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By Betsy Lenora

It took a third move from spot to spot to find the most comfortable place for my picnic. Noise was the biggest obstacle. A leaf blower chased me from riverbank to park bench & finally, to my quiet perch on a concrete ledge. Sitting over an outlet to the Mystic River, my legs dangled freely. Below my feet were a pile of rocks. Straight ahead, the river flowed towards the ocean. The banks on both sides were lined with trees & provided welcoming shade. Nearby, Alewife Brook emptied itself into the river, merging with the faster water on its way to the sea. While I ate my lunch, I watched as canoes, kayaks, & rubber rafts passed by in a colorful flotilla. The river is not terribly wide, at least not in this area. It was easy to see the riverboat people along with an occasional dog.

Motorboats quietly put-putted down towards the ocean to maybe fish. A few people were casting their rods from the banks nearby. The day, though it started out cloudy, had turned clear & sunny, warm with a cool breeze. Perfect for an early summer-like day in May. Though with fewer cars on the road due to the pandemic, the traffic behind me was audible. So too were the gentle lapping sounds as the ripples from the breeze & the river-craft provided a different soundtrack.

My consciousness is heightened when I’m outside, surrounded by the natural world. When the troubles, stress & worries of mankind threaten to upset my equilibrium; when I’ve listened to too much news on the radio, watched too much sadness on TV, interacted too long with my computer due to the COVID19 virus & not having the social contact that would normally help relieve these issues – there is one respite that always calms me, brings me back to what’s important. It is a feeling of unification, of oneness with Life which instantly connects me to the Present Moment whenever I step outside & follow a path that leads to trees, water, wild animals, bugs, flowers, weeds & all the things that aren’t made by a human being but by some force of Universal Energy. I find myself when I lose myself in the natural wildness of the world.

We humans often forget that we come from the same source. We destroy the very things that created us. By breathing in the air of the planet – the air that trees create without which we could not live; the very water of Life itself that falls from the sky to create rivers & lakes – & the oceans where we came from; & by eating plants that grow from the soil to nourish us so that we won’t starve; our survival depends on all of earth’s elements. In these harsh & dark times, we can turn to Nature to restore our sanity, our feelings of hope & peace even as we struggle to resolve the dilemmas that we face, that we have always faced. For me, being outside in Nature, I let go of my ego as I focus only on what I can see, & I marvel at the wonder of it all. It frees up some space in my head & heart so that I can better be open to the Truth, Peace & Justice that we desperately need in our world. Nature equals living honestly, truthfully, courageously. Nature means we can all breathe.

Betsy Lenora is a writer and photographer living in Somerville, MA.