Woods,” he states that people can use the quiet of the woods to forget all their problems. Berry wrote “One is that, though I am here in body, my mind and my nerves too are not yet altogether here. We seem to grant to our high-speed roads and our airlines the rather thoughtless assumption that people can change places as rapidly as their bodies can be transported.” Nature has a way to transport ones mind and spirit elsewhere while the body is left behind on earth as we travel deep into thought. Adding on to that idea, the essay “A City Person Encountering Nature” by Maxine Hong Kingston the author explains that nature is a giver of peace and patience with its slow cycles that may frustrate people, but help keep a sane mind. Society is fast paced, making everyone feel that they need to keep the same pace in order to get things done, but we don't realize that although our bodies are moving and pushing, our minds are exhausted and cannot keep up with the fast pace. Kingston wrote “Preferring the city myself, I can better discern natural phenomena when books point them out; I also need to verify

Nature in its tranquility provides a calming sensation away from the buzzing city life. The ability

The constant worrying and overthinking consumed my life. My fear began to run my life and eat me alive. I was in a horrible mood at all times and did not want to be talked or touched. The sadness surrounding me seemed to be pushing people away, leaving me feeling even more alone than I actually was. Sometimes, I am still like this, hostile and cross, but as I have gotten older, these episodes become less frequent and less severe.

Rebecca Solnit’s Walking and the Suburbanized Psyche stresses her concerns about the suburban wave that has plagued the world in recent times. According to her, the mind, the body, and the world have a special bond that is being vanquished by the lack of recreational walking. In the eighteenth century, there was a “golden era” for walking because recent accommodations made it possible for the general public to enjoy the untamed nature all around them. This era was short-lived, as suburbs rose to popularity so did their unorthodox labyrinths which made walking simple distances nearly impossible to the public. The reason why walking in nature is important, Solnit shares, is because it allows the mind to flow freely without the corruption of everyday obstacles that the suburbs brought. She explains that in order for the mind to avoid being molded into a sterile dull thing, it must imagine in nature. If we do not continue to walk, the history we have with walking will diminish as will the special bond our ancestors cherished so dearly. Without it, Solnit fears that we will no longer be able to produce such things, however, in recent times walking is not a luxury many can do. I disagree because society has changed to the point where walking is not only a rarity but also a threat to many.

The outdoors is hidden to many people around the world. All many see is the huge skyscrapers and whitewash walls of the cities. These people don’t tend to be as happy because there isn’t a stress reliever, or a place to get away to. They need this place so that they can have some time to just relax, learn, and develop true happiness. The outdoors is an escape for those who know it and are available to experience it on a regular basis. These places can be the Great Redwood Forests and Lake Almanor in California, to Canada’s vast river and lake systems, to the fields of Kansas, and the mountains of New Zealand. All of these places have one thing in common, the freedom to live. So many city dwellers don’t get to experience these things, which rural people hold to so dearly. The constant hustle and bustle of the city tends to keep people from their happiness. The stress of city life has a way to go “out the window” when you spend time outside with yourself and nature. The ones who can experience the life in the

from my past that was being triggered by attuning and caring for my traumatized children. I had

The beautiful blossoms that bloom in Californian spring, the summer daisies alongside the cooling lake, long after the summer the trees have lost their leaves entering autumn to fresh white snow out in the mountains. Nature is able to show us its true beauty without any falseness and modifications. After all, is it not ironic how people go to museums to look at paintings of colorful flowers, green hills, and clear water streams; those are beauties that can easily be observed in real life outside of the urban environment which are surrounded by them, or how people buy recordings of the calming sounds of nature, similar to what you would listen to at night in the woods or smell nature aromas of the candles. What we are doing is trying to mislead our minds and pretend to think that we are in the woods but are instead cornered inside our small, well-furnished, and full -with-technology apartment.

In this essay, “A literature of place”, Barry Lopez discusses the topic of how nature gives us reason and logic for everyday tasks. He claims that nature gives us new life lessons that most people don’t realize. Using his own views and research he describes how nature is a way of life and how it will change people's lives. Lopez talks about past experiences he had as a kid and uses them to persuade readers to go outside and explore the earth. Barry says that when people have an emotional connection with a placer that they will always remember that place. The place that they remember also remembers them spiritually forever. Which is a good thing for most people when they feel alone they can go to their place that they remember to feel close

When we get a chance to go outside and look around us, often we can see a world of nature that is more interesting and spontaneous then we would think. We live today in a world that is filled with technology, screens, and filled with hustle. Sometimes we humans get so caught up in the jumble of our everyday lives and busy schedules that we forget to take a second and stop. When we slow down and look up from our phones every once and awhile we may just be amazed. Whether it be a beautiful sunset of scenic mountain, sometimes it's good to stop and look at nature. All places that we go and the animals that we see can leave us with a smile and a question in our heads. We are left wondering, “Why am I always looking at mey phone, when I could be

With anxiety came a lot of insecurity, negative thinking, and fear. with depression came a lot of internal hate and disappointment. It got to the point where the thought of waking up another day was daunting and in all honesty really hard.I did not understand why I showed up if all i was going to experience was pain. I began to push away anyone who somewhat cared about me, and retreated into my shell. But this set the stage for my comeback, after this experience i was reccomended by my psychologist to do cognitive behavioral therapy. I worked on the biological, physiological, and emotional underpinnings of my anxiety and depression. Outside of therapy, I found workbooks, attended seminars, and bought books to empower myself. Furthermore, i began to apply for jobs,

In the midst of beginning my junior year, I was diagnosed with bipolar depression. My life was a cycle of overeating, over-thinking, and over-sleeping. I quickly learned that simply running away from the thoughts was not going to be the solution, they were far more pervasive than I had imagined. Subsequently, due to poor state of health, I was then diagnosed with PCOS. This in turn was finally the wakeup call I was in desperate need of. It was an extra incentive to stop wallowing in the negative, allowing depression to consume every aspect of my life. My lifestyle needed to change immediately, to escape from the perpetual cycle of emotional and physical exhaustion. To put the whole 180 in motion, I started eating right, exercising more, and

As humans become more connected to the digital world, they become less connected to the physical world. Humankind has turned a blind eye to nature because of the internet, but this problem could be solved by incorporating one into the other. The internet often hinders new generations from enjoying nature, but it could promote a sense of unity if the national parks utilized media ads, intriguing programs, and the peace of feeling unplugged.

At 18 years old, I had just graduated from high school after having spent the entire summer in a mental hospital for stimulant drug addiction. At the time, I was clean against my will, self destructive, and felt that my life had no direction. I went through days where I couldn 't bring myself to get out of bed.

> This was an important point made in the article as it places emphasis on how interaction with the environment can increase a person’s overall well-being: physical and mental. Many clinicians that I know will communicate to their clients the importance of engaging in nature to reduce depressive symptoms; they communicate that mental grounding and nature activities will improve self-confidence and provide clients with a sense of altruism and purpose.