Parks

One of my favourite Nat Geo issue ran a feature on saving the world's parks. I like how the author paid tribute to nature:

"That we should find nature rejuvenating is hardly surprising. After all, our tribe arose not in cinderbelt but in wild forests and grasslands. Our ears are made not for the stinging scream of sirens but for the sly scratch of a predator's paws and the whistle of the wind that warns of impending weather. Our eyes evolved to tease apart not the monotonous grays of cityscapes but the subtle gold, olive and burgundy hues that signaled ripe fruit and tender leaves, and our brains to reward our sensory efforts with deep feelings of pleasure."

And that rather sums up how we all feel about nature.

The author draws another interesting comparison between "voluntary attention" and "involuntary attention". Most of us exercise voluntary attention all the time when we concentrate on our daily doings but in nature, we give in to our involuntary attention which means we lose ourselves wholly and effortlessly into our natural environment.