Finding Awe via Nature and Embracing Our Insignificance
There’s a strange comfort in nature’s cruelty and indifference. There is a unique peace in acknowledging our place as a mere speck in the universe. Coaches, counsellors and psychologists seeking ways of self-care may find a calming sense of awe via nature.
When I’m feeling stressed out, I’ll go to nature. I’ll go to a beautiful beach or into the Australian bush; the air is fresh in both places. In my fifth year of psychology studies, I wrote a thesis defence. It was about the role of blue space in mental health. The evidence showed that green space, like the bush, and blue space, like the ocean, helped people with various disorders. I enjoy taking my son to nature. It allows him to see a bigger picture beyond his troubles. Driving from Sydney to the Central Coast, I feel elated. Driving through familiar places on the Central Coast, I let go of my problems. They weigh on me like a heavy backpack. Walking down the path to Little Beach at Bouddi National Park, we connect with the world around us.
The beach opens up, and there are cliffs on one side. I look at those cliffs. That, several 100 years ago, if not 1000s of years ago, this beach would have been the same, and that distant cliff would be the same. The crashing waves and weather wear down the cliff. Yet the cliff remains the same. It will still be a cliff in one hundred years from now. Different yet the same cliff. What the cliff looks like then does not matter. Generations of flora and fauna live and die in that time. Nature doesn’t care about your problems. It’s like the saying — ‘No one cares’. You might find sadness in the idea that nature — or no one — cares. Yet might you also find liberation in this idea? Our troubles are the petty, insignificant grains of sand in the long-term stride of nature as it evolves over thousands of years. When I think this way, I realise we are way more free to live life according to our values than we assume.
Nature itself is cruel and indifferent at best. Death and life coexist in one big ecosystem. Nature spares no one. Prey and predator alike face the same fate. In time, everything turns to dust. This idea that nature is indifferent can feel freeing. It is something way bigger than you and was here before you, and it definitely will be here after you. I retreat to nature when work gets tough, or I’m worn down. It reminds me we are unimportant, a speck in the universe. We may be akin to a single grain of sand on that beach in Little Beach, and that’s okay. The fresh air and being away from the usual stresses of life make a difference.
Camping overnight feels like a few days away. It’s a potent elixir for self-care. It’s not for coaches or psychologists but for everyone. It could be about going to places bigger than you. Sometimes, stepping into a beautiful church helps. You can reflect on the timeless, solemn interior. It makes you think about the greater forces in your life.
You can think about the people who have sat in the same church pew as you. They may have faced similar or even more significant troubles. The funny thing is, you don’t need to be religious to visit these churches or nature. In those places, you feel like a speck in the universe. There is a unique peace in thinking about being a simple speck in such a vast space.
It is a refreshing and much-needed reset. It is where you can dispense with your ego and troubles and put both aside like a burdensome backpack. You might not feel light straight away. But, over time, you will. Or, your body and mind will have recharged. Then, you’ll pick up that backpack and return to the real world. But this clever retreat from the bigger picture is one to consider. We are only a speck in the universe, after all.
