Dirt Cheap Therapy

Nature is medicine. It has the power to heal, the power to soothe, and the power to calm. It is the doorway to mental health, emotional health and spiritual health. It is dirt-cheap, effective therapy.

Since I need therapy on a daily basis, and I'm not a bajillionaire yet, I have regular, free appointments with Nature. My favorite form of therapy is Avian Therapy. Commonly known as bird watching.

Watching, studying and thrilling over birds immediately brings the mind into the present moment. The present moment is where all healing begins and where all healing lives. While watching the rosey-colored house finch at my feeder, my mind is no longer obsessing about past or future events. Time stops. There is nothing but the thrill of the color, the sweet song and the marvel of how much seed that little body can pack away. Then the bouncing goldfinch arrives and the darting chickadee and the always vocal downey woodpecker. Time ceases to exist. What does exist is the soothing, calm awareness that peace and balance and beauty are the dominant forces at work on our beloved planet. It simply takes present-moment awareness to understand this and to live this.

I also take therapy while driving. With luck, you won't be in the car behind me when I stomp on the brakes to catch a great blue heron fishing in a pond. Or swerve to the side of the road to catch a red tail hawk swooping down on a mouse. Despite my erratic driving habits, rest assured, I'm in the process of calming myself, soothing myself and healing myself of all neurosis regarding the annoying habits of other drivers. Bird watching makes me a better, more friendly driver.

I remind myself there is no excuse for prolonged angst. There is no excuse for dwelling on the past and the future and making myself mildly insane. There is no excuse for living anywhere but the present, joy-filled moment. Not when God has provided dirt-cheap, timeless therapy flying by every window I choose to look out and flying down every road I choose to take.


{ The great blue heron photograph was taken by my friend, Lisa Clare, of Gasport, NY. Lisa has a heart of gold, a great eye for nature photography and subscribes to the same therapy as me. Today is Lisa's 40th birthday.}