Being put in our place by something bigger than ourselves is not a humiliation; it should be accepted as a relief from our insanely hopeful ambitions for our lives.**
Alain de Botton

a person is so far formed by his surroundings, that his state of harmony depends entirely on his harmony with his surroundings^
Christopher Alexander

Whilst I walk as much as I can
on my way into work and
back again,
When I arrive at my workplace,
I tend to remain inside until the end of the day;
my room has no window,
Only a ceiling lite.
But today I will be taking a few moments outside,
Here and there,
Looking up at the sky,
Feeling the cold, damp air,
Noticing the shape of the trees sunk in tarmac –
We benefit so much from nature,
That even those unimpressed of wild things,
Subconsciously gain a great deal
in terms of wellbeing, focus, ability to think and problem solve.
Even a minute will have some effect;
Though we may not recognise it,
We feel at home,
Our bodies thick with hundreds of
thousands of
years of connection
with nature.
There are very few buildings that compensate for being inside,
Our work environments often working against our reasons for being in them,
So I will
slip outside.

*We can’t go wrong with some Cat Stevens to accompany;
**Alain de Botton’s Religion For Atheists;
^Annie Murphy Paul’s The Extended Mind;
^^The doodle text is part of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ God’s Grandeur.