"Without the beauty of the earth, I'd have a hard time being here..."

As I reflected on my own resiliency and the aspects of my life which I trust unequivocally, it is the way I feel walking outside I trust. It is a sense of zest which arises from the depth of my body. These days, as I tune in, I feel what I can only compare to my dog's zoomies. I've never liked to run, yet now, at 35 years old I want to pick up speed on the path and feel the way my body runs my animal energy.

In our modern world, it's easy to feel disconnected from nature, both inner and outer, human and more than human. In disconnection it is hard to be here; wherever here is for you, we are all here on earth.

my tattooed hand touching green and brown moss. i am wearing a silver ring on my middle finger which has an aquamarine stone and i am wearing a black analog timex field watch with a forest green band

Where am I going with this? I wonder if you're someone, who like me, is having a hard time being here. If so, this one is for you, for us.

• Spending even relatively short times (50-90 mins) immersed in nature can improve mood and reduce negative thinking in people with depression.

• Activities that combine active engagement with nature (walking, gardening, caring for land) tend to have stronger effects than purely passive exposure, though both help.

• Consistency matters — doing nature-based activity regularly (weekly, or over several weeks) shows more reliable improvement.

• Nature exposure is helpful across different cultures/environments (urban/rural, different countries) and for a range of depressive symptoms (sleep, mood, hopelessness, cognition).

• Seeing green spaces, hearing nature sounds, being in or near water, having biodiversity all enhance the benefits.

• It appears nature-based interventions often produce effects comparable in some ways to short-term psychological therapies (at least for mild-to-moderate depression), particularly when combined with community, meaning, or purposeful activity.

Would you like to come outside and play with me?

Rewild your time and steward your soul,

Nomi

Miles Richardson, Modelling Nature Connectedness Within Environmental Systems: Human-Nature Relationships from 1800 to 2020 and Beyond. Earth (2025). Read here

Stanford University – Hiking and Mental Health: Read here

Nature Walks and Major Depressive Disorder (Bratman et al., 2012): PubMed study

Green Social Prescribing in the UK: ScienceDaily summary

Nature-Based Recreation & Depression Symptoms (2024): PubMed study

Meta-Analysis: Short-Term Nature Exposure & Mood (2020): arXiv article

Meta-Analysis: Nature-Based Interventions & Mental Health (2024): Frontiers in Public Health