Welcome to Natural Thoughts – a place for your poems and essays.
‘Step outside for a break. Connecting with nature can be restorative—and a good antidote to mental burnout and workday stress.’ AARP magazine
I think most of you will agree that a connection to nature is important for all of us. Moments we share with family, friends, or to just be by ourselves. To breathe in fresh air, watch the sky overhead, feel the breeze on our faces. And along with that, hearing birds sing, smelling the flowers, and watching the tree branches sway in the wind. Whether you are walking on a path in the Appalachians, watching the waves crash on the Pacific coast, sitting at the edge of a mesa and just taking in the incredible view in front of you, watching the tall prairie grass ripple in the wind, or looking outside your office or house window – no matter where you are, you can pause. Just take in and be part of what you are seeing. For moments, an afternoon, an entire day.
Technology is a wonderful thing – my website would be nowhere without it. But it is easy to be so engrossed with what is on a screen that you forget about the natural world. For me, connections in the virtual world are insubstantial and fleeting. My real connections are with earth, sky, and water. Forests and wetlands. Deserts and mountains. Shores and plains. A wildlife refuge or my backyard. And in our world today, it is easy to get absorbed in influencers, celebrities, news, podcasts, and social media to the exclusion of so many other things. Let’s all use this space to remind each other – and ourselves – that there is a world outside of our screens. A world of incredible beauty and adventure, where there are connections to everything, and where we can feel joy and awe. A world in which human prejudice, anger, and insults simply have no place.
Please click on “Submit your story” to send your essays and poetry to me and I will post them. Share with all of us your connections to nature be they funny or poignant. Linda
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27DecRead More
She Was So Still by Jeffrey Grills ………… Arkansas and Maine
I wondered if she was even alive, The little bird perched inches from my face. I almost missed her as I walked past the towering, tangled rose bush That separates our yard from the farm next door. But my eyes caught her, nestled in the briars, A fresh young robin, short and plump. Speckles on […]
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22DecRead More
The Night I Found My Tree by Shelly Lyons …………….. North Carolina
I flee my house so I can breathe in the night and listen to the leaves rattle. Walking thru the whispering streets I find myself atop a hill overlooking the lights of the city. I stand there, a solitary pillar, gazing out and letting my mind go numb. Intruding lights threaten me as I […]
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17DecRead More
Compound Interest – Notes from the Native Plant Center by C. Smith……….Pennsylvania
Late in August a frequent customer came in to the Native Plant Center. I was all set to commiserate with her about what a rough summer it had been for gardeners and gardens alike – too hot and humid, no rain – when she exclaimed, “My garden was so alive this summer!” I was confused […]
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12DecRead More
My Journaling Journey by Susan Shaw…………..Illinois
Journaling is something I have thought about doing for quite a while. My first journaling workshop was out at our conservation area, in the fall and we took our little watercolor paint trays and pads out to the woods to paint. I have yet to use that watercolor tray again. So, maybe watercolors weren’t my […]