Our love of nature:Biophilia

As I was driving to work today, musing about things undone and deadlines, I took time to pause, and really appreciate the statuesque trees and lush foliage lining the long, winding street.

It calmed me. Nature just does that for me... and I guess, for most of us.

And so we plant and cultivate gardens, inviting wildlife into our yards, connecting with our green earth that soothes our souls.

Our gardens are a natural canvas that we can paint with creative abandon. Colors come alive; edibles mix happily with native plants, as we, masters of the canvas, get to relax into the rhythm of nature's cycles. American Beauties Native Plants like these shown in this image, draw wildlife that in turn connects us with nature.

Are you taken by a hummingbird's flight and butterfly's colors as they hover over your plants?
Need to get your time around nature to "decompress" and re-group? I do.

Chalk it up to an interesting hypothesis called Biophilia, coined by Harvard University entomologist,Edward O. Wilson. Bio- what? No, it's not some dreaded disease from work overload (although many claim to have 'sick building syndrome' symptoms from indoor air pollution in offices.)

Actually,this term refers to humans' "love of living things"- our innate affinity with nature. Dr. Wilson suggests we're biologically "wired" this way. Interesting.

No matter if you go along with his hypothesis - or not - it is fascinating. We started talking about Biophilia in our GMG Trends Report a few years back and it certainly seems to be gathering adherents. (click on our 2011Trends Report on our site for more info.)

I discovered an organization called The Biophilia Foundation that's working to help save green spaces and wetlands and more.

Perhaps if we all just take a few minutes from our busy days-- (and they can get crazy busy for us all-right?) and take a stroll near some greenery-- a park, a rest stop 'parklet', a "courtyard" with trees and flowers, or our gardens, we just might reconnect to nature, and calm our souls.
~Lynne
GMG
photos credits: Wikipedia commons; American Beauties Native Plants