Al fresco

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
― John Muir

I think he knows what he’s talking about, this Mr. Muir. And if not a forest wilderness, then a quiet dirt path through a patch of woods, or a trail along a rocky coastline, or up the side of a mountain, or hard by a river, or meandering through a park. Outside, my friends, outside.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, we Americans spend 93 percent of our lives indoors (87 percent inside buildings, another 6 percent in automobiles). Do the math. That's a scant 7 percent of our entire lives spent outdoors. Another study found that almost two-thirds of American adults spend less than five hours outside each week.

 “In nature, nothing is perfect, and everything is perfect.”
–Alice Walker

As someone who spends hours outside almost every day—yes, including workdays, yes, including rainy days--I am astonished at these statistics. But I am astonished at a lot of things these days. And by astonished, I mean here aghast. I think we might take a lesson from Norwegians who have crafted a cultural identity out of living what they call the friluftsliv—free air life. This was a term coined by Henrik Ibsen in the 1850s to convey a spiritual connection with nature (which requires us to be in nature). In Norway, living friluftsliv, close to 80 percent of the population spends significant time in nature every week, and 25 percent do so most days. Oh, and a quarter of the population regularly sleeps outdoors.

Friluftsliv is not a specific activity. Hiking in the forest, kayaking along the fjords, fishing, sledding, cross-country skiing could all be part of it, but so could picking berries or crouching by a campfire or sitting on a rock.  The goal is not to “get exercise” –as it so often is with us when we take ourselves outdoors—or to take ourselves to a field to compete in organized sports (or to a stadium to watch other people compete in organized sports, a popular “outdoor” [in]activity in our country). The goal is to breath and listen and look, to appreciate, to de-stress, to allow the natural world to bring us into alignment.

“I became intensely aware of the being-ness of trees.”
— Jane Goodall

This love of nature is taught early. Kindergarten children sleep outdoors in their prams in winter. At many nurseries, toddlers spend 80 percent of their time outside; at school, there are special days throughout the year when children go out in nature and build campfires. Norwegian students can even take a degree in friluftsliv.

Nature-induced well-being. I do not need to explain, do I?

We have all felt this. It is time—it is officially! gloriously! spring—to feel it every day.