Every now and again take a good look at something not made with hands — a mountain, a star, the turn of a stream. There will come to you wisdom and patience and solace and, above all, the assurance that you are not alone in the world.
Reverend Sidney Lovett
Welcome to Day Four of Build a Life of Belonging
Bring to mind one of your ancestors who is no longer living — someone at least two or three generations back. Try for a moment to imagine describing the following to them: a smart phone or Zoom meeting, social media or drones, perhaps even central air conditioning in an urban high-rise. After you’ve tackled this imaginary conversation, ask them next where their food comes from, what the crop forecast is, and the names of three local plants. No doubt this second conversation will be easier! For millennia, humans have been deeply familiar with the places they inhabit. Stationary and nomadic cultures alike knew well the seasons, the edible plants on their route, the location of the fresh spring or oasis. A life of belonging was shaped not only by meaningful connection to other people but by a reciprocal relationship with the natural world. Whether by choice or force, many of us today move multiple times in our lives. Consequently, the option to know a particular place across generations may not be available. And even if we stay put, we’re easily separated from the natural world by both modern comforts and modern distractions. Whatever your circumstances, the opportunity to remember that you exist in relationship with the natural world is available to you — to remember that you belong, as Br. David Steindl-Rast writes, “to this Earth Household, in which each member belongs to all others.”
Today’s Practice: Attune to Nature’s Gifts
For today’s practice, begin by watching and listening to this moving film by Reflections of Life, in which Kathleen shares how the natural world has helped her find her way to belonging and being her authentic self.
At the end of the film, Kathleen says that if nature were personified, she’d say to her: “Thank you for being there for me when no one else was. Thank you for defining my life.” Take a few moments to consider what you would say.
Step One: List Five Gifts
In addition to the very air you breathe, list five ways that the natural world has provided for you today. These can include things that keep you alive in body or spirit — birdsong, a nearby park or river, the plant in your windowsill, fresh vegetables, a photograph of some beautiful place you love.
Step Two: Pick One & Describe
Pick one thing from your list that matters greatly to you, and take some time to name and describe its gifts. Does it provide sustenance, beauty, or joy? Does it represent a place that you cherish? How would your life be diminished without it?
Step Three: Connect through Your Senses
Spend ten minutes today deepening your awareness of an aspect of the natural world that matters to you. Even if you’re typically outside during the day, carve out ten minutes for focused attention. If you can’t get outside, don’t forget that technology offers the gift of natural soundscape recordings, videos of beautiful places around the globe, and stunning nature photographs. However you do it, commit to ten minutes of savoring the natural world with all of your available senses. Here are a few ideas:
- Taste: Slow down and savor the taste of a piece of fruit.
- Look: Choose a flower or plant and examine it closely for details you’ve never noticed before.
- Smell: Savor nature’s aromas: fresh cut grass, pine needles, the scent of earth’s harvest as you’re cooking.
- Listen: Close your eyes and see what sounds you can hear from the natural world: the wind, birds, cicadas, rainfall.
- Touch: Cup your hands under the faucet and pay close attention to the way water feels on your skin.
Step Four: Reflect
- When you feel alone or that you can’t quite find the place you belong, what’s one way you can continue to remind yourself that you live in relationship with the natural world — one way, as Sidney Lovett writes above, that by attuning to the natural world, you can be assured that you are not alone?
- If belonging depends on both parties being seen and valued, what’s one thing you’d like to do to care for the earth, to give thanks for its gifts? How does this enhance your sense of belonging?
Scroll to the bottom of the page (or click here) to find the Community Conversation space where we invite you to share your reflections about today’s practice.
Deepening Resource
In this short essay, Sheryl Chard shares the power and gift of five minutes under a sky full of stars. She writes, “I feel, inexplicably, as close to the shimmering galaxy above as I am to the ground beneath my feet. Starlight, soil, water, skin, the night air — the distinctions, for a moment, disappear. The veil thins.” When have you experienced this feeling of connection to the natural world and to the mystery inherent in being alive?
Belonging in the Natural World: An Ode to Rilke’s Law of the Stars by Sheryl Chard
Research Highlight
Decades of research have demonstrated that contact with the natural world increases human health and well-being, including a reduction in stress and an improvement in both mood and cognition. More recently, researchers have looked at the impact of developing a psychological connection with nature, described as “the extent to which people see themselves as part of nature.” When humans see themselves as connected to the natural world — as integrated, as belonging to it — they are more likely to act on behalf of nature and engage in pro-conservation efforts. Unfortunately, there has been a global decline in people’s direct experience of the natural world, with multiple causes ranging from urbanization to deforestation, resulting in a decline of emotional affinity with the natural world.
Moate, Monique. Human Connection with Nature Improves Wellbeing and Pro-Environmental Behaviours: Study , a summary of findings from a large-scale study by Barragan-Jason et al published in Biological Conservation, January 2023.
Photo by Adeolu Elite
I can share Kathleen’s feelings connection and sense of belonging with nature. In my teen years we were going through some difficulties and since I couldn’t share family problems with school friends I often found myself feeling very lonely. I found accompaniment and a sense of belonging by spending time near the sea. I remember then that the most beautiful essay I wrote for school was one were I personified the sea as my best friend. To this day I find the greatest sense of belonging and healing being in nature and observing it. It’s were often somehow I feel connected to the whole world.
While having been gifted with the possibility of snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef in 1991, my heart and eye were overflowing with joy and awe while freely floating weightlessly in the water, perceiving the utter beauty of the underwaterworld.a huge shell of more than 1 m size sparkling in bright white rose tinted white, wide open as if ready to receive all she needed, colorful swarms of fish which were not afraid at all, rather coming up to me curiously, colorful moving corals of all shapes close by… it was a magical, mystical and timeless moment of utter beauty which will stay as a moment of having been allowed of perceiving God´s gift of nature on our precious planet, Mother Earth. I just saw several movies about precious inspiring work on reforestation, and especially for you guys in America, about America´s plan to restore the wild west! which is an absolute inspiring project very much worth to percieve and support, here is the link to see this utterly beautiful project! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPbCjH45uwI&ab_channel=PlanetWild
Fortunately I find my backyard as a loving nature. Many times I smell tree leaves, look at the flowers, walk barefoot on grass, mediate in backyard, look towards sun and feel warmth and love from Sun.
I have been taught from early childhood to always think God is always there with me and so I feel that God or Naure or Universe is with me and I belong to this.
To care for the earth, I have been trying to consume minimum resources for living. This consumerism society most of us in the Western World have so many unnecessary things using lot more resources than we should be allowed based on – total resources of earth / 8 billion people. We have 2-3 TVs, 20-30 or more pair of clothes, and everything else. We all need to reduce consumption to preserve and equally distribute resources.
This has been a rich reading and video. I especially want to share my current relationship with the tree right outside my window. II live in a condo on the 3rd floor and “my” tree is right beyond my balcony. I meditate each morning and and will open my eyes to gaze at her. She is now a symbol of God, God’s beauty and nourishment. She feeds me peace, comfort, as I breathe in and out grateful for her presence. And she changes, the light on the end of the branches her leaves sparkle, or watching the breeze and movement of her branches, or a squirrel clinging and jumping over to a nearby tree or the birds, sparrows, finches, who sit and take turns coming to the sock of birdseed hanging close by. I’ve grown to love my tree and when I’m lonely, I sit by her. She is full of grace, a gift that has touched my soul And I’d say to her, ” You mean so much to me. My heart opens when I’m with you. You have revealed the power of nature and brought me closer go God.” Thank you, Sandra