Duh!! So le'ts head for the Headwaters!

Why is it that on the list of human needs -- food, water, shelter -- we do not normally include "nature"?  I believe we humans need nature.  I know I do.  It is not just a want; it's a need.  That's why I have spent much of my life working in defense of nature.  I  identify with the nature writers.  I know they speak many truths about our human relationships to nature.  I don't really need a scientific study to "prove" to me that nature has restorative powers, that it is "food for the soul," that nature is us.  But just for fun, take a look at the following article found on the Miller-McCune website.  I found it interesting and hope you will, too.

January 11, 2011

Thoreau Was Right: Nature Hones the Mind

Studies show nature restores our spirits, improves our thinking, keeps us healthier and probably even saner.

By John McKinney

"Attention Restoration Theory" posits that a walk in the woods helps refocus the mind and revive the spirit. (GanMed64/Flickr.com)

A long line of the world’s thinkers — from Immanuel Kant to William James to Deepak Chopra — have recommended we take walks in nature to relieve stress and refocus our thoughts. And nature writers — from Henry David Thoreau to John Muir to Edward Abbey — have extolled the restorative benefits of nature. “Everybody,” Muir said, “needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.”

Turns out they were ahead of their time. “Attention Restoration Theory” or ART, which posits that a walk in the woods helps refocus the mind and revive the spirit, has been a growing field of research for the past 20 years. New studies are quantifying the restorative powers of nature and suggesting how the restorative process works.

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