as I grow older and hopefully wiser, the pull of nature becomes stronger. I notice more things about the sky, the trees, the wind, the trees and grass, the hills and the mountains, the scents of flowers, the musty odour of the soil, than ever before. How is it that we go through a major portion of our lives living in large overpopulated cities without getting a real feel for the natural world? We are so engrossed in our daily activities that we often forget to stop and look at the natural world around us. In fact most urban areas are designed to put nature at a distance, especially in Pakistan with its lack of parks, reserves, protected bird life and so on.
Nature is there for exploitation because mistakenly we believe it is infinite in its bounties and use it without a thought to its destruction.
I have come to realize that nature soothes me beyond anything. The stress of negative thoughts, the unknown anxiety that haunts us, the empty feelings, the loss of treasured loves all come to a sudden halt when we interact with the living world. The big sky opens our souls and give it that expansive space it yearns to feel connected and whole. Different plants - old trees with their knotted branches, the young saplings with their pert stances, the bushes and shrubs of all shades of green, the flowers small and large, the wild grasses that cling to the hillsides and grow against odds between the cliffs, the distant lone tree that I can see from miles away swaying on a mountain top - energize me. The permanence and impermanence of this growth instills a hope, a surety, a sort of warranty on life. The wind that blows in the late fall evening with its pungent smells is akin to a breeze of heaven. For my heaven would have cool fragrant breeze flowing with perfumes of jasmine. On my walks I see the sun turning from yellow to orange to red before setting, streaking the sky with its vibrant colors and lending a magical, mystical feel to the landscape.
I have become a different person being in touch with the natural world around me. The rhythms of nature are more pronounced and more noticeable and somehow more important to me at this point in life.
Nature has taught me patience. The sheer solidity and immutability of what is - the mountains, the trees, the stars, the sky - all suggest that our problems and issues are not only transient, but inconsequential in the larger scheme of things.
Nature is the great minimiser. I have come to want less (I think) than ever before simply because a lot has been fulfilled by nature. It is a strange phenomena the more we appreciate the living world around us the less we need the artificial. It is a return to a more primal and authentic way of living, a life which is simple and basic.
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