7 Easy Ways to Feel Happier & Find Calm through Nature!

Have you noticed how much calmer you feel after spending time in a park or a walk in the woods? Do you, like me, get excited when you see a flower that promises spring (or summer), or spot that bird singing it’s little heart out to attract a mate?

This article is inspired by Earth Day and helps us boosts our relationship to nature so that we feel calmer and more connected. Because here at Fierce Kindness, we believe connection is key for both happiness—and also to find calm or “inner peace”.

This week we’re specifically looking at our connection to nature…

Here are 7 Ways to Find Inner Peace and Calm Inspired by Our World!

1) Hug a tree

Have you ever hugged a big tree? Did you imagine, as you hugged it, how many hundreds of years it’s been alive? How far it reaches into the sky? How deeply it’s rooted into the earth? Did you feel the rough yet soft bark? Did you think how slowly a leaf bud unfurls?

Hugging a tree is beautifully satisfying because it connects us—both mentally and physically—to something (literally) bigger than ourselves and reminds us we’re part of nature!

A tree grows slowly and steadily according to the sun and water available. It doesn’t worry what others think or care how it looks or what it’s achieved. It doesn’t try to impress, it does everything in perfect balance and in its own sweet time.

I bet that after reading you already feel a little bit calmer…

2) Put up a calming nature picture you’ll see often

There is research that shows just looking at nature is calming.

So, especially if you can’t go out much at the moment or you’re sitting at a desk all day, find a picture of nature (preferably with lots of green in it) that you find soothing and place it somewhere you’ll see it often.

This could be directly in front of your desk, your desktop background, in a bathroom (eg. opposite where you sit on the toilet) or somewhere else.

Simply choose an image you find peaceful, and be sure to look at it regularly to reconnect with calm and the natural world!

3) Do it outside

Getting creative and learning new ways to do things is good for our brains. And interestingly, one big thing we all learned to do during that COVID pandemic was to do more things outside!

So why not make this your new “go to” phrase: Let’s do _____ outside!

(Although this will of course be seasonal) try simply adding the word “outside” to the end of whatever you plan on doing.

Could you have bookclub, eat breakfast, play a board game, nap, meditate, sew on that button, watch a movie, paint your nails outside?

Some things will work and some won’t, but who knows what might happen—or what you might end up doing instead?

Finally, spending time with friends is good for our soul, so try using “outside” as an opportunity to connect with others (or yourself!) in new ways.

4) Walk barefoot in the grass

This is best done on a sunny morning!

First, find somewhere where it’s safe to walk barefoot (eg. no broken glass etc!), then take off your socks and shoes and connect with the grass—and planet—through your feet.

Now use all your senses. Feel the grass underneath your feet. Imagine for a moment that you have roots extending deep into the ground, connecting you to the centre of the earth!

Can you feel the sunshine on your face or your back? What about a breeze on your skin or ruffling your hair or clothes? Are you warm or cool? Is there dew or dampness in the air or in the grass beneath your feet? Can you hear birdsong?

Using all your senses like this takes you out of thought and into your body. It’s calming—and connects you back to your self and the natural world…

5) Get awed up!

Inspire yourself with awe: it’s a stress reducer and mood booster.

When we feel awe and wonder, the inspiration we feel carries over to all areas of our lives. Awe is also calming: it makes us feel small (in a good way), worry less, feel more spacious—and lastly reminds us that we’re part of something much, much larger than ourselves.

Although awe can’t be forced, there are many ways to open up to awe and wonder. And it all starts with curiosity.

Let your childlike questions bubble up:

• As you look at the night sky ask: Why do stars twinkle?
• Grab a single poppy seed from the kitchen. Ask: How does this tiny, hard, black lump (used as a topping for muffins, salads etc.) turn into a beautiful flower? How does it know how and when to grow? And how is it that all the information it needs to grow is stored in that teeny little blob in your hand?
• What did you wonder as a child? For exmple: How do birds make those incredible metallic feathers? How does a spider know to build a web? How does the moon stay in orbit?

And we can also consider what humans have achieved:

• Listen to some music you love. Consider: What is music anyway? Why is it pleasing? What makes a tune so catchy?
• Consider a piece of architecture you admire: the Eiffel Tower, a cathedral, the Statue of Liberty or something else. How on earth did they build it? How long did it take? How many people?

Allow yourself to really wonder how these things happen or happened!

So much in our world is literally incredible when you really think about it. The awe we feel as a result connects us to our deepest innermost self, as well as helping us feel expansive and connected to others.

Take it a step further: Thinking back to that poppy seed. If growing a plant is incredible—what does that make you?

6) Connect the dots!

The world is a lot ‘smaller’ than we realise. You may be one human amongst 7 billion, yet how many lives are intertwined with yours through the things you use, buy and eat? You might be surprised!

In Buddhism there’s an exercise to develop compassion, where we consider how connected we all are to each other. For example:

• Your Food: Think about how the food you’re eating was planted, cared for, harvested, stored, processed (if applicable), transported, set out in the supermarket and sold to you. Now consider each of the different “whos” involved along the way. Where are they in the world? What is their life like?
• Clothing: What is it made of? Where did the source material come from? How was it made into fabric? How was it coloured or patterned? Who designed the item? Sewed it? Who packaged it, loaded it, transported it? Put it out for sale? Who did you buy it from? How and where do each of these people live?

You can do this exercise with any ‘thing’ at all. And as you do it, try to really see what it feels like as you consider how many people were involved in getting this ‘thing’ to you.

We really are all connected…

7) Observe nature over time…

Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows, by itself. Haiku by Matsuo Bashō

Once we’re outdoors, even in cities, we can find nature. Have you got somewhere—a local park, walk or urban planting—where you could go back to the same spot (whether it’s daily, weekly or monthly), and notice what’s changed each time?

For example my hubbie and I visit a small pond regularly and notice what’s changed. The frogs, the weeds, the pollen accumulating on the surface of the water from nearby maple trees (food for the tadpoles!), the buds on the weeping willow, the flowers on the native flowering currant. The closer we look, the more we see!

Even if it’s just a tiny urban park, notice what the tree/s are doing. Are the branches bare, or do they have leaves, flowers, seeds? What are the birds, bugs or flowers doing? How wet or dry is the ground? Are there any fungi? Ants? Is the grass growing yet?

Noticing the changing of the seasons, tiny details, helps us slow down and remember our innate connection with nature—and how each of us also changes slowly over time.

Wrap-up

To find inner peace we need to be connected and living in rhythm with ourselves—and accept whatever is happening, wherever we are.

But for many of us, our lives are so busy that we’re no longer connected to ourselves. And many of us have lost touch with the possibilities and wonder of our larger world and our belonging with nature. We have forgotten that we are, in fact, a part of nature.

Nature gives us the opportunity to settle into ourselves, be fully present and let go of all our human-created problems and strivings. It provides us with endless opportunities to increase our connection—on every level, if only we would let it.

Change the world. Start with you!

If you liked this article, you may also like:

• What is Voluntary Simplicity? 10 Easy Ways to Live a Simpler, Kinder Life!
• For Earth Day: Hope is a Muscle…
• How to Forest Bathe