A change in the weather in Ireland this morning – gone noticeably cooler – but it still remains bright and clear. A perfect day for a Autumnal walk, to appreciate the changing colours. Tuning into the change in nature’s rhythms is good for our internal sense of balance, as we see that things arise and pass away, and that life cannot be composed only of periods of growth and achievement. However, walking has significant physical health benefits also, as studies show that being out in natural light increases serotonin levels in the brain, as even on a cloudy day the light outside is normally greater than what can be achieved indoors. Thus, a break away from the desk or the computer helps us to let go of some of the stresses that each day brings and see things in perspective:
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things
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