Do you know that feeling when your ego diminishes at the view of a mountain, and your perspective on time -- what is ephemeral and what isn’t -- changes? Do you know that healing sensation when a salty sea breeze hits your face and with every step you take your worries melt away?
Some of us are lucky enough to live in places where we can experience nature on a daily basis. I know that, for myself, access to the sea increases significantly my quality of life. I have been fortunate to have lived in a city where I could visit the sea, look at the mountains and immerse myself in a rain forest - all blocks away from my doorstep. Since then, living in any other place feels like a painful compromise. How do I give my new host city a fair chance to charm me, when I am uneasy by all the concrete I see around me?
I am seeking for opportunities to experience awe. (Marveling at the engineering of skyscrapers doesn’t do it.) I just spent a month having a hotel room for a home. I spent a lot of my time just looking out of the window: looking at the boring, empty offices in the building opposite my hotel room, looking at the traffic…
Until I noticed: the horizon, a beautiful sunrise, a red moon rise. I had forgotten how beautiful it can be to look at the horizon; how invigorating it is to look a sunrise; how charming it is to witness those few minutes of moon rise. These elements informed my apartment hunting - and I didn’t see that coming. (I chose these nature glimpses over other elements that I was looking forward to having in my new home.)
I am jotting these notes from bed, exhausted after a moving-in weekend. Every now and then I gaze at the moon out of the window. I still wish I could see the stars instead of other people’s living rooms. But perhaps this is the beauty of the city. Perhaps not. I just need to be open enough to find out.
How do you do it? How do you connect to nature when it’s not obvious that it is near?
P.S. Moving during a pandemic has been challenging in every aspect. There is still time to sign up for my group coaching program to find community to support you during your relocation and while settling into your new life. The deadline to register is Wednesday, March 10th!
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