Satisfy Your Sensual Side with Nature

Many people love our modern systems of heavily flavored delicious food, bright colorful media outlets and flashy appearances because it feeds our senses. Humans function primarily through their sensual eyes, mouths, noses, ears and hands. Stimulation of these senses can range from alarming to highly pleasurable. Marketers have highly paid sociologists working to utilize our animalistic sensual desires to create consumers of their product. Food chemists use this scientific data to create scents and tastes that can keep you hooked on french fries for ever. As one starts breaking away from modern structures, the body and mind can miss the excitement of highly stimulating inputs. Luckily, the earth is a glorious place and you can find highly stimulating, environmentally friendly inputs to make full use out of your human experience.

— Take the Time–

The first step to a sensual experience with nature is slowing down. Modern society is fast paced and flashy, feed the senses at a rapid rate and leaving the body/mind duo unsatiated even more quickly. As soon as the amaze and delight of the ice-cream passes, the body/mind is hungry again for something delightful. A bright flashy t.v. show might be the ticket, but again, as soon as it’s over, the pleasure ends soon after.

Take the time to feel every body part and enjoy the textures of your environment. Gaze in amazement at the setting sun. Delight in the exotic noises of the birds flitting about outside your office window. Try out the scent of a passing flower. Enjoy the strength with which the weeds grow through the oppressive sidewalk. As you slow down, each moment becomes ripe and full of sensual delight- endlessly for your personal enjoyment. This path also leads you to see the many unappealing things about modern society, and as you start to take notice check out this article to manage negative feelings!

— Spend Time in Gratitude —

When the mind/body duo gets a high volume of over-stimulation, thoughts can get a little jumpy. Modern anxiety and depression can be traced back to overstimulus, modern survival needs (aka money problems) and boredom or apathy which comes from that white sugar flashy media jolt that many people receive on the regular. While you take time to appreciate your natural surroundings and move away from modern structures of overstimulation, spend your thought space in gratitude and praise for the beauty around you. This is not an inherently religious practice, but can be similar to meditating or praying. Keep it simple and true to your own character.

— Share the Wonderment —

Sustainability geeks usually have gone through a some kind of advocacy phase where they try to convince everyone around them to give up their cars and modern appliances in exchange for berry gathering and goat milking. Instead of focusing on the problems at hand and trying to shake people aware of them, offer them gifts of your newly developed nature-appreciation goggles. Point out the beauty around you in the back of the blue butterfly flitting past you on an outdoor walk with your grandparents, or pick a wild flower for your special someone instead of buying plastic wrapped, fluorescent grown flowers from unsustainable greenhouses. Dandelions, echinacea and daisies are all beautiful flowers to share with your honey. Share in the wonderment of earth and find comfort.