Nature therapy

Yesterday, my daughter and I went on a nice leisurely hike.  We walked and wandered the paths at the Urban Ecology Center/Riverside Park and the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum.  We sat on logs or boulders to observe, converse and write in our nature journals.  It was a lovely end-of-summer sort of day, and I can't think of a better way to have spent it.  We delighted in the sights and sounds and enjoyed the afternoon sunshine.  After some cold and dreary days, it did us good.  I know my mood felt lightened and lifted.  And I think my daughter's did too, as she broke into a joyful, open-armed run on a stretch of pathway flanked by wildflowers and grasses.

 
Whenever I spend time in nature, I wonder why I don't do it more often.  I know that I will feel refreshed and rejuvenated, and yet I don't always make time for it.  When the kids were younger, we made more time for nature walks.  Although we live in the city, there are plenty of nearby places to immerse ourselves in nature.  Right behind our house is the Milwaukee River and the forests that run alongside it.  There are many beautiful parks and nature centers/preserves within fifteen to thirty minutes of our house.  I love the Japanese concept of shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing.  American authors and naturalists have written about the health benefits of nature as well.  I read Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder when it was first published.  He has also written The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age.  A quick search on Amazon brought up several more titles on this topic.  The researcher in me is tempted to read a few of those books, and maybe I will.  But I don't need a book to tell me that I feel better when I get outside.  What I really need is to be more deliberate about spending time outside in nature each week.  What I really need is forest-bathing. 

Some observations and reflections from my nature journal and more photos from our hike:

In the forest -
What a gorgeous day!  By the calendar, it is still summer.  At 64 degrees and sunny with a cool breeze, it feels like a cross between summer and fall.  It still looks mostly like summer with wildflowers blooming and butterflies flitting about.  The leaves I see all about me here are mostly still green, although I see a patch of orange-yellow at the top of one small tree.  We saw a slightly ginger-colored squirrel parked on the side of a tree while chewing intently on an acorn.  Humans are here too - schoolchildren with their teachers, UEC staff, a fisherman heading toward the river, a young couple biking, people walking their dogs.  We are sitting in a circle of benches under a canopy of green with a clear blue sky peaking through.
    

In the arboretum -
This is such a tranquil place.  We are sitting at the top of a hill on a large stone block.  I look out and see a prairie full of wildflowers, a forest of trees and the Milwaukee River in the distance.  Flying about are butterflies - lots of monarchs, but others too.  The sound of crickets (or grasshoppers?) mostly drowns out the noise of traffic from nearby busy - but unseen - city streets.  Facing west, the only building I see is the spire of St. Casimir's rising up across the river.  At this moment - that and the back-up beep of a truck are the only reminders that I am not in some remote place.  I am so appreciative of this bit of wilderness.  I am simply in the wild, with the sun's warmth cheering me after yesterday's cold and rain.  Although we see a few people walking the paths, our main companions here are bees, butterflies, dragonflies and birds.