‘Nature Is How We Reset’

Nature is how we rest. Find the place that does that for you and go there often.

We think rest means collapsing on the couch, scrolling, or binge watching another show. And yet we so often get up more tired than before. There is a real difference between simply stopping and truly resting.

Real rest does not just pause you; it restores you. And one of the deepest, simplest forms of it is nature. We are not separate from the natural world; we are part of it. Our bodies were shaped under open sky, near water and trees, not under screens and fluorescent lights. When we step outside, something in us exhales. The nervous system softens. The shoulders drop.

In my book I talk about how we seem to be quietly attuned to the rhythms of the Earth itself. The rustle of leaves, the flow of a stream, the warmth of the sun on your skin, these settle something in us far below our thinking, reminding the body that it is safe, and that it belongs.

Nature is ‘The Garden’ made real. Birdsong, a breeze through the leaves, green in every direction. Stepping into it is one of the fastest ways to walk straight back into the calm ‘Garden’ inside yourself.

Everyone has a place that does this. A beach, a bush track, a quiet river, a park bench under a big old tree, the backyard at first light. For me it is a few favourite spots around Melbourne that feel like open country, all within a twenty-minute drive, where I can sit in the quiet and somehow see things in my life clearly again. You know yours by the way your whole body settles the moment you arrive.

The mistake is saving it for the once-a-year holiday. Rest is not the prize at the end; it is the fuel for the journey. Ten minutes barefoot on the grass, a weekly walk among the trees, beats one big escape a year. Unfortunately we sometimes forget to go.

Where is the place that truly rests you, and when did you last let yourself go there?