You often hear these days that a large number of people are suffering from depression. You probably know someone who is ensnared in the grip of deep melancholy; or perhaps you yourself have sunken into a deep state of inexplicable sadness.
I have struggled with depression since I was a child, after I had been whisked from the happy existence I had with my grandmother and returned to my mother in the suburbs. Later in life, after a nearly ten year long marriage and worn out from the care of three babies, I was plagued with unhappiness. I tried to fit into my husband’s world where the goal was to acquire status and more things, mistakenly believing that the attainment of these things would bring me happiness.
It was not until after my divorce and after finding satisfying work of my own and purchasing a home of my own, that I began to feel an inkling of contentment. It was not actually these things; however, that lifted my spirits. Nor was it in the new relationship and subsequent remarriage. It was the moments that I spent in my yard, often in bare feet, growing a garden or even simply hanging clothes out on the line. It was, I discovered, the act of spending time outdoors, feeding the birds, watching the clouds, and playing in the dirt while feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin.
Sometimes when I am watching a movie, it will show an aerial view of a large city. I believe that many people, if not most, know only skyscrapers, traffic, concrete, and air, noise, and light pollution. They have become so immune to these things that they do not even recognize or question what to them has become normal. Their feet never touch the earth and their hands never feel the texture of, or their noses smell the scent of fresh soil. They live in air conditioned homes and heated buildings, rarely looking up or noticing the sky or the birds or the trees. They do not stop to smell the flowers.
The world is filled with depressed people. They regularly visit their therapist and take drugs for their depression. Others may abuse alcohol or drugs. Many of them smoke cigarettes and are immune to the nasty odor of them. They are so far removed from Nature that they do not realize it is the missing link in their unhappy life. If only they would realize that it is their separation from Nature that has caused most of their suffering – and that returning to Nature is the only cure.
