It used to be pretty common for people to use the term “natural high,” and it seems kind of a shame that we don’t use it much anymore.  It’s a pretty nice term, and it explains well what I feel when I’m in a natural setting.  When I’m in a forest and the air is much more oxygen-rich, when I’m on a mountaintop or mountainside with miles of beautiful landscape before me, when I’m beside an ocean and I can smell the surf and the immensity of the sea, when I can experience the amazing silence of the desert–-then I know that I’m experiencing a natural high.

There really is no limit to all that nature offers us.  The only real limits to what we can get from nature are in how much we’ll take–-and how often we’ll put ourselves in situations in which we can receive from her.  In nature there’s peace, there’s fascination, there’s excitement, there are innumerable lessons in life and living, there are beauty and wonder.  But how much of that do we allow into our lives as a part of who we are?

Try it sometime–-put yourself in a position in which you can get something from nature, even if that position is merely a walk in the park.  And then allow yourself to take it.  Notice things, feel things, see things, experience them.  Only if you allow yourself to feel what nature has to offer can you let nature be one of your best teachers of all.

Sometimes when I find that I need to be reminded of the power of nature, I watch DVD’s with beautiful scenery of mountains and forests and deserts.  The wonderful scenery obviously is no substitute for the real thing, but it does serve as a great reminder of what’s out there, waiting for me, when and if I want to take advantage of it.  Natural highs are a real part of life for me, and I want to do my best always to make them a common experience for me.
 

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass
springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of
nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive.

Eleonora Duse