Despite the rain and wind and hail this past weekend in Oxfordshire, I managed to get out for a walk during a break in the clouds and enjoy the sunshine. I found a new walk near my house and it led me all the way to the site of an iron age fort, where now only a forest remains, and in the spring, the beautiful and wondrous emergence of bluebells.
There is something magical about walking in nature. It is so relaxing. I have read that natural elements, such as earth, water, fire and living things like plants, not only relax us but actually absorb negative energy. It certainly feels that way when I’m out in the country or swimming or sitting by a fire. I can feel tension and negativity draining out of me. Plants absorb carbon dioxide, so why not negative feelings too?
The forest that day was filled with people, jumping out of their cars, racing up the hill with their dogs, and then stopping, mesmerised, at the sight of such beauty. There is a path that runs the circumference of this wooded oasis, and all of us, me and the mothers and fathers and children, the artists and photographers and elderly women walking arm in arm, strolled hypnotically around it, as if we had stepped onto a carousel and we were all riding, in joyous awe, to the same music.
What is it about such places, such landscapes, that has such an effect on us? To the average person, it is a beautiful place, an ideal picnic spot or the setting for a family day out. Several people felt compelled to stop along the way and set up their easels and start painting. As a highly sensitive person, I felt an overwhelming feeling of happiness and peace, and a surge of creative energy. Perhaps just being in the presence of such natural beauty is enough for us, as HSPs, to get a taste of bliss. And enough to fuel our creative fire.
I heard from a fellow HSP recently who told me that he liked to practise Tai Chi in a park by the Tualatin river. And that afterwards he feels a surge of creative flow and starts writing poetry and drawing. He couldn’t quite understand what it was about the river that made him feel creative. But I think sensitive people need sensitive places. When we are relaxed and happy and surrounded by a sensitive world, we feel free to let our feelings show, and our poetry blossom.