I like sitting near water and listening to it speak, being under trees, climbing trees, feeling ancient stones, smelling pine trees, and making little fires. I like walking over the earth with my kids and watching them frolic and play as they move freely on the earth, spinning, laughing, and dancing. I like walking barefoot in the snow and drinking hot coffee outside in the cold of winter. Although I know there are so many documented benefits of being outdoors, for me, it’s the experience of connecting with something bigger than my own little self—the way the living earth shows me every day the ways that we are all connected and interdependent.

I look at the stars and I am reminded of how lucky I am to exist, let alone be a human with the mental power to appreciate the world and to a small degree, understand it. It reminds me of my childhood, laying on the grass looking at the stars with my father, sharing our visions through his telescope where I first saw the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn. I look at the stars and I am transported, amazed, humbled.

I believe it makes me a better human being.