I Believe Wednesday: Nature

Posted byKatrina Ávila MunichielloPosted inEnvironment, I Believe Wednesday, My Essays

It’s been a week since my last post, but at least it means that I can pick up where I left off!

It’s not really that I believe in nature. I mean, who doesn’t? It exists. What I actually believe in is the healing that nature can bring.

I am someone who finds peace in nature. When my heart feels its greatest pain or my worry feels larger than I can bear, nature is what helps me find a way to move forward.

I’m fortunate to have a backyard that backs up to a small stretch of woods. It lets me escape and refocus even if I have just a few minutes. My walk to my daughter’s school at drop off and pick up time also brings me through a wooded trail. I think, refocus, rebound. Just a short distance away we have conservation land and ponds. These are wonderful and I value them, but what I really crave is BIG nature.

The two places that bring me the greatest comfort are the ocean and the sky. Looking out over the gray-blue waves (or brilliant blue on a lucky day), draws me in. I find my breath deepening, my shoulders relaxing. The smell of the salt air, the shifting sand, the rhythm of the seas. My mind spins, but in different ways. Instead of the perpetual t0-do list racing through my mind, I marvel at the expanse, the sheer beauty.

nationalgeographicnaturepoetryAs for sky, it is, in particular, a night sky. No matter the weather, I love to stop for a bit outside, staring at the deepest, darkest night, pierced with shockingly bright beams. I observe the shape of the moon and seek out the few constellations I remember. And it too heals, because it reminds me of how much there is beyond, and how little my problems are in the grand scheme of the universe. It reminds me that we are all in this together — that we are all part of a single world and I have to always think about how my choices and actions and priorities impact others.

Where do you find your peace? When you have a moment when you seek nature, where do you go?

Past I Believe Wednesday posts include: I Believe Wednesday: Kindness, I Believe Wednesdays: Imagination and I Believe Wednesday: Take a Chance.

Published by Katrina Ávila Munichiello

KAM is a freelance writer, editor, and lifelong lover of books. She was the kind of kid who woke up before sunrise to read before school and her passion for books has never waned. After nearly a decade of work in public health and the non-profit sector, she became a stay-at home mom. The twelve years since have allowed her discover a new life’s ambition — writing. She published her first book “A Tea Reader: Living Life One Cup at a Time,” a collection of essays written by tea lovers around the world, in 2011, and has had articles and essays featured in outlets including Yankee Magazine and Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. She served as Senior Editor of Tea Magazine. She currently writes picture books and middle grade books and is loving every minute of making them better. She is a member of NESCBWI, Vice President of Friends of the J.V. Fletcher Library and advisor of an elementary school Newspaper Club.

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