Fields of Israel Ltd.

When I visit large city parks, I am amused and heartened by the seeming unconscious human need to connect with Mother Nature. In the very heart of urban civilization, city parks draw in thousands of people every day. I personally live in a magnificent rural setting, constantly surrounded by nature’s glory and challenges. I smile inwardly, listening to the array of foreign languages spoken around me in the park. I watch worldwide visitors to a great metropolis seeking sanctuary in a patch of domesticated wilderness. Humans need to connect with nature, even if just a bit of it. Research now supports what our instincts ‘know’: contact with the natural world is important to our health. Though most of us value nature, few of us actually enjoy a deep connection with it. This is unfortunate, as it is through this connection that we both receive and release. We receive a limitless source of energy and inspiration, and we release worry, stress, and strain. In fact playing outside, in any form, is a well-known kind of ‘therapy’ to find balance and to rejuvenate. The “Great Mother” soothes the spirit, sharpens the senses, and focuses thinking. The natural environment helps us recognize our oneness with the life process. Taking us beyond our limited and linear view of life, nature celebrates growth and per...