Healing
Medicine for an aching soul and a new poem.
Personally, I discovered that the best remedy for heavy heart, anxiety, and feeling down is to go out in nature. No matter what happens in my life or how much down I feel, nature always helps me. When I am stuck in my head, thinking about the same thoughts over and over again, or when I’m sucked into social media and a never-ending stream of bad news, the world seems very small and heavy. When I go for a walk or on a hike, it broadens up, and suddenly, I see that there are a million different worlds that exist at the same time. This realization helps me to stop feeling trapped and regain hope.
Too often, I’m so stressed that I can walk for hours without noticing anything around me, sunk deep in my thoughts. Eventually, I lift my head and start paying attention to my surroundings. I notice birds flying from tree to tree and jumping on the branches. I notice insects living their busy lives. I notice squirrels and rabbits. Sometimes, I can see deer and coyotes. I notice plants and trees growing and changing in each season. When I think that everyone and everything on this planet lives in their own world, follows their own rules, and has their own tasks and worries, I start to feel that my world is not the only one but a part of a much bigger picture. It makes me feel less alone and allows me to look at the events in my life with more wisdom.
Stress, grief, and the frantic pace of life quickly bring me to the same state of anxiety and confined mind. When it happens, I feel the urge to go out in nature again – to remember, pause, and eventually start to feel again.
I recently wrote a poem after coming home from a long walk:
I went outside in bad weather and walked in the rain for miles. The wind and dark, heavy clouds resembled the storm inside. As my clothes were soaking wet, my mind was getting clearer. At some point, I emerged from my thoughts and started to look around. I noticed fluffed-up sparrows waiting out the rain in the bushes. I saw baby deer grazing in the field with moms. The trees wore green wet moss as fur coats. Everything was calm and full of life. Everyone was in their place. No one was alone. So was I. As the sky slowly cleared up and the storm passed, I walked back home, finally feeling alive.
I’m wishing you a calm and restful weekend.
Warmly,
Darya
Email: daryazorka@substack.com
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I remember in the first weeks of full-scale invasion, I would force myself to go outside. Just to be, do nothing, away from the screen, scrolling news. Walk around. I remember thinking: "One day, it will all make sense again. I will feel something again. I will notice. I will appreciate." This still fluctuates, I must admit. I wish the same for you.
Nature has a healing nature. And we are part of a bigger picture though often a mystery where, but I sense your heart and mind are in the right place. Once in a great while I feel that everything is in its place. That is great, I find I can’t force it or make it happen, it comes on its own. Thank you for your writings!