The Eight Master Lessons Of Nature; What Nature Teaches Us About Living Well In The World by Gary Ferguson was written and published in 2019.
I picked up the book at my local library. I wanted to read it because I have found myself turning to nature to help with stress. There are quite a few studies showing how the natural world can help us, not just with stress and better mental health but also helping us to heal faster and better from physical health problems.
This book is more about what nature can teach us on how the world works efficiently and effectively. The author writes about ways the natural world can teach what might help us to do the same.
Each chapter discusses one of the eight lessons. It starts with Mystery: wisdom begins when we embrace all that we don’t know. It can really help to know that it’s okay, even beneficial, to wonder. There is always something going on that we can’t explain, or weren’t expecting. Nature knows how to adapt and roll with it, we can too.
Life on earth thrives thanks to a vast garden of connections. This is the second tidbit of knowledge that we can learn from nature. We should develop a network that will be mutually beneficial, or we can help somewhere and accept it from another source.
The more kinds of life in the forest, the stronger that life becomes. This is a lesson about needing a variety of styles and talents to be the best. We all need to accept different types of people in order to make better choices and decisions together. We each have different strengths and weaknesses.
Healing the planet, and ourselves, means recovering the feminine. The human world has been ruled by a more masculine state while the natural world has a good balance of feminine and masculine. It will benefit us all to find a better balance, not to eliminate either one.
Our animal cousins make us happier and smarter. It has always been better when we have a good relationship with animals. Again, there should be more of a balance and mutual benefit. Not so much human control through harm. Anyone who has a good relationship with a pet animal can understand this.
We live on a planet with energy beyond measure, yet life doesn’t waste a drop. This chapter shows how nature teaches people not to waste the many gifts we have been given.
After disaster and disruption: Nature teaches us the fine art of rising again. There are so many natural disasters but each disruption, nature comes back and, many times, stronger than before. It can be hard to recover from a personal disaster but it is important to come back and, hopefully, to learn from each disruption in life.
Old growth: Elders can help us be better at life. Too often we dismiss older people as not knowing what is going on, or not understanding how things work. I think we can always learn something from the older generation if we pay attention. In the animal world, there is an important role for older beings that we should learn from.
I enjoyed how the author included, not just factual information but stories, both from his life and others. He kept the book interesting and it is an enjoyable book to read. Nature’s beauty holds every lesson. I hope you are able to pause and enjoy, even a little, what nature shares with us. You are an important part of the natural world.
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