by Carol
NDD is Nature Deficit Disorder, and I am a big believer that it is real. I have written before about Louis Schwatrzberg, and I know that many of you love him and his "Moving Art" projects as much as I do. But I got a bit behind in reading his blog, and it was only this morning that I found his posts discussing this. The growth of our cities and our constantly increasing need to be busy, and important and more wealthy, more fit, more famous, more More, has led us away from our down time. Many people don't take the time anymore to look, to walk, to hear and connect with nature. And when we fail to take that time, it effects our stress level, and adds to our growing anxiety. When we ignore taking care of our planet, we also ignore taking care of ourselves. Are you restless, or sad? Are you scared or tired? Or are you just trying to find a meaningful existence?
Obviously, Mr Schwartzberg's work makes nature more accessible, and helps people to fall in love with it, but I wasn't aware until this morning that he is actively combating NDD with his process "Visual Healing." After reading Richard Louv's book, Last Child in the Woods (which I have just ordered), he as set out on a mission to put nature back where it belongs - which is everywhere! He uses visual stimuli, but as an audiologist, I know that auditory stimuli are important too, for total immersion. It is well known that part of the psychology of deafness is feeling isolated from the world when you are unable to hear something as seemingly inconsequential as the fall leaves crunching under your feet, the dragonflies buzzing, the dampened sound waves of a quiet snowstorm. One of my most moving moments as an audiologist came when a patient's daughter wrote me a thank you note as she quietly watched her mother sitting on the porch listening to the rain with her new hearing aid.
So I, for one, am going to join Louis Schwartzberg in his efforts. He is asking us to use any media we can - Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc to post NATURE pictures and/or NATURE selfies with the hashtag #BeatNDD. He will highlight some from time to time, but that is not why I want to get in on it. I am a true believer that nature heals. I have been told that my photography tends to highlight quiet, and that is because quiet heals me. There is nothing I love more than standing in the woods and drinking it in. I know I am preaching to the choir on this site. I think our mission
here ties right in with Visual Healing. This is just another way for us to contribute. I can't wait!
And BTW - welcome to March, and our new Focus On You Month theme (which happens to tie right on into this post) - GREEN! See Deanna's blurb above, and bring the green that we are all hungry for to our gallery this month. Don't forget to add # , so that you might be featured one Saturday morning. Our month of picturing LOVE has come to an end - but I think we all are posting love everyday! Keep up the good work!
10 comments:
These photos are so delightful to look at this chilly Monday morning. The great thing we need to remember is that we don't have to go to the mountains or seashore or a park, although all those places are good, if we're lucky we can find nature right in our very own backyard. Oh, gosh. Now I'm even more impatient for spring to get here and the snow to be gone. It's true what you say, all our senses need to be engaged when we're observing nature wherever we may find it.
Thank you for such a beautiful post. I agree, many of us are losing touch with nature. You might enjoy my blog post today on "Vitamin G " (G is for green...)
Such wonderful images to illustrate the importance of nature as therapy. I just finished reading Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay on Nature and he was making this same argument back in the 1850s! I'm certainly happy to take and post more nature photos.
Beautiful post..I have seen NDD time and again in myself and in my loved ones..The stress we feel when we aren't patient enough to take time to be still, breathe and enjoy nature..I would be a messed up basket case if I didn't allow myself time to enjoy my weekly sunrise coffees with friends / by myself..And I recently discovered that I love to watch and listen a snow storm.
Well, you know how I feel about this (wink, wink, lol)...I was surprised when I started tagging some of my Ig posts a couple of weeks ago, that there were not many pictures in the pool! I can't function without my time in nature and so glad I had a little porch time with the lizards and bugs over the weekend before our next week of rain comes!
This is such an important topic, Carol. I remember reading Last Child in the Woods and writing a paper on it for a school program I was in. I experienced what he was saying in that book when I volunteered at a Peace Learning Center in Indianapolis. We would take inner city kids into the woods and many of them had never been in the woods before. They were afraid of the forest. I'll be glad to join you in promoting this.
Very interesting post! Being a nature lover, I just assume that everyone spends their days enjoying the sights and sounds of nature even if for only a little while. I have the complete opposite of NDD…. I suffer with SAD "Seasonal Affective Disorder"! If I can't get out into nature and feel the sun on my face daily, then it sets in! Your photos are gorgeous, thanks for sharing!
I love this so much carol...going to check into that book because I too find so much healing and restoration in nature.
I read that book a few years back. This is such an important post!
As a city dweller, I love this article and all the lovely photography. Sadly, I can't always get out into the country on a daily basis, but I can go for daily walks where there are private gardens, parks and trees and these all keep me as happy as I can be in the environment in which I live.
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