Rites of Spring

One of my longest standing “Rites of Spring” is a family trip to the desert in southern Utah. 

It’s an explosion of red rock, sunshine, and budding cacti against a brilliant blue sky, and the perfect place to refresh our minds, bodies, and relationships.  

As one of my daughters observed this past weekend, all your worries drop away, you can’t think about work or school or anything except the present moment: getting that next sip of water to quench your thirst, breathing hard enough to put one foot in front of the other and make it over the next rise, sitting on top of the world and enjoying a hard earned slice of orange to power your descent. 

I’m well aware of how lucky I am to live so close to such beauty, but wherever you are, may I recommend you find a way to take your family and get away into the great outdoors? 

After a long winter and an even longer time with Covid restrictions, being outdoors seems more valuable now than ever. How would it change your life to spend a few days, even a few hours, watching the sunrise, listening to the birds, splashing in a stream, feeling the wind in your hair?

In August, 2010 The New York Times reported on the adventures of five neuroscientists who decided to spend five days on the San Juan River in southern Utah to personally experience the impact of immersing themselves in nature away from cell phones and other digital life. Research had already confirmed that people learn better after a walk in the woods than they do after a walk on a busy street in the city. 

What happens to us when we are constantly distracted by an endless stream of digital information, always anticipating the next text, email or Tik Tok video, the nonstop intrusion of electronic noise?

And what happens when our brains are at rest because we absolutely know we are out of cell service and nothing can interrupt us? 

I appreciate neuroscientists trying to understand the full whys and wherefores, but I don’t really need them to tell me how good it is for me and for our connections with each other.

Where will you go this year with your family to sweep out the cobwebs, reconnect and revive?

Here’s to more resilient wins at home and away,

Anne


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