Diary of a Gardener Why Gardens Heal Us
Gardens and nature influence humans in a profound way, whether you enjoy being outside, love flowers or prefer the confinement of the walls within your home over a walk through a park. Admittedly, when you live in a place that is extremely hot and humid for 5 months of the year, it can be stifling to be outdoors for extended periods of time. How about any length of time? But the outdoors and plants have a symbiotic relationship with humans regardless. Gardens and nature have a calming effect on our nervous systems. Oliver Sacks, a British neurologist, writes so eloquently about the power nature has on us.
He writes, “I cannot say exactly how nature exerts its calming and organizing effects on our brains, but I have seen in my patients the restorative and healing powers of nature and gardens, even for those who are deeply disabled neurologically. In many cases, gardens and nature are more powerful than any medication.”
For the past 8-10 years I have found myself falling in love with plants and gardening more. So much so I now have a business centered around them both. Its beauty and awe spark something inside of me like how I felt opening a gift under the Christmas tree as a child. The feeling of excitement and curiosity, all at the same time. The unknown scientific wonder behind why plants do what they do and when. It is as if a puppet is behind the curtain pulling the plants’ strings just at the right time for a bird or butterfly to fly by just as I turn to look. My heart beings to race, a smile comes across my face and immediately my mouth opens in wonder, I gasp and watch the butterfly flitter from one flower to another and then off to the neighbors.
Just yesterday as I was working in my garden, two Zebra Longwing butterflies stayed with me in my shade house off and on all day. It was as if they were carrying a conversation with me while I worked. I know why they were there; I have a passion vine growing along my shade house and that is their host plant, but none-the-less, I enjoyed their presence. The Zebra Longwing is the Florida state butterfly. They had a job to do, and it was not to bring me happiness, but it did.
Walking along a pathway filled with trees, listening to the rustling of the leaves from a breeze blowing, felling the wind on your skin cooling you off while you gaze ahead through the canopy of the trees is an incredible feeling. It reminds me of the scene in the Wizard of Oz as Dorothy walks down the long hallway to see the wizard. It seems as if she is walking forever down the corridor. At the end of the corridor of trees you are not likely to find a wizard to solve your problems, but along the pathway you hopefully have become calmer, a feeling of lightness in your footsteps and a clarity about your day.
I will give you some homework for the week. Go outside every day, purposely. Not just walking to and from your car or into a store or work. Go outside and sit, stand, or walk. Take five minutes and find a shady spot where you can look at plants, a body of water or trees. Allow yourself to breathe the air into your lungs deeply. Say a prayer, think of something positive or ask Mother Nature to fill your soul with positive energies. And then go on about your day. Think back after the week how your mood may have changed, your energy levels or anxiety levels.
Perhaps, Oliver Sacks is correct about the therapeutic healing of nature. He writes, “The effects of nature’s qualities on health are not only spiritual and emotional but physical and neurological. I have no doubt that they reflect deep changes in the brain’s physiology, and perhaps even its structure.”
I have no doubts gardens, gardening, and plants have had a profound affect on me. Despite the work my garden requires of me, it is still the place I go to get away, center myself, and in many ways forgive myself. I give myself many pep talks in the garden and am reminded everything always works itself out. Just like nature, the ecosystem will take care of itself.
