The Natural Series, Part 3

Engaging a Nature-Centered Lifestyle

Definitions

In my mind, the phrase “engaging a nature-centered” or “natural lifestyle”, has two meanings.  Below I share my personal take on this topic and my proposal for leaning into the benefits of a nature-centered lifestyle.

One quite popular meaning of the phrase natural lifestyle is found as a trend offered for purchase in the marketplace. The second meaning calls for personally engaging with nature as a choice, forging a commitment to that experience for its own rewards.

Natural or Nature-Centered Lifestyle?

I think there’s the idea of a nature-centered life and then there’s the self-reliance and determination required to seek out such a lifestyle.  Both are significantly divergent from the typical current-day sense of normal, the engagement with marketing in order to secure your goals. 

Engaging with nature directly is what drives my curiosity and passion. Of course that sounds crazy.  Nature, the forces of nature are formidable, and not to be misunderstood.  Yet human beings actually have the freedom to choose what part of nature we can try to see, try to understand or learn from.

I’m an edge-of-the-city-dweller, neither a naturalist, nor scientist.  Yet I maintain a healthy curiosity about the natural world enveloping me.  I’m not a perfect example, still, I count myself among those who consider a nature-centered point of view in everything I purchase to eat or put on my skin. 

When we buy into online advice and purchase the products advertised, we’re actually conforming to a standard idea of what natural is, as opposed to developing our own personal notions from our experiences, either nature-centered, or of the natural world.

Below I propose that there are two ways to look at the nature-centered point of view.  The first is a “Nature-Centered Outlook” and the second is the “Personal Approach”.

The Nature-Centered Outlook describes a quality of self-reliance and what a person does who’s interested in nature, but not necessarily committed to a natural lifestyle (see below in NOTES).

And the Personal Approach looks at the results of actions you might take, also called the quality of self-determination, to see whether these things appeal to you.

Benefits of a Nature-Centered Self-Care

Nature-centered is about insisting on minimally processed or raw material, keeping your senses engaged during your self-care rituals, and responsive while you cook, eat, create, and share with others.  Remind yourself that even small efforts open our eyes to new ways of seeing and experiencing in our lives.

I invite you to consider engaging this style of self-care which may be new to you, using the materials and tools that are familiar and close at hand.

Experience the thrill of having made a potion or a tea for your own use.  Consider the objects of self-care such as personal hygiene, relaxation, well-being, and comfort.  You can make a potion or a tea for personal hygiene, a perfume for relaxation or calmness, a body oil for personal wellbeing, a salve for personal comfort when aches and pains bother you—these are just some of the means of self-care from nature’s ingredients.