Diane Dreher

If you've been feeling down, frustrated, anxious, or low energy lately, you're not alone. Research at the National Institutes of Mental Health has reported a dramatic increase in depression and anxiety during the COVID pandemic. [1] Millions of us have lost our sense of stability, hope, and personal security.

 

Long ago, in another time of stress and upheaval, 25 centuries ago during the warring states period in ancient China, Lao Tzu found renewed hope and peace of mind by connecting with nature and wrote the Tao Te Ching.

 

Today, research has found that connecting with nature can heal us on many levels. Research in a Philadelphia hospital found that abdominal surgery patients with a view of trees outside their windows suffered from fewer complications, needed less pain medication, and were discharged sooner than patients with the same surgery and hospital conditions whose rooms looked out at only bare brick walls. [2]

 

Recent research has shown that connecting with nature can bring us feelings of awe, renewing our hope by expanding our vision beyond ourselves.[3] We can feel awe when we see a radiant sunset, the grandeur of snow capped mountains, or giant redwood trees towering above us. We can also be inspired by small green signs of life as spring bulbs emerge from the cold winter earth.

 

This week I was feeling drained by all the challenges in my life.  But as I walked out my back door, I noticed that the snow pea seeds I'd planted last week had sprouted. Now  tiny seedlings were raising their green heads above the soil. Their small green leaves connected me to the renewing power of nature and brought new hope to my day.

 

What is one thing you can do to experience nature's healing power--

• Take a walk around your neighborhood or in a nearby park?
• Look up to watch the clouds overhead or gaze at the stars in the night sky?
• Plant seeds of spring flowers and vegetables and watch them grow?
• If the ground is still frozen where you live, grow herbs on a sunny kitchen windowsill
• Put a bird feeder near your window and watch the birds fly in to enjoy a meal.
• Find some other way to connect with nature?

 

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and visualize yourself doing this.

 

For as the Tao Te Ching tells us:

 

"When we value ourselves

As part of nature

And value nature

As ourselves,

We're at home

In the oneness

Of Tao."

(Tao, 13)[4]

 

Now open your eyes and reach out to connect with the healing power of nature.

 

I wish you joy on the path.

 

References

[1] Hossain, M. M., Tasnim, S., Sultana, A., Faizah, F., Mazumder, H., Zou, L., McKyer, E., Ahmed, H. U., & Ma, P. (2020). Epidemiology of mental health problems in COVID-19: a review. F1000Research, 9, 636. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.24457.1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7549174/

 
[2] Ulrich, R. S. et al. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224, 420-421.

 
[3] Keltner, D. & Haidt, J. (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 17, 297.

 
[4] An earlier version of this article appeared in Dreher, D. (2000). The Tao of Inner Peace. New York, NY: Penguin Putnam, now available as an ebook. A new audiobook edition was published by Penguin Random House in January 2022.  To preview the audiobook, click here.

 

 

 

The Tao Te Ching tells us:

 

"The solid earth is our foundation.

The calm center prevails in a whirlwind.

Those who follow the Tao may travel all day

And still feel at home.

However events may whirl around them,

They remain centered and calm."

(Tao Te Ching, chapter 26)

 

Centering focuses our energies so we can respond with greater calm, clarity, and power. Years ago, while training in the nonviolent martial art of aikido, I learned how to throw an opponent twice my size by moving from center.

 

In these stressful times, being able to return to center can help you connect with new power and possibility. To do this:

 

• Go off by yourself for a few minutes, taking time to refocus your energies.
• Stand with your knees slightly bent and your arms relaxed, held out in front of you at waist level.
• Focus your attention on your hara, your center of power two inches below your navel.
• Take a deep breath and release it, letting go of all tension.
• Breathe in slowly and deeply, focusing on the hara, taking in new energy.
• Now release this breath, feeling more centered, relaxed, and at peace.

 

After some practice, you'll be able to return to center by merely focusing on the hara while taking a deep mindful breath. Swiftly, effortlessly, you can center yourself in any situation.

 

I wish you joy on the path.

Diane

 

If you'd like to sample the new Tao of Inner Peace audiobook, click on this link

 

 

 

 

The ancient wisdom of the Tao Te Ching tells us:

 

"The Tao moves by returning

In endless cycles.

By yielding, it overcomes,

Creating the ten thousand things,

Being from nonbeing."

                           (Tao Te Ching, 40)

 

The Tao Te Ching teaches a vision of life as a process, constantly moving, changing, and growing as cycles of energy circulate throughout all creation.

 

We experience these cyclical patterns by getting close to nature. We can watch an apple tree blossom in springtime and bear fruit in summer. In autumn, its leaves fall to the ground. Slowly disintegrating into humus, they enrich the soil, bringing new energy to the tree in spring.

 

The cold winter weather is part of the pattern. The "chill factor," a prolonged period of temperature below 45 degrees, is essential for apple trees to blossom and bear fruit. The trees must spend enough time in a state of dormancy (yin) to spring forth with new life (yang).Reconciling opposites in endless harmony, the seasons turn and the cycle begins again.

 

For centuries, Taoist and Buddhist monks have regarded cyclical work—gardening, cooking, housecleaning—as spiritual exercises. In our daily lives we too can participate in nature's cycles of renewal by doing something cyclical like:

• Planting a garden,
• Growing herbs on a sunny windowsill,
• Planting a tree and tending it,
• Recycling our cans, bottles, and newspapers,
• Making a compost pile—recycling kitchen scraps into natural nutrients for the soil.

 

Each of these practices affirms our participation in a pattern far larger than ourselves. Each practice physically benefits the planet while renewing our vision of the cycles of life.

 

On an individual level, each of us has our daily energy cycles or circadian rhythms. We have peak periods during the day when our energy flows the most strongly. This is our prime time, or yang. During our lag time our energies diminish and we feel tired as the cycle turns to yin.

 

Becoming aware of our daily cycles can help us live more creatively. Years ago, my friend Bill, a wise physics professor, taught me an important lesson. Optimistic and productive, he scheduled his day around his circadian rhythms, doing his research and teaching during his morning prime time and saving routine work like opening the mail for his lag time, 3:00 in the afternoon. I've followed his example over the years, realizing that, for each of us, our personal energy cycle is a vital natural resource.

 

Personal Exercise

• Take a few moments now to reflect and identify your own daily cycle. When is your best time of the day? When is your prime time when your creative energies are the highest? Are you a morning, afternoon, or night person?
• What time of day do your energies decrease?
• Can you track your daily cycle? Where are yin and yang for you?

  

This month, as we begin the cycle of another new year, I'm excited that Penguin Random House is publishing a new audiobook edition of my book, The Tao of Inner Peace, which offers more lessons on living in harmony with the cycles of nature.

 

I wish you joy in this new cycle of your life.