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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25MarRead More
The Empty Niche Syndrome by Carol ………. Pennsylvania
Long ago, somewhere in the eastern deciduous forests, the elements necessary to produce new plant species “realized” that, if they could just manage to grow, blossom, and set seed quickly enough, they could take advantage of several crucial things: the abundant sunshine that reaches the forest floor before the trees leaf out; the plentiful rains […]
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12MarRead More
The Refreshing of Gifts of Nature by Judy ……. Illinois
I find the refreshing gifts of nature so helpful. Going to the porch and sitting out there in the sunshine, looking into the trees – especially the arborvitae now and in any season, and gazing at blooming trees and seeing their contrasts. Listening to the birds, appreciating the ever-changing sky, taking time to daydream, stretch, […]
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06MarRead More
Science Shows Birding is Good for Us! by Rachel ………. Oregon
Note from Linda: This essay is written by Rachel White, a board member of Friends of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (FOMR) – Malheur is in eastern Oregon. Paul and Carol from Pennsylvania sent it to me writing that they had visited Malheur, enjoyed the refuge, signed up for their newsletter, and look forward to reading […]
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03MarRead More
Great Backyard Bird Count – journal page by Susan …………… IL
Note from Linda: What about keeping a journal? A diary? A notebook? Is this something you want to do? Explore your connections to nature? Record your feelings, your emotions? Susan from central Illinois is sharing her latest journal page with all of us and giving us something to think about. There are several things I […]