the Life Environments Wellness Journal

May 2023

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From our founder...​

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When I was a kid, my little brother and I played often in the woods on my grandfather’s farm. I remember building bridges during the fall over the babbling creek from broken tree branches and twine as the first snows fell silently through barren trees. It was indeed an idyllic space where we felt safe and welcome to fantasize and explore – and we did so often.

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One day my grandfather came down to see what trouble we were getting into and saw our handywork. He marveled for a brief moment at our adolescent engineering prowess. He then somehow thought it was a good idea to test the soundness of the bridge with a few light tapes of his foot. Decision-making wasn’t my grandfather’s strong suit as soon he discovered the limits of our engineering expertise and the unanticipated physics of a wet snow-covered stream bank. He tumbled into the frigid water uttering words few could spell even today. I was simply betting on the fact that I could run faster than my brother.

True to form, my brother and I ran back to the farmhouse knowing grandpa couldn’t keep up with us and our only protection option at the moment was grandma.

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As it turned out, both grandpa and we survived the ordeal. Over the years, we returned to those woods’ countless times – both together and alone. It was where I went to “be away” with my thoughts and ideas. Years later I noticed an old tree limb in the bank of the stream wrapped in twine. I picked it up, held it and smiled.

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That was more than fifty years ago, yet I remember it as if it was only yesterday. That woods, like so many today, became victim to some builder’s dreams of profit and is no longer there; the stream was filled in ages ago. Perhaps the most memorable part of my experience was the peace I felt when I was there and the absence of turmoil when I exited. I knew little of the transformational power of nature to calm my mind and allow me to be content, if only for a while. I yearned to live there someday; it was my happy place.

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In this month’s Wellness Journal, we have curated several YouTube that you can use to both appreciate trees more deeply and put them to use in ways that make your life a better place to be.

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Let’s explore!