NightWind recently mentioned Bjorn Bull-Hanson, novelist, blogger, you-tuber. I’ve also enjoyed listening to him, watching his videos. It’s much colder in his part of the world, or perhaps he is just braver then me, but he often goes marching out in the snow to build a fire and have a cup of tea.
The last few years hubby and I have spent a great deal of time around our own fire pit right in the back yard with a foot of snow on the ground, often with a hot drink in our hands. We have an awning in case it rains, lots of solar lights that twinkle, and it’s become a bit of a winter oasis for us. Firelight is actually good for you, it produces low wavelength red light which has many health benefits. Getting outside exposes you to some vitamin D and improves your melatonin so you sleep better.
So you see, the simple act of going outdoors and hanging around a fire, creates biochemical changes in our body that support good health. It’s actually well documented “science.”
When I was looking after elders, one of my favorite things to do was to simply get them out into the sunlight. It might just be on the porch to watch the hummingbirds. Some people would like to go feed the birds in the car, the seagulls and pigeons, sometimes the duck pond. So you see, you don’t have to be a world class athlete to, “get back to nature.”
We people are a part of creation and this here is a biology blog after all, and I do like celebrating anything related to life and life abundant. In order to really tune into that source of life and life abundant, we do have to get outdoors. That probably sounds kind of hippy dippy, or super-spiritual or something, but it is literally how we are physically hardwired. We need sunlight, we need plants, we need critters, and there are actual chemical reactions going on in our bodies that we are often unaware of. Our physical and mental health relies on it in some fascinating ways.
I spend a lot of time reading and on the computer, so constant eyestrain, and right off the bat my vision will actually improve if I just go outside and focus on something far away like the mountains of the water. That is also “science,” and something any decent eye doctor worth his salt will tell you. The older you get, the less inclined your eyes are to focus properly and many of us need reader-cheaters to see fine print. Or really to see any print at all!
Bjorn chats about all sorts of things, the new world order, geopolitical affairs, homesteading, finance, adventure, unplugging from the culture. I appreciate him and enjoy hearing his thoughts. Something that concerns me is how disconnected from our environment modern culture has become. We are indoors, sheltered, and often separated from reality. Or really, just disconnected in general. Covid hysteria and lock downs certainly did not help.
Do people even understand cause and effect anymore? Take for instance, electric cars, which are all the rage here. That’s nice, potentially a good thing, but I’ve spent the past few years tearing my hair out because so few people seem to even understand they run on electricity. You have to produce the electricity to charge them.
No seriously, there is just this magical force of clean energy underground at charging stations that makes the cars go….
Ai yi yi. Of course, now the same people all excited about electric cars and clean energy, are also trying to remove all our dams that produce hydro, in order to protect the fish.
So I really just want to put in a good word today for getting back to nature, for embracing life and life abundant, and for reconnecting, for plugging ourselves back into the real world. We ourselves are a part of creation and stepping into that symbiosis once in a while, is really good for us.
Lisa V said:
It would be interesting to poll all these pseudo-environmentalists and see how much time they actually spend out in nature and away from their screens. At least in the 60s people were chaining themselves to trees, where now they are throwing potatoes on artwork in a museum or gluing themselves to the floor of a porche dealer. Not really “out in nature” is it.
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insanitybytes22 said:
Right?! Gluing oneself to the floor and vandalizing museum artwork makes absolutely no sense. Put the phone down and go for a walk.
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Clyde Herrin said:
Reblogged this on clydeherrin.
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insanitybytes22 said:
Thank you, Clyde. I appreciate your kindness. 🙂
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Jack Curtis said:
Hmn … And Nature is usually ready to dump a cold shower upon my romantic feelings when they strive to overpower …
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insanitybytes22 said:
Ha! Amen, we call that centering or grounding. Helps to keep you balanced.
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Jack Curtis said:
Indeed we do. But pray tell: What romantic desires centering or grounding?
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Citizen Tom said:
During the summer I used to go hiking in the Rockies when I lived in Colorado Springs. Definitely had to prepare for the fickle weather. A hailstorm in July could chill you to the bone if you were not ready for it.
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jsneese62 said:
I love nature and I wish I could be in it more. I used to spend most of my time there when I lived in Illinois in the forests and near that big old muddy Mississippi River and I miss her. When I first moved to Texas it was kind of a shock for me because there isn’t as much green here and many layers of brown, but I finally adjusted and came to love the Live Oaks, Mesquite trees, and Mountain Laurel (which smells like grape bubble gum when it blooms in the spring). Other things I am not so fond of like fire ants, scorpions, tarantulas, and huntsman spiders (oh nearly forgot diamondback rattlesnakes). I have scars on my feet from fire ants and they will cause you pain for days and if you are silly enough to scratch the stings once you will not do it twice. Did you know scorpions can climb walls and they like to hide under pillows? You learn quickly down here to guard against these critters.
I did learn to enjoy the outdoors here and one of my favorite places to go is the Botanical Gardens in San Antonio it is a really beautiful place and quite peaceful most of the time. I have not been there in years though because it is so hard for me to walk that I was afraid of falling. I have a wheelchair now so maybe in the spring if my man is up to it we can go and I can add to my photo collection I have made over the years.
I have said also that man has become far to disconnected from nature and we shouldn’t be we were meant to live with nature not set ourselves apart from it. How can we be good stewards if we keep pushing the natural world further and further away. I heard a pastor talk about how God confused the languages and scattered the people not so much because of the tower of Babel, but because they insisted on staying grouped up in the city instead of spreading out and populating the earth as He had commanded them to do. It makes sense to me since people keep screaming the earth is over populated and they have evidently never flown in an airplane on a clear day and looked out over the earth. Texas is a great deal empty land the biggest cities being DFW, Houston, and San Antonio. The rest are small to medium sized towns and cities and Texas is a huge state that you could fit the whole country of Poland in the middle with room to drive all the way around it.
I do have my little patio where I feed the birds and squirrels. I grow flowers like roses and Geraniums and some veggies in the summer. It is good for some sunshine in the mornings and a breath of fresh air when it is not boiling hot. Thanks be to God our weather has cooled down some and so it is easier to breath.
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The Night Wind said:
Thank you for the mention: Bjorn’s one of my favorites too. I don’t think it’s any accident that the Great Reset creeps want to block off vast regions of internal lands and the oceans while crowding everyone into ‘smart cities’. In the past, city planners were wise enough to build places like Central Park and homes were designed to have trees, yards, and garden-spaces. The practitioners of Scientism want to split humans from Nature and control it instead of working with Nature like real scientists do. It’s noteworthy that Scientism really never took hold when the U.S. was primarily an agricultural country—it’s impossible to sell that kind of pseudoscience to people who actually experience Nature/Science in their everyday lives.
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Lisa V said:
Sadly, I live in one of those areas where they have abandoned residential neighborhoods in lieu of stacked apartments under the guise of “affordable housing.” When we moved here, we loved that it was so green, a green that doesn’t occur in California. But we are fast becoming the concrete jungle.
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ColorStorm said:
I know what u mean. Niagara Falls is kind of supernatural. The sun and moon retracing their circuits is kind of supernatural. The elusive maneuvers of the common house fly is supernatural. Rainbows above are supernatural.
So yeah, after all the ‘off the charts’ daily display of dazzle, keys get back to the natural.
lol
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insanitybytes22 said:
Ha! Interesting discussion, because getting out into nature can really help to remind you of what is “magical,” or supernatural. Nature is full of evidence of God’s creativity and imagination. Ha! The news is also full of imagination and creativity, it’s just sorely lacking and not rooted in reality.😂
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ColorStorm said:
Yeah, like no evidence for harmony at the highest level. Who taught those geese to fly in those marvelous vees? Even the air forces of the world took notice……
Can’t beat the original Design.
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