Nature as healer

My love of nature began as an infant safely contained in a playpen in the shady corner of a garden while my mom and my grandfather worked the land and grew the plants that fed our family and many others. I learned to love plants in that garden, and I walked those rows, sowed many seeds, and harvested crops with my beloved grandfather until I married and moved away.

People speak of animal whisperers, and we love animals. Our family whispers to plants more loudly than to animals though. Plants are vocal, in their way. They rustle, droop, sprout, spread, and turn. Caring for a plant requires noticing their posture, their moisture, their color. They forgive all but long-term neglect. The reward attentiveness with beauty and fresh air.

Moving into big cities meant that I looked to parks and gardens for support in difficult times. The Norfolk Botanical Gardens stood by me for years. Beaches stand by me still. As have gardens that we created in our backyards. Walking outdoors soothes me as I watch neighboring gardens grow, listen to the wind in the trees, and notice the small creatures who inhabit our world alongside me.

When my partner became ill, we walked miles and miles. Nature soothed us. Movement rocked us. Together, they strengthened our connection, and together we regulated our anxiety. When he died, I could not understand how I could live without the heart that lived within us both. I did the only thing I knew how to do. I walked. I reached out to nature for support. I looked to the trees who have lived long past those they love.

I found Antonio Machado’s poem, “Traveler, there is no path,” and I live by his advice, “The path is made by walking.” I am still walking. I no longer look for answers to the unknowable. I look to mother earth and notice each new flower. I seek solace where I have always found solace, in nature.

Starflower Meadow continues my walk into an unknown future where there are, sometimes, no answers, where heartache can be held, and where grief’s despair may be transformed into love for all those lost and for all those who will be lost to us in the future. Starflower Meadow is a restorative place for healing through nature.