Finding Peacefulness in Nature

“I love the outdoors. It gives me a peacefulness.”

Tania finding peacefulness in nature

This is the transcript from Season 2, Episode 7 of the Outdoors is my Therapy Podcast with my friend Tania Bertram.

Finding Peacefulness in Nature

Kathryn: Hello and welcome back to The Outdoors is My Therapy podcast. I’m your host, Kathryn Walton. This is series two and in each episode you’ll get to meet one of my friends who’ll share what inspires them about the outdoors. Each episode is just a few minutes long, like a little snack of information and inspiration that feeds your mind and your heart and reconnects you with the therapeutic benefits of the outdoor world.

As humans, we understand the world through our senses. Your senses provide you with opportunities to interact with your environment and with other people – a way of communicating and connecting, a bit like an interface to use “computer speak”. Your senses receive and then send information to your brain about where you are in space and time.

Signals are received by your senses from all around you. They’re sent through your nervous system where they’re processed and interpreted, and like all good communication, your brain then sends messages back through your body directing your next actions.

Most of the time your senses are working without you even realising. There are sights and sounds and smells that you’re not conscious of even though they’re there most of the time. Sometimes your brain will alert you to something like a dreadful smell, which is your natural protective mechanism kicking into gear, telling you to stay away because there’s something rotten, there’s something dangerous, something that could hurt you nearby.You might have also noticed the waft of a delicious veggie curry coming down the hallway at work, alerting you to the fact that it’s lunchtime and you really do feel quite hungry and need to eat.

Sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches are all around you. It would be pretty overwhelming if you were conscious of all of them all of the time so how amazing is it that humans have developed a really clever filtering system so that you can be automatically alerted to danger as needed without having to waste your precious energy on, well, on things that you don’t need to be constantly conscious of.

But as always, there is a downside to this filtering mechanism. In an effort to optimise energy and attention towards danger and risk, you are probably missing out on some of the good stuff in life too.

When you intentionally engage your senses in the world around you, you open up windows of opportunity to experience peace and calm. There are infinite ways that you can do this in nature, and the most simple way is to step outside and look around you. Notice what your eyes are seeing. Notice the textures and the colours around you. Notice the sounds. Breathe in and notice the aromas. Stop, pause, take in the moment. Even for just a moment.

Our guest today speaks about her experience of doing this in a very special nature space where she lives. In fact, it was the very same space where we recorded this conversation. Tania Bertram loves the outdoors and has built a lifestyle around those aspects of nature that she loves the most and that bring her a sense of peace and calm in the midst of life’s stresses. Tania was one of our Outdoors is my Therapy Ambassadors when we launched in 2020, and she’s previously shared a story on my blog about her travels around Australia with two young children.

After you’ve listened to this episode, you might like to click on the link in the show notes to have a read of her story and be inspired. But for now, meet my friend Tania.

Hello Tania. Welcome to the podcast.

Tania: Thank you Kathryn. Nice to be here.

Kathryn: I’d love to hear from you what inspires you about the outdoors?

Tania: I love the outdoors. It gives me a peacefulness. Uh, I love looking at all the, the animals. listening to the birds. Walking down this morning I had a 360 degree hearing of birds. Looking at the trees, the colours, the bark, so much, um, so much interest in the bark itself. It’s just amazing. So it makes me stop and pause and have a look around, take in the moment.

Kathryn: Tania, do you have a favourite space in nature?

Tania: My favourite space recently is just sitting by the creek with the, the grass around me, the trees above me, uh, nature all around. So I’d say anywhere that’s, just outside and quiet. Really, really does. It does feel good.

Kathryn: And you’re really lucky where you live. You’ve got a beautiful creek and the 360 degree views and, and have that 360 degree sound of the birds as well.

Tania: It is, it’s an ideal spot. I’m so glad we found it. It was. It was just at a right time that, um, we could come down here and, and really appreciate it. And I do appreciate it. I, I come and camp, by myself and just look at the stars at night and listen to the wildlife around me. It, it is such a special place, very fortunate.

Kathryn: And we’re very fortunate today to be sharing it with you as well, sitting down by the creek while we’re recording this episode. So thank you very much for your generosity in, in sharing such a beautiful space with us, Tania.

Tania: Oh, it, it is been a pleasure having you. This perfect space has made even better with your company. Thank you.

Kathryn: Thanks for tuning into The Outdoors is My Therapy podcast. We hope you feel inspired to connect with the outdoors no matter how big or small your adventures might be. If you’re looking for more inspiration or you’d like to connect with others in the outdoors is my therapy community, check the show notes for all the links.

You can listen to the episode “Finding Peacefulness in Nature” here:

LINKS

Contact Kathryn via her website

Grab your free Guide to a Perfect Nature Escape Day when you subscribe to the Grounded Inspiration newsletter (limited time)

“Your Personal Day of Retreat: A guide to planning self-care and stress management that really works” e-book

Read Tania’s blog post “Family Adventures: Tania’s Story of Travel Around Australia”

Join the Outdoors is my Therapy Facebook Group

Music by Twisterium from Pixabay

Discovering mountain biking as life’s ultimate parallel universe in her middle age, Daisy Spoke aka Kathryn Walton logoKathryn Walton shares information and reflections in Daisy Spoke that connect, inspire and self-empower women to make healthy choices for themselves. She integrates her love of physical exercise, family, nature, gardening and creative arts with her professional background in mental health social work to facilitate change with individuals, groups and communities of women who are committed to living life to the full.

The Complex Simplicity of Nature

“Find those snippets of your day where you can cultivate simplicity”

Jessica Carey at Girraween

This is the transcript from Season 2, Episode 6 of the Outdoors is my Therapy Podcast with my friend Jessica Carey.

The Complex Simplicity of Nature

Kathryn: Hello and welcome back to The Outdoors is My Therapy podcast. I’m your host, Kathryn Walton. This is series two and in each episode you’ll get to meet one of my friends who’ll share what inspires them about the outdoors. Each episode is just a few minutes long, like a little snack of information and inspiration that feeds your mind and your heart and reconnects you with the therapeutic benefits of the outdoor world.

As humans living in the modern age, we are pretty used to being surrounded by buildings with roofs to shelter us from all weather – sun, rain, snow, hail, whatever. The walls of our buildings protect us from the wind, and I guess we’ve kind of learned to feel safe when we’re inside. We snuggle up into our cozy beds at nighttime, often with the windows closed to the natural world outside and having climate controlled conditions inside.

We have heating and cooling, lots of straight, smooth edges, evenly textured surfaces, and we’re surrounded by fabricated comforts and equipment. For many of us, we leave our homes in the morning and jump straight into a car or a train or a bus, and we aim to get the closest park possible or get off at the closest station possible to our school or our work.

So really, we separate ourselves from the very environment that both challenges and sustains us, and that has done so throughout human history. Without a doubt we’ve made incredible advances in technology that aid survival of the individual and survival of our whole human species. But in doing so, we also risk separating ourselves from those aspects of nature that support and nurture our very being.

The industrial age has gifted us with countless benefits, yet we’ve made many sacrifices as well. The human body, the human brain, and nervous system adapted to live in the natural world over tens or even hundreds of thousands of years.

Over the past 200 years, we’ve radically changed our living environment, but our bodies and brains need much longer than that to adapt to the changes that we’ve created in our surroundings.

Now, the natural environment, it’s not all about the tranquility, the peace, and the quiet. There’s much more to it than that. It’s also about the challenges, the risks, and the opportunities to stretch our skills and abilities, and our knowledge and understanding of the complexities of the systems in nature.

It’s also about our ability to tap into the simplicity of nature when we need it. The complex simplicity of nature. It may be an oxymoron, but as you’ll hear from today’s guest, it’s a reflection of human nature as well, and you too can find snippets of your day where you can connect with the complex simplicity of nature.

Jessica Carey is an all round inspiring soul with an infectious smile and laugh. She’s a deep thinker and a passionate nature lover. Jessica was one of our Outdoors is my Therapy Ambassadors when we first launched the initiative back in 2020, and you may have already heard her in Episode 30, Navigating Off Track, when we went a little bit cross country on a bushwalk together.

Jessica has also been a guest on my other podcast Speak Out Loud, Season 2, Episode 12, where she talked about movement and mindset, and particularly about the seasons and the cycles in nature, and how you can build your resilience to manage change. There’s a link to these episodes in the show notes, and I’m sure you’ll love to have a listen in to both of them.

But for now, meet my friend Jessica.

Welcome back to the podcast, Jessica.

Jessica: Thank you, Kathryn. It’s great to be here.

Kathryn: Jessica, what inspires you about nature?

Jessica: Well, that’s quite a loaded question, but what inspires me? Well, for me, nature is where we come from. So on a really big scale, it’s like when you turn and look at the trees or the sky, the grass, laying in the grass, the creek that we are beautifully sitting beside today, or whether it’s a beach or a mountaintop, it, um, I believe it reminds us where we come from and who we are. Uh, it may sound simple, but nature can be complicated and it can come with force or it can be, in a flow state, but it’s complex simplicity. And I think that’s a bit like human nature.

Kathryn: And that reminds me of, you know, some of those really hectic, chaotic days when things just seem really chaotic. How nice it is to just go outside and be with the simplicity of nature.

Jessica: Absolutely. And I think if you can find those snippets of your day where you can cultivate simplicity, and if that’s through watching a sunset or finding a mountain top, or putting your feet in the earth to ground, I think, they’re the moments we can cultivate to support chaos so we can become a more whole human.

Kathryn: Jessica, do you have a favourite space in the outdoors?

Jessica: Oh, a favourite one that’s pretty difficult. Uh, I like many spaces for many different reasons. For me, it depends on how I feel or if I need to let go or what I want to experience, but, mountains are my calling. I, I really appreciate valleys and wide open spaces. If I want to go to the top of a mountain, it’s about the journey there. But the top is, um, the pinnacle of being able to see things from a higher perspective, but then sometimes I let go in the ocean and being able to let go and cleanse and support myself in that. And I’m really wanting to go to the desert, to the red earth this year that’s been calling me at the moment, so I’m not sure what that’s gonna cultivate. But yeah, I believe there’s a different season and cycle that nature supports us in, in all aspects of our life.

Kathryn: Thanks for tuning into The Outdoors is My Therapy podcast. We hope you feel inspired to connect with the outdoors no matter how big or small your adventures might be. If you’re looking for more inspiration or you’d like to connect with others in the outdoors is my therapy community. Check the show notes for all the links.

You can listen to the episode “The Complex Simplicity of Nature” here:

You can listen to Jessica in Episode 30 “Navigating Off Track” here:

You can listen to “Movement and Mindset with Jessica Carey” in Season 2, Episode 12 of the Speak Out Loud podcast here.

LINKS

Contact Kathryn via her website

Grab your free Guide to a Perfect Nature Escape Day when you subscribe to the Grounded Inspiration newsletter (limited time)

“Your Personal Day of Retreat: A guide to planning self-care and stress management that really works” e-book

Contact Jessica Carey

“Movement and Mindset with Jessica Carey” – Transcript from the podcast “Speak Out Loud: Stories of Strength from the Southern Downs” Season 2: Episode 12 (Published 4th April 2022)

Join the Outdoors is my Therapy Facebook Group

Music by Twisterium from Pixabay

Unpredictable, Surprising Nature

“There’s always something different to discover”
Jolene Nelson Girraween National Park
This is the transcript from Season 2, Episode 5 of the Outdoors is my Therapy Podcast with my friend Jolene Nelson.

Unpredictable, Surprising Nature

Kathryn: Hello and welcome back to The Outdoors is My Therapy podcast. I’m your host, Kathryn Walton. This is series two and each episode you’ll get to meet one of my friends who’ll share what inspires them about the outdoors. Each episode is just a few minutes long, like a little snack of information and inspiration that feeds your mind and your heart and reconnects you with the therapeutic benefits of the outdoor world.

Do you love routine, predictability and consistency? You know, the same, same of life, so that you know exactly what to expect each moment? Or do you thrive with change, with surprises and unpredictability and believe that variety is the spice of life? Humans are wired to appreciate predictability as well as unpredictability.

You will notice that for yourself and other people you know that we each have a preference for one or the other in various situations. You can also see elements of predictability and unpredictability in the natural world around you.

Predictability can be calming and reassuring. It can ease the mind, and it allows us to simplify life. We put things in categories or boxes, and we know what to expect. We’re prepared for how things will be, and we kind of know what to do.

But unpredictability makes you step outside your usual patterns and routines, and it shakes up your thinking. It makes you question your expectations and your reactions. Change is a pretty normal part of life and you can resist it or you can respond with curiosity and open-mindedness. You can see change as an opportunity to learn and to discover something new about yourself or the world, to see things in a new light, to expand the boundaries of your mind and your senses, to more fully experience a sense of aliveness, of awe and wonder.

I can see both predictability and unpredictability in nature. There are patterns and cycles, routines, shapes, textures and colours that are quite predictable and consistent, like the tides and the ocean waves that ebb and flow, the sun that rises in the east and it sets in the west, and the seasons that cycle through the year, and different species of plants and animals grow in predictable ways as well.

On the other hand, nature also has unpredictable elements that can be unsettling, like lightning or a wintry blizzard. Or these unpredictable elements can be surprises that delight you. For example, the rapid regrowth after a bushfire, an unexpected field of wildflowers in bloom, a bee busily inspecting the blossoms in your veggie garden, the swirling clouds or a thick fog that’s constantly changing, morphing into different shapes and then suddenly disappearing as if by magic. And what about the sparkling rocks on the edge of a pond? Unpredictability is part of nature’s survival mechanism because you get to outsmart your predators and you take a risk to be or to do something differently which could improve your chances of survival, but you won’t know until you try.

Humans are wired to be sometimes predictable, sometimes unpredictable, just like other things in nature. My challenge to you is to notice the elements of predictability and unpredictability in nature and celebrate the wonder of nature being the same yet different. Celebrate the diversity of our world. Get up close. Be curious and be surprised each time you go outside.

Today’s guest loves the unpredictable nature of nature. Jolene Nelson has worked for many years in the outdoors, and she loves to spend her recreational time outside too. In today’s episode, Jo shares what inspires her about the outdoors, and she tells us about some of her favourite places. Meet my friend Jo.

Jo, what inspires you about the outdoors?

Jolene: I guess the number one inspiration for me about the outdoors is that it’s so unpredictable. You just don’t know what you’re going to see, what you’re gonna smell, what you’re gonna experience. Um, yeah, there’s always something different every time you go for a walk or a swim or whatever. yeah, that, that for me, I like, you know, I kind of like things that change. Yeah, the unpredictable nature of it.

Kathryn: What’s your favourite place in the outdoors?

Jolene: Anywhere where there’s water and rocks. Okay. That’s very general. I know. I do love the ocean. I, I think I must be a water sign because as soon as I get there, I just feel absolute calm. But in saying that, there’s a lot of wild places inland. Girraween yeah, no doubt is, is very much part of me. I’ve been there working in that area for 25 years, so anywhere in Girraween. It soothes my soul, but definitely beside any water course and where there’s some big rocks, you know, and there might be some wombats close by that I can’t see cuz they’re underground obviously. And wildflowers. I love the wildflowers in Girraween. Got 750 different species. So it’s that, you know, there’s always something different to discover.

Kathryn: Thanks for tuning into The Outdoors is My Therapy podcast. We hope you feel inspired to connect with the outdoors no matter how big or small your adventures might be. If you’re looking for more inspiration or you’d like to connect with others in the outdoors is my therapy community. Check the show notes for all the links.

You can listen to the episode “Unpredictable, Surprising Nature” here:

LINKS

Read more about Girraween National Park

Contact Kathryn via her website

Grab your free Guide to a Perfect Nature Escape Day when you subscribe to the Grounded Inspiration newsletter (limited time)

Join the Outdoors is my Therapy Facebook Group

“Your Personal Day of Retreat: A guide to planning self-care and stress management that really works” e-book

Music by Twisterium from Pixabay

Nature’s Little Treasures

“The more you look, the more you notice.”

krista bjornThis is the transcript from Season 2, Episode 4 of the Outdoors is my Therapy Podcast with my friend Krista Bjorn.

Nature’s Little Treasures

Kathryn: Hello and welcome back to The Outdoors is My Therapy podcast. I’m your host, Kathryn Walton. This is series two and each episode you’ll get to meet one of my friends who’ll share what inspires them about the outdoors. Each episode is just a few minutes long, like a little snack of information and inspiration that feeds your mind and your heart and reconnects you with the therapeutic benefits of the outdoor world.

Intentionally spending time in the outdoors each day can add amazing value to your life, including your mental health. And whilst nature is not a cure for all sorts of health issues, we do often neglect the fact that spending time in nature or connecting with nature in other ways can help us to feel better.

Why is it that we rush through the day sometimes without even a thought about the natural world around us? And how can we move from knowing that we’ll feel better if we get outside for a walk or a stretch to actually doing it? Sometimes it takes a bit of time and energy investment, but I’m here to remind you, and I’m here to remind me as well, that you open yourself up to multiple health benefits when you choose to invest and connect with nature in ways that bring you joy. The research backs up what you and I already know you stand to have improved attention, reduced stress levels, increased energy and vitality, a boosted mood and improved sleep.

Nature connection also promotes recovery from stress, and it can buffer stress in ways such as lowering your heart rate and your cortisol levels, and improving your immune functioning, and unlike a lot of things, nature is reasonably accessible for many people. And what I mean by this is that yes, you can be physically active in the outdoors and that’s great if you can be, but you can also connect with nature when you sit or lie down with a view of the outdoors.
When you have natural objects in your home or your bedroom or maybe your hospital room such as pot plants or seashells, even pets, and when you take the time to look through photos, watch videos, or view artworks that represent nature.

So if you live in a place where it’s not safe to be outside or you’re not able to go out, or maybe you are feeling unwell, there are many opportunities for you to connect with nature and enjoy the benefits, and even brief contact with nature can make a difference to your mood.

Today’s conversation is with my friend Krista Bjorn, who shares why nature is so important to her. Krista has a particular love of herbs and other plants that are beneficial for healing and nutrition, as well as adding beauty to the spaces around her. She shares her favourite place in the world and has some really practical advice about how nature can support you during stressful times and when you’re not feeling well enough to venture outside as well. We talk about how Krista learned to notice the little treasures in nature and how that led her to capture them through photography and to share them with the world.
Meet my friend Krista.

Hi Krista, and welcome to the podcast.

Krista: Hi Kathryn. Thank you so much.

Kathryn: Krista, what inspires you about the outdoors?

Krista: Oh, it is life to me, . Every day I wake up and the first thing I do is look outside at our trees and the bush and the meadows and the paddocks, and I just sit and watch the light come over the land. And I love, especially just knowing that no matter what’s happening in the world, our little piece of land is peaceful and quiet and beautiful, and that no matter what, how hard a day I have, I’m coming home at the end of the day and seeing the sunset and the incredible light and shadows of the trees, it just makes everything peaceful and happy again.

Kathryn: What’s your favourite part of your garden?

Krista: Oh, I really, really love the herbs and things that I have in my garden. So many of them are really precious to me because just looking at them brings so many memories, um, of, uh, harvesting the different berries, the roots, the leaves, the flowers for different things. And, sitting on the back veranda with friends as we pick off the tiny little flowers or scrub the roots and chop them up and get them ready for different remedies and things like that. And so when I see them, I don’t just see plants. I, I don’t just see the beauty of it, but I see, I see the healing that it can bring, to our bodies and our minds and our spirits. And so when I see them, it gives me a sense of purpose and excitement and, hope for the future, I guess. Just knowing that whether, I’ve got a headache or something, there’s something in the garden that will help us feel better.

Kathryn: Can you tell us a little bit more about how you are using those herbs and sharing them with the community?

Krista: Oh, yes. Well, I write books with all sorts of different recipes in them for people who like to make things on their own, and then I teach workshops where I show people how to actually make things from scratch. So when they show up at a workshop, I’ve got all these bowls and jars full of, dried fruits and berries and leaves and um, chopped up roots and spices that just smell amazing. So we’ll just sit there for a few hours and mix and blend and bubble and brew and make all these amazing concoctions that they can then take home.

And then there are people who don’t want to do any of the work, , and they just love, um, love to take the medicines like elderberry cordial or elderflower tea or borage infused wine or whatever it is. And so a lot of people will just contact me and just say, “Krista, can I put an order in for elderberry cordial? My kids are heading back to school and I just wanna help their immunity be as strong as possible” – that kind of thing. And so, then I’ll make up batches for them, and do that sort of thing.

Kathryn: You’ve also done a bit of travelling around the world, so you’ve seen a lot of places, you’ve lived a lot of places. What’s your favourite spot in the outdoors?

Krista: Oh, goodness. Yes. I was a food and travel writer for quite a few years, and um, I think one of my very, very favourite places on the planet is Albania because I went there not knowing anything about it at all, and it was so spectacularly beautiful with incredible mountains and, uh, crystal clear rivers and lakes and so much wilderness and these hillsides just covered with millions of wildflowers. And I just loved it there. At the time that I went, which was probably 10, 15 years ago now, um, it, it was not as advanced technologically and so it was really wild. And the places that you could go, you wouldn’t see any towns, any villages, any people, anything, um, at all. And I just loved it. I loved being out there with my friends and, um, going down side roads and ending up in crazy places and everything was beautiful.

Kathryn: That sounds just so, so beautiful.

Krista: Yes, it really was. It was like something out of a fairytale. I loved it.

Kathryn: Is there anything else that you’d like to share with us about your love of the outdoors? Krista?

Krista: Oh, I just, I love nature so much. No matter what I’m going through in my life, whether it’s stressful or, I dunno, things with covid or politics or all the things that conspire to, upset our equilibrium or make us anxious or distract our thoughts, getting out into nature. Every single time it calms me. It centers me, it settles me. It, um, it focuses me on the present and, allows me to calm and focus my thoughts so that I can do the work that I’m meant to do instead of getting distracted by the, the worries and anxieties and problems of things that I have no control over whatsoever.

Kathryn: Krista, I’m wondering if you’ve got any words for advice for people who maybe aren’t very mobile, or maybe not well enough to step outside and go for a walk outside. How can they connect with nature?

Krista: Yeah. I actually have a lot of experience with this because I’ve had some pretty epic, um, health issues and there were times that I could not get out of bed, let alone go for a walk in the woods and. So in those moments, I have really beautiful picture books of wonderful gardens and, places like Venice or Copenhagen or, just different places around the world that I can, even when I’m dreadfully ill, I can sit up in my bed and open these books and be transported to gorgeous places with incredible light and beauty and wonder and magic. Other times I will rent, or borrow DVDs from the library. I really love, um, Monty Don’s Gardens, when he travelled through France and Italy and other places. Again, those transport me and even if you aren’t mobile, even if, um, you’re going through a really hard time, we can often sit or stand or look out the window. And there’s always an option and that’s what I like to look for. A friend of mine said to me once, “Keep calm and look for options.” And that’s what I like to do.

Kathryn: One thing that I often talk with people about is finding the little treasures in nature. And Krista, I think that you are just like the queen of finding the little treasures in nature through your photography, through your Instagram account. Could you tell us a little bit about your photography?

Krista: Oh, absolutely. I didn’t start out as a photographer, but about 15 years ago, I was healing from a really traumatic situation in my life. And a friend of mine encouraged me to post one photo a day of something that brought me joy. And she said, because if you can find even one thing a day, it will motivate you to keep living, to keep healing, to keep growing, and to keep hoping that things will get better. And she was right and it brought me so much joy to, either go outside or go into my kitchen or even, um, just in my bed, look around my bedroom and look at something that made me happy. And I started noticing so many amazing things. If you just sit on the ground and just limit your vision to the things that are around you, all of a sudden you’re discovering these incredible seed pods and grasses and interesting looking sticks or a really gorgeous rock with interesting markings on it. And all of a sudden your, I guess your big picture view is, um, brought down to something really amazing. And it’s almost like a meditation that it, um, focuses your mind. It calms and settles your mind. And so that’s just how I started. I just started taking photos of things that brought me joy and through that practice, through that daily daily habit, I got better and better. And now I think my eye just naturally gravitates to beautiful things. And whether it’s a flicker of light or, um, I don’t know, or a flower or, um, even an interesting crack in the pavement that looks like, I don’t know, an animal or something. Um, the more you look, the more you notice.

Kathryn: One thing that I really love that you take photos of is droplets of water. And that I think really meant a lot to me because coming through the drought that we had that just seemed like forever

Krista: Yeah.

Kathryn: And you would share photos of your garden and when you watered the garden and, and you’d take photos of the droplets, or if we had one of those rare showers of rain or there was some dew on the leaves or on the flowers, and I, I think, you know, there’s a whole world in that one droplet of water that you can capture.

Krista: Absolutely. Oh, the drought was so painful for me as well as it was for all of us. And there were days that I would, get up and look outside and just cry because it was so desolate and thankfully I was able to get some water out of our bore and my friend calls them Krista’s Green Stripes , because I would set up one drip hose on the grass and that’s all I watered the whole time was just one stripe of grass so that we could go stand out barefoot on one stripe of green grass and that I could go out there and see droplets of water, um, when I would turn the little spray on for a little bit, and just to see that life, that water, that incredible light, when the sun comes up and shines through the droplets of water on the grass, it gave me courage to keep going.

Kathryn: Thank you, Krista for sharing so many stories from your life, connecting with nature, connecting with the outdoors, I think you’ve just shared so many little treasures with us today that will be inspiring for other people to take on board and give them, you know, a little lift on their own healing journey or on their own journey towards thriving in life. So thank you so much for that.

Krista: Oh my absolute pleasure. I loved it. Thank you.

Kathryn: Thanks for tuning into The Outdoors is My Therapy podcast. We hope you feel inspired to connect with the outdoors no matter how big or small your adventures might be. If you’re looking for more inspiration or you’d like to connect with others in the outdoors is my therapy community. Check the show notes for all the links.

You can listen to the episode “Nature’s Little Treasures” here:

LINKS

Krista’s website

Follow Krista on Instagram  @ramblingtart

Contact Kathryn via her website

Grab your free Guide to a Perfect Nature Escape Day when you subscribe to the Grounded Inspiration newsletter (limited time)

Join the Outdoors is my Therapy Facebook Group

“Your Personal Day of Retreat: A guide to planning self-care and stress management that really works” e-book

Nature: The Best Health Tonic You Can Have

Having that connection with the natural environment it’s the best health tonic that you can have.

Julia Keogh best health tonic

This is the transcript from the Season 2, Episode 2 of the Outdoors is my Therapy Podcast with my friend Julia Keogh.

The Best Health Tonic

Kathryn: Hello and welcome back to the Outdoors is my Therapy podcast. I’m your host Kathryn Walton. This is Series 2 and each week you’ll get to meet one of my friends who’ll share what inspires them about the outdoors. Each episode is just a few minutes long, like a little snack of information and inspiration that feeds your mind and your heart and reconnects you with the therapeutic benefits of the outdoor world.

Kathryn: Movement, physical activity and exercise make up one of the foundation stones for your mental health and your wellbeing. Being physically active helps you strengthen the other foundation stones that contribute to health, such as sleep, nutrition, mental fitness and connection. The research is clear that you reduce your risk of a whole range of chronic diseases, including depression and anxiety, when you live an active lifestyle. By being physically active or exercising in the outdoors, you boost your body’s internal sleep system and your powers of concentration and your thinking, and you can also ground yourself in nature by connecting with the land and the plants and the animals that live there. Today, you’ll hear from my friend Julia Keogh, who shares with us that the outdoors inspires her to keep moving because however you look at it, the outdoor world is ever changing. It’s always moving. And she says, having that connection with the natural environment is the best health tonic you can have. And listen out for the delightful bird song that you can hear in the background of this episode. Meet my friend, Julia.

Kathryn: I’m sat here in a beautiful garden with my friend, Julia. Julia, what inspires you about the outdoors?

Julia: Hello, Kathryn. Well, welcome to my overgrown garden. What inspires me about the outdoors? Can I give our listeners just a bit of a visual? Is that okay?

Kathryn: That sounds perfect.

Julia: Ok great. So we’re sitting at the front of our little property in Warwick. So my parents bought out here about 55 years ago. And they, one of the first things that they did, they planted these beautiful Jacaranda trees that we’re sitting under the shade of at the moment. And while Kathryn and I have been talking, she’s been watching the different birds that come around. We have so many varieties of different birds out here. We’ve got butterflies galore. We’ve got bugs aplenty. We’ve just had 38 mm of rain over the past 24 hours. It is absolutely feeling so incredibly beautiful and alive. So what inspires me about the outdoors is it’s ever changing, but always moving. And that I think is something that I really need to keep on reminding myself about every day to just keep on moving.

Kathryn: While you were talking Julia, there was this tiny, tiny little bird, which is now in that little Jacaranda behind you flitting around.

Julia: A little tiny wren?

Kathryn: A little wren oh just gorgeous. And so tiny and really could just blend into the background unlike the six king parrots that were perched above you just a little while ago.

Julia: Or the noisy Willy Wagtails that, that love coming in and having a chat. So, this is my favourite place. I love waking up here every morning. So this is my routine. We have a number of farm animals, but we also have a number of pet animals. So we have Maremmas and cats. And so we go through the daily, you know, wake up and feed routine but the first thing that I do of a morning is I walk outside without any shoes on to feel the grass under my feet because as you and I know coming out of 10 years worth of drought and having only dirt to walk on, being able to walk out into lush springy grass is my absolute favourite thing to do every single morning barefoot. It doesn’t matter whether if, and it’s even better if it’s been raining or there’s a heavy dew.

Kathryn: Just blissful

Julia: It is, isn’t it. And it’s such, it’s such an incredibly powerful grounding technique to use as well. And and I find just, just doing that, and feeding my magpies. So for anyone who’s listening, I do understand that there’s certain things that you can feed magpies and things that you can’t. So I’m continuing to feed magpies that used to come and visit my dad, who actually passed away a couple of years ago. So I’m still hand feeding the families of those magpies that Dad originally befriended years and years ago. And having that connection with the natural environment it’s the best health tonic that you can have.

Kathryn: Thanks for tuning in to the Outdoors is my Therapy podcast. We hope you feel inspired to connect with the outdoors no matter how big or small your adventures might be. If you’re looking for more inspiration or you’d like to connect with others in the Outdoors is my Therapy community, check the show notes for all the links.

LINKS
Contact Kathryn via her website

Grab your free Guide to a Perfect Nature Escape Day when you subscribe to the Grounded Inspiration newsletter (limited time)

Join the Outdoors is my Therapy Facebook Group

“Your Personal Day of Retreat: A guide to planning self-care and stress management that really works” e-book 

You can listen to the episode “Nature: The Best Health Tonic You Can Have” here:

 

Awe in Nature

There is infinite awe to be experienced in nature and the wide open spaces of the outdoors.

Helen Lewis, Picots Farm

Season 2 of the Outdoors is my Therapy Podcast

The Outdoors is my Therapy podcast is back for Season 2 and in each episode you’ll get to meet one of my friends who’ll share what inspires them about the outdoors. Each episode is just a few minutes long, like a little snack of information and inspiration that feeds your mind and your heart and reconnects you with the therapeutic benefits of the outdoor world.

This is the transcript from the latest episode with my friend Helen Lewis from Picots Farm on the Southern Downs in southern Queensland.

Awe in Nature with Helen Lewis

Kathryn: How many times have you experienced a sense of awe in nature? You know that feeling of immense respect combined with curiosity and wonder when you’ve noticed something in nature. Perhaps it’s something that you’ve seen or you’ve heard, or you’ve touched, or you’ve smelt, or perhaps you’ve tasted it. And how often have you kept that feeling close to your heart as you’ve gone about the rest of your day or cherished the memory of it in the years afterwards? Experiencing awe in nature can connect you to the greater world around you. Some people speak of awe as a spiritual experience that helps them to transcend challenges in life and raise their sense of wellbeing. There are many factors that contribute to that experience of awe, and each of us will find different things awe-inspiring: sunrises and sunsets, bird song, the desert sands, the touch of the breeze, waves in the ocean, microscopic creatures, gigantic animals, ancient trees, birth, death, dew drops and more. The close association between mental health and that experience of awe has been documented in many scientific studies and incredibly, when you experience awe, changes take place in your brain and your behaviours change too. You feel calmer and you feel more connected to the good stuff in life. When it comes to awe, Julia Baird, an Australian bestselling author wrote a book called Phosphorescence with the subtitle On Awe Wonder and Things That Sustain You When the World Goes Dark. In her book, Julia writes of awe “…[that] it seems increasingly vital that we deliberately seek such experiences whenever we can. The good news is that they are very often all around us in every corner of nature.” And by the way, Julia has a TEDx talk on the same topic, which I’ll link in the show notes. In today’s episode, you’ll hear from my friend Helen Lewis, as she speaks about awe as well. Helen lives on a farm near Warwick in southern Queensland where her lifestyle is intimately connected with the outdoors. You’ll hear Helen share her sense of awe and her wonder about the natural world around her, the changes that she sees day to day and season to season, and the special spaces and the experiences that inspire her. Meet my friend Helen.
Helen, what inspires you about nature?

Helen: Well, being on the farm, I think I’m in awe of nature. I think it’s just quite incredible how it functions and the growth. I definitely think, coming out of the drought and the enormous response we got so quickly, was very telling, of yes, our management, but also just how, um, how quickly nature wants to regrow and rejuvenate itself, I guess, and, and um, responds to the right conditions. I guess one of the things I love is in summer when we’ve got dewy mornings and going out really early and just seeing all the spiders webs and just the intricacy. And we were actually had a spider build a, um, web on our veranda and between the posts and put so much effort into it. And then we had a huge amounts of wind and rain and just gone in an instant and then sure enough, next day, she’s back at it, doing it again. And look just the amount of time and effort that they put into those spider webs and just seeing the spiders webs with dew, you know that things are functioning if we’ve got so many spiders webs and took a photo of there’s just like hundreds of them within an acre, you know, like just everywhere on all the grass and everything. And it’s just magic.

Kathryn: Do you have a favorite place or space in nature?

Helen: Yes, I do. Down on the um, on Greymare Creek on our place, um, there’s all these old river gums and the green grass, and old logs. And, even when it’s dry, it’s just this lovely place with a lovely, feeling. And then when it’s got water in it it’s even obviously more majestic, but, yeah, I love, I love going down there and, just having a look and just seeing these old trees, and the bark on the trees and the patterns of the bark and, uh, and just the location of the trees. They’re very grand in the landscape. It’s a beautiful spot.

Kathryn: Thanks for tuning in to the Outdoors is my Therapy podcast. We hope you feel inspired to connect with the outdoors no matter how big or small your adventures might be. If you’re looking for more inspiration or you’d like to connect with others in the Outdoors is my Therapy community, check the show notes for all the links.

LINKS
Contact Helen Lewis at Picots Farm

The power of feeling small: how awe and wonder sustain us | Julia Baird | TEDxSydney

Phosphorescence: On Awe Wonder and Things That Sustain You When the World Goes Dark by Julia Baird

Contact Kathryn via her website

Grab your free Guide to a Perfect Nature Escape Day when you subscribe to the Grounded Inspiration newsletter (limited time)

Join the Outdoors is my Therapy Facebook Group

“Your Personal Day of Retreat: A guide to planning self-care and stress management that really works” e-book 

You can listen to the “Awe in Nature” episode here:

Listen to Helen Lewis talk about decision-making tools in the Speak Out Loud: Stories of Strength podcast:

Movement and Mindset with Jessica Carey

Transcript from the podcast “Speak Out Loud: Stories of Strength from the Southern Downs”

SEASON 2: EPISODE 12

GUEST: Jessica Carey

PUBLISHED: 4th April 2022

Jessica Carey at Girraween

[00:00:00] Jessica: When we work on our mindset, when we work on our emotional resilience, when we’re connected to nature and when we’re moving our body, it actually shifts energy. It moves and creates change. And I think within anything to do with movement, it is creating change not only on a physical level, but with your mental health, also with your emotional wellbeing, which are all part of being a human, like when we’re very multifaceted and it’s not a one size fits all thing. It’s about choosing what works for you and, what makes you feel good. And I think that’s really important.

[00:00:42] Kathryn: My guest today is Jessica Carey. Jessica’s deep connection with the Southern Downs Region goes back six generations. In our conversation, we chat about the cycles and the seasons in nature, and that by choosing your mindset and your actions, you also choose to build your personal strength and resilience and this positions you in a much better place to manage the changes, the cycles and the seasons in life. Jessica also shares in this episode, her love of physical activity and sport, and the many opportunities across the region for joining in structured activities like sport, as well as unstructured leisure activities such as bushwalking that gets you connected with nature. Our conversation reflects many of the themes that we’ve explored in Season Two and I’m sure it will inspire you to get out there and get active.

Hello, Jessica. Welcome to the podcast.

[00:01:46] Jessica: Hi Kathryn. Thanks so much for having me.

[00:01:48] Kathryn: Can you tell our listeners what your connection is with the Southern Downs?

[00:01:53] Jessica: My connection with the Southern Downs is very much family-based. So I’ve grown up in the region and I have six generations back, uh, on both sides of my lineage and family line in the Yangan and Emu Vale area.

[00:02:08] Kathryn: During the drought which we had over several years, and that was followed up by the bush fires in 2019 and 2020, I spoke with a lot of people about their experiences. And some words that were commonly used were devastation, hopelessness, and despair. And so clearly for many people, those were really tough times. But at that time, I also recall having some conversations with you too. And you had a slightly different perspective, I’d have to say, which I really think must’ve helped to boost your resilience. You were speaking about the cycles and the seasons in nature and in life, and there are purposes and benefits to each of those cycles and seasons, even though they can be challenging. Could you share some of your thoughts on that perspective with us a little bit more?

[00:03:00] Jessica: I would love to. So in my profession I have a lot of conversations and I hear a lot of stories, uh, from really beautiful and happy memories to really hard times, um, being a hairdresser. Yeah, people are really vulnerable with you. So feelings of devastation and hopelessness and despair were definitely very common during that time and how I look at it from a psychological perspective and a cycles of nature perspective is that we have a life death life cycles. And that happens in nature, that happens within our bodies, our life, our inner world. So when we went through that really, really tough time, which many are still in, it was reflected back to us within what was going on in our internal world. It was really hard to see the devastation that the drought bought just like right now, the land is very fertile. So those cycles of nature are continuous. I have a lot of conversations with farmers and a lot of them are just very connected to those seasons, those cycles in nature. And I really like hearing those stories because it actually teaches us that there is always a time for these things, um, that nothing ever stays the same, that we are cyclic beings. And that what’s really important is to learn how to become resilient through some of those harder times, some of those tougher times in life, um, that we will all face at some time.

[00:04:23] Kathryn: So our thoughts and our attitudes can really have quite an impact on our resilience as well as the actions that we choose to take. Now, I know that you’re someone who highly values health and vitality and resilience. What are some of the choices that you make every day that keeps you feeling strong?

[00:04:45] Jessica: I love this question, Kathryn. Health is one of my highest values because I believe without it, that we can’t actually make the choices from a really clear and vibrant space. So, uh, eating really well from the land from the earth is really important to me, whether that’s growing your own food or going to local farmer’s markets and sourcing locally and seasonally. Really good sleep cycles. I believe that’s really important in how I show up in the world every day is sleep is how our bodies heal. So that’s really important. Movement, so physical activity, whether that’s team sport, getting out in nature, doing a yoga class. Being still for a period of time within that movement is important as well. Being aware of your body. Having really nourishing relationships and being social is part of that as well, whether that is on a hike or team sport, or simply saying hello to my neighbour as they walk past. And having really clear desires and goals are another part of my life of working towards being a really, just the best version of myself in this life. I think that’s really important and I’m really connected to nature. I think we live in an incredible region where nature is at the forefront and I love being connected to her. I think it’s probably the thing that I love the most is, um, it connects to all those other things and it creates a really incredible foundation for the rest.

[00:06:12] Kathryn: And you’ve been involved with lots of different physical activities over the years that you’ve lived in the Southern Downs and even when you’ve gone abroad Jessica. What opportunities are there for people to get active on the Southern Downs?

[00:06:28] Jessica: Ah, where do I begin? There’s so many. I was brought up playing a lot of team sports, so I was involved with netball and touch football um, in particular. I was into athletics and swimming as well. And I’ve always done some type of gym work. So, there is just so many depending on where you want to start. You can pick your team sports, you can pick your individual sports. You’ve got incredible gym facilities in the region. You’ve got, um, some of your unstructured sports, like you’ve got your mountain biking, orienteering so many, so it really depends on the way that you want to move your body, but we are an incredible region, that offers so much for getting outdoors and yeah, just seeing what we’ve got on offer.

[00:07:10] Kathryn: So with so many opportunities out there, how can people find out about what’s out there if they are starting from not doing anything, they don’t know what’s available to them, how can they get connected?

[00:07:27] Jessica: I would say first port of call is talk to people. I think within anything in a small country town, it is asking the right questions and asking around. Secondly, using your social media apps. I think that everything is on there now uh, whether that’s your unstructured or your structured sport. I think, uh, using your hashtags is really powerful, especially on Instagram. So if you’re like hashtagging Southern Downs or Granite Belt, there’s a lot of people who explore this region that are tourists that love coming out here who share pictures and who share what they’re doing to get outdoors. It’s actually how I found a hiking group that I’m now involved in for 25 to 35 year olds in the Southeast Queensland and we do hikes and outdoor activities everywhere, but they also come here. So it’s how I found them. I found them through Instagram and I wanted to meet like-minded young people. Um, yeah, so there’s, there’s so many opportunities if you put yourself out there and aren’t afraid to, aren’t afraid to get a little bit vulnerable and put yourself out of your comfort zone. And the council website has a great foundation on there as well for a lot of facilities and a lot of ways that you can get connected in the region. And also just going to some of the like asking local businesses, go down the main street of any of the parts of our region and ask locals. Locals know what’s available. Um, you’ve got your outdoor sports shops. You’ve got your camping shops. They’re like they’re owned by locals. Locals love this region. They explore and get out there. You’ve got so many ways to find your resources, to get outdoors and love this region.

[00:09:01] Kathryn: What are your favorite ways to get active and why? What motivates you with those activities that you love to do the most?

[00:09:10] Jessica: My favourite ways to get active is I really enjoy hiking. I love experiencing nature in a way, uh, that I’m moving without actually feeling like I’m exercising. So it’s just comes naturally. And like, I can enjoy it with friends. I can also enjoy it solo. I feel really connected when I’m with nature, when I’m in immersed in nature. And when I can experience what what’s on offer there. So for me, it’s, that would be my foundational one. And then I also really enjoy team sport because it’s social. I really, really, I think team sports are really great, great way to flourish. And, um, couple of nights a week for that for me is, um, gives me a good people fix and I can move my body, do some cardio and head home.

[00:10:00] Kathryn: Those places that you like to go hiking, Jessica, could you tell us a little bit more about them?

[00:10:06] Jessica: Oh yes. So my favorite place to go hiking in this region is Girraween National Park. I that’s my local stomping ground. Anyone that I meet in hiking groups, that’s they’re like, Oh, you’re so close to Girraween. And I’m like, yes. Yes I am. And there’s something about that granite in that region in Stanthorpe that has so much on offer, not only for just hiking, but so many other outdoor activities. Yes so that is an incredible part. I also love just going out to Killarney. Leslie Dam’s got some really incredible spots as well. I love watching a sunset out there and, uh, yeah, there’s just so many snippets of this region, but definitely Girraween National Park is something that is very much sought after by most people I meet in a lot of parts of Australia.

[00:10:57] Kathryn: For people who are living in town or maybe don’t have that transport to get out to some of those National Parks, some of those big open spaces like that, what would there be for someone say who’s in Warwick or Allora or in Stanthorpe?

[00:11:15] Jessica: Well, we have really incredible waterways in each of our towns and we have incredible walking tracks that are paths. They’re concreted and at the moment the water’s flowing beautifully. So there’s some really incredible river walks that are really flat, really accessible for children, for anyone who maybe their fitness isn’t up to going on a mountain. So I think our waterways in Warwick, Stanthorpe, Killarney, even, and, um, the centre of Stanthorpe are really incredible ways to start.

[00:11:43] Kathryn: Jessica, you also teach sport. Could you tell us a little bit more about that role that you have?

[00:11:51] Jessica: Uh, yes. So on through the summer I teach swimming. So I swam for a number of years and I believe it’s a life skill that everybody should have, whether that’s swimming in a pool, the beach, or skiing out at the dam, whatever it is, it’s one of those life skills that I believe are really important. So yeah. I love teaching kids swimming. It’s really fun. It’s, I love seeing their development. And I love seeing how they grow in confidence and build body awareness. And it’s something they can take for the rest of their life, which is really fun.

[00:12:25] Kathryn: And I imagine that even for adults who may want to learn to swim, that there are opportunities for them as well. Or it might not be swimming. It might be adults who want to have a go at a new sport that they haven’t done before.

[00:12:39] Jessica: Oh, absolutely. Most of the clubs in town, like most of your team sports or even your local gyms are always providing opportunities for you to move your body and get active and meet people. And yeah, I think you just need to ask around and find one that suits you. And there’s always incredible, incredible ways that you can get moving, get outside and umm move your body.

[00:13:01] Kathryn: For somebody who maybe doesn’t move a real lot, maybe isn’t really physically active, perhaps they have some pain or they haven’t had as many opportunities as somebody else to get involved with sport, or maybe they find it really hard to find the time to do that, what advice would you have for that person?

[00:13:23] Jessica: I would say start small. I think with anything with movement over my entire life, it’s been about setting a goal and slowly working towards it and being really kind and compassionate with yourself because all things take time. And I think resilience is a part of that. It’s nothing happens overnight. So you’ve got the river walks, as I mentioned earlier. And then you’ve also got some of the tracks that are in our region, whether that’s Queen Mary Falls or you’ve got a beautiful track at Girraween called Granite Arch, you know, they’re, they’re very gentle tracks for beginners and a way to move your body in a very short amount of time. But a lot of it’s mindset. A lot of it’s working towards something, knowing why you do it and being intentional about it. I think intention behind anything that you choose to do is really vital.

[00:14:13] Kathryn: Jessica, is there anything else that you’d like to share with us about that power of mindset or choosing to be active and getting connected with our community?

[00:14:24] Jessica: Absolutely. So whether it’s our mindset, how we choose to move our body or getting connected with others, it’s all about how we choose to show up in the world. You know, when we work on our mindset, when we work on our emotional resilience, when we’re connected to nature and when we’re moving our body, it actually shifts energy. It moves and creates change. And I think within anything to do with movement, it is creating change not only on a physical level, but with your mental health, also with your emotional wellbeing, which are all part of being a human, like when we’re very multifaceted and it’s not a one size fits all thing. It’s about choosing what works for you and, what makes you feel good. And I think that’s really important. If you’re flogging yourself to do something, it’s not sustainable. And I think like anything in nature, things need to be sustainable. So again, coming back to connection with nature and connection to cycles, it’s really important that we treat ourselves with love, respect, and compassion. And when we do that, that’s reflected around us as well.

[00:15:27] Kathryn: We mentioned before that you had travelled abroad. Could you tell us a little bit about what you were doing when you were overseas and how that’s relevant for us here on the Southern Downs?

[00:15:40] Jessica: Yes, I would love to. So a couple of years ago I went and lived in Canada for a short period of time. And I worked at a summer camp in BC. So I was working with children in the outdoors doing structured and unstructured movement and leadership. And it was an incredible time in my life. I believe this region is so similar to parts of BC in Canada. Every time I come back through Stanthorpe after being at Girraween, I just, my heart just takes me back to that time. We have so much opportunity in this region and for what’s available to explore, get out doors, be connected, go mountain biking, hiking, not just your team sports. We just have an incredible resource here in, on the Southern Downs. And I’m very passionate about getting people out doors, getting people moving and showing what is on offer in this beautiful region we call home.

[00:16:38] Kathryn: And we started putting together a list of those sports and those unstructured activities which we have access to here on the Southern Downs. And I’m sure that there are many more that we haven’t even thought of but that’s quite some list, isn’t it?

[00:16:51] Jessica: Oh yeah. There’s oh, from orienteering to tobogganing, soccer, netball, volleyball, water polo. You know, we’ve got our gyms, Pilates, yoga, National Parks. You can walk the dog, basketball, like it just, the list goes on whether it’s trials, whether it’s team sport or whether it’s individual, there’s literally something on offer for everybody, especially in a, in a beautiful country town.

[00:17:16] Kathryn: How can listeners contact you if they’d like to find out a little bit more about what you’ve been talking about today?

[00:17:23] Jessica: So I have a website. It is www.jessicacarey.com.au. I have a contact email that is accessible there, and I have social media. So I have an Instagram account, which is underscore Jessica Carey and Facebook is Arise with Jessica Carey. You can find me pretty easily. So yeah.

[00:17:44] Kathryn: Thanks for listening to the Speak Out Loud Stories of Strength podcast with me, Kathryn Walton. I hope this episode inspires you to get involved and to get connected with your community. You can find the transcript and any links mentioned in this episode, in the show notes and please share the podcast with your friends.
We acknowledge and pay respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual, and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Series Two of this podcast has been jointly funded under the Commonwealth and State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements 2018.

Recreation in National Parks with Jolene Nelson

Transcript from the podcast “Speak Out Loud: Stories of Strength from the Southern Downs”

SEASON 2: EPISODE 7

GUEST: Jolene Nelson, Acting Senior Ranger – Visitor Management
South West Region, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service & Partnerships
Department of Environment and Science

PUBLISHED: 14th March 2022

Jolene Nelson Girraween National park

[00:00:00] Jolene: I guess what any National Park, or any protected area brings to people is that chance to reboot and reset and disconnect from everything, you know, the busy life that you might have come from. You’ve just got the sights and sounds of nature to enjoy. And it’s just a very simple and nice, easy way to just connect with yourself as well as with nature.

[00:00:34] Kathryn: Today’s episode is with Jolene Nelson, who is the Visitor Management Ranger for the South West Region. Jo chats with me about the National Parks in the region, the activities that are on offer, and she shares with us the recovery journey that she’s seen following the bush fires, particularly at Girraween National Park where she’s worked for over 20 years. The region has some incredible green spaces. And I really hope that this episode inspires you to get out there, to get active and to connect with nature.

Welcome to the podcast Jo. Can you tell us what’s your connection with the Southern Downs Region?

[00:01:13] Jolene: Well, I have pretty much been connected with this region for half of my life. I moved here when I was 28. I’ve worked out at the National Park at Girraween for the last 25 years. So yeah, I’ve kind of grown up here. I’ve had a family here. I love this community. I certainly found my niche. There’s so many different flavours in the region, as far as the environment and the culture and arts and food and wine and so on. I really do love this area. It’s something that I don’t hold back sharing with people.

[00:01:46] Kathryn: So you mentioned Girraween, can you tell us a little bit about the National Parks that are in the Southern Downs Region?

[00:01:52] Jolene: Yeah. So I probably talk about Girraween a lot because it’s kind of my favourite. But we are very lucky in this region. We do have a few different National Parks. We’ve got Girraween and Sundown National Parks on the Queensland side of the border. And then just a little bit across the border out of our region, of course is, Bald Rock and Boonoo Boonoo National Parks. But then we also have state forests as well. So where I live, I actually back onto Broadwater State Forest. And then just a bit further north is Passchendaele State Forest. So lots of protected areas, lots of places to play, lots of recreational opportunities, camping, walking, hiking overnight, mountain biking, a lot of bird watching, nature, just places to reset and enjoy and experience nature and in beautiful environments. And our climate is perfect, all year round, really, you can go walking, it’s not too hot. But there’s lots of places to swim if you do. So. So yeah, that’s what we’ve got around our region. We’re very lucky.

[00:02:48] Kathryn: In 2019 and 2020, there were some bush fires that came through the region. And that happened after several years of drought. And more recently, the region has had some flooding and we’ve seen lots of regrowth since then, but in general, how have all these different weather and climatic events impacted the National Parks in the region?

[00:03:13] Jolene: Yeah, look, I guess it’s the nature of our business. We do work in a natural environment and it’s shaped by, you know, what’s going on in the big picture. So the weather will definitely shape what’s going on down on the ground. In my time, like I’ve been there for many wildfires. We had a big one back in 2002, another one in 2005, another one in 2015, but the 2019 one was certainly odd being February. It’s not generally when we have our wildfires and it was kind of cold, like we were actually rugged up on the fire line. But that unfortunately was because we just had so much fuel because of the drought that, you know, leading up to that wildfire. And then Broadwater State Forest, was the big fire that impacted on Stanthorpe more so. That was also pretty crazy. Unfortunately it was, it occurred or started on an extreme fire danger day. Actually it was catastrophic, I should say. Yeah, it was, it was just horrible when it happened and, we knew that at some stage there would be a fire in Broadwater, but we just didn’t know to that extreme and threatening town like it did. But as far as these environments, yes, we do have these extremities. We’ve got the fires and I’ve also experienced a few floods in the region, 2011 and then again, last year, and even this year we’ve had the little sort of flash floods. And then drought. To experience the two year, 2018 to 20 drought, you know, that was the biggest for our region. Like they’re hard, you know, you fall in love with these environments and then I guess it’s like seeing a friend stressed and, and not at their best, you kind of, um, it touches your heart. You know, I would go out to Girraween to work and I would see ridges of trees dying. And yeah, it was, it was heartbreaking. And then I’d come home and I’d see my own backyard, you know, stressed. You would see populations reducing. It was really hard times, but I guess the recovery of these things is amazing, you know, and that’s nature is that you hope in the long run, yes at the time things might look terrible, but in the long run, you hope that they’re going to recover to some state where, you know, you can still go out and not see the ridges of trees dying and so on.

[00:05:29] Kathryn: You mentioned those fires that you’ve witnessed or, you know, are aware of in the last 10, 15, 20 years as well. So I’m imagining that you’ve seen recovery taking place from each of those over the longer term?

[00:05:46] Jolene: Yes, definitely. I mean, I guess after a fire, you do start to see the epicormic shoots and the regrowth starting to happen. It was a bit of a slower recovery process because of the drought. We didn’t have the follow-up rain that would generally help recover the bush. But eventually it has got there. I’ve had a few days where, I’ve kind of had a little cry, but of joy. And one of those was actually, it was exactly this time two years ago. I was at, down The Junction and finally seeing the creeks flowing. And it was like, this rain is pumping life into Girraween again. So, you feel really warm and fuzzy and hopeful that things are going to come back. And I can tell you that two years later, the bush is looking definitely healthier. We’re seeing species recover. I think we just had one of our best wildflower seasons. We’re seeing orchids that we hadn’t seen for a couple of years you know, come back out. We’ve got naturalists doing field studies, finding quolls. We’ve seen wombats on cameras. The bird life, the reptiles, everything seems to be coming back. So that’s, yeah, a really good sign of, um, better times ahead. Hopefully.

[00:06:54] Kathryn: That must be really exciting to see those changes.

[00:06:57] Jolene: Oh it is for me personally, um, yeah, beautiful. Like I go for a walk in the bush now and I’m not so kind of worried and stressed out. I just am now just back to enjoying it and getting back to discovering things about why I love being out where I am.

[00:07:12] Kathryn: Preparation for natural disasters like fires and, and drought and the floods as well can be really valuable, not just for survival, you know, surviving that particular disaster, but also for the longer term recovery for the land and the people. How do you prepare and plan for bush fires in a landscape such as Girraween?

[00:07:37] Jolene: Yeah, look a huge component of our jobs as Rangers is we’re fire managers. So it’s not just about being there as a firefighter. It’s about the years and months ahead, where you’re actually putting your thoughts and your learnings and your training into coming up with fire strategies. Now we develop fire strategies for our National Parks up to 10 years. Um, and then we’ll you know, narrow that down. It might be a year burn plan that you will come up with about where the best places need to be looked at at that time. We work with other agencies as well, so that we can at a larger level, look at our landscape and see what we need to do, to protect our communities as well as our environment. Through the year, like winter there’s a lot of work that goes into the preparation for the coming fire season. So that’s anything from slashing your fire trails to making sure your neighbours’ contacts are up to date. Your roads are maintained, so they’re ready and doing those prescribed burns, working with our First Nations People. Cultural burning and prescribed burning can be a little bit different. So combining the two definitely is more productive, uh, more effective we’ve found. And then I guess you go into the warmer seasons and it’s about being prepared and ready and trained and having resources and just waiting for those horrible extreme fire danger days and making sure your work plan is revolving around what’s going on out in the environment and you’re ready. And yeah just once you get those calls, just getting onto fires wildfires as soon as we can. So yeah, there’s, there’s a lot that we can do and that we do do, but there’s also, you know, nature that sort of will take its toll and determine how our days turn out.

[00:09:22] Kathryn: Natural environments like our National Parks are really valuable spaces for lots of different reasons. And from a mental health perspective, they give us the space to get active and have social gatherings and get connected with the natural world. What are some of the activities that people can do when they visit the National Parks such as Girraween and Sundown?

[00:09:46] Jolene: We’ve got many different types of recreational opportunities available in the different areas. So Girraween, it’s obviously very busy. But that’s because we’ve got the walking tracks that will cater for those numbers. We’ve got the small half-hour walks through to, you know, six hour walks if you’re prepared and want to, um, there’s the overnight hikes. We’ve got remote camp sites and we’ve got our camping areas as well. So, they’re kind of the main things that goes on. Lots of walking and camping. But then you’ve got rock climbing, you’ve got mountain biking, there’s orienteering. There’s a lot of birdwatching people. Naturalists love Girraween because it’s kinda like a little biological island. We’ve got a lot of species that you won’t find further north, south, east, and west. So it’ll bring a lot of your bird watchers, people that love reptiles, spotlighting at night for possums and gliders. You know, many go looking for wombats, but you gotta be lucky to spot one of those. But then you have Sundown, which is only an hour or so away from Girraween and it’s way more remote. So you’ve gotta be really prepared there. You can do remote walks and hikes. There is the Severn River, so you can go paddling, have a swim, you can even fish. And four wheel driving of course, because of its remoteness and ruggedness. So yeah, different opportunities, but I guess what any National Park, or any protected area brings to people is that chance to reboot and reset and disconnect from everything, you know, the busy life that you might have come from. You’ve just got the sights and sounds of nature to enjoy. And it’s just a very simple and nice, easy way to just connect with yourself as well as with nature. And yeah, I, I personally get a lot of calmness out of being in the bush, whether it is a ride or a walk or a climb or a swim, just to focus on yourself and just what’s important in life, I guess, you know, about looking after yourself.

[00:11:43] Kathryn: If anyone’s listening is interested in coming along to one of the National Parks and doing any of those activities, camping, for example, or bushwalking, where can they go for more information or to make a booking?

[00:11:57] Jolene: You can either just Google Girraween, and it’ll come up as the number one website, but for any of our National Parks, if you just go to the Department of Environment and Science and look for camping or booking online, you’ll just follow the links and you’ll find it.

[00:12:10] Kathryn: Jo, is there anything else that you’d like to share about the National Parks?

[00:12:15] Jolene: Girraween in particular again, the jewel of the crown, for me, it’s one of our iconic parks in Queensland. It’s actually going through a facelift at the moment. So yes. Had some hard days, but it’s having some funds injected into it to up grade our camping areas. So we’re closing Castle Rock, and that’ll be the first one to receive the facelift. And by the end of June, we hope to have three camping areas in Girraween that will cater better for the groups that we have coming. Big things happening for us, and I guess, with COVID we’ve seen that a lot of people have the need to go to these beautiful open places and be with nature. And, so I’m hoping that this is going to be a lovely way that we can get past this pandemic.

[00:13:01] Kathryn: Lots of opportunities for people to get out there and get active and nurture themselves.

[00:13:06] Jolene: Exactly, exactly. And yeah. Leave those gadgets at home. Bring some marshmallows, sit around the campfire with the kids and then just enjoy nature.

[00:13:16] Kathryn: That sounds beautiful. Thank you, Jo.

Thanks for listening to the Speak Out Loud Stories of Strength podcast with me, Kathryn Walton. I hope this episode inspires you to get involved and to get connected with your community. You can find the transcript and any links mentioned in this episode, in the show notes and please share the podcast with your friends. We acknowledge and pay respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual, and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Series Two of this podcast has been jointly funded under the Commonwealth and State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements 2018.

How to Connect with Nature

I’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting on how valuable nature is in my life and this article is to inspire you to think about how you can connect with nature to enjoy the many benefits that are freely available for your health and wellbeing.

You might be called to connect with nature by going on epic adventures off the beaten track far from the cities and towns. Or you might connect with nature in ordinary everyday ways such as the choices you make about what to eat for lunch, how to relax in the evening, how to spend your time with a friend, or how to decorate your sideboard. It’s entirely possible to connect with nature in ways that will improve your health and wellbeing that don’t even require you to be outdoors. And it’s important to remember that the way you connect with nature might be different to how others in your family or workplace or group of friends connect, and that’s completely okay.

Nature has always been essential

Throughout time and all over the world, nature has played an essential role in human health and wellbeing. Think about the lifestyle that your grandparents, great grandparents and previous generations lived.

In our modern way of living, many of us spend our days, and nights, inside buildings with straight edges, artificial light and air conditioning. Of course there are many advantages to this. You’re protected from the sun, rain, storms, heat and cold. We feel safe in our homes and workplaces (mostly). But it does lead us into a lifestyle that’s largely disconnected from nature unless you make conscious efforts to reconnect. I believe it’s vital to be connected with nature because we are, essentially, an integral part of nature.

The Adventure Therapy Project Nature Walk

The natural world has an amazingly holistic way of supporting humans

PHYSICALLY you can move and breathe deeply in the outdoors. There are physical challenges that support your growth as children and as adults – trees and mountains to climb, rocky or sandy ground to feel beneath our feet, fields to run through, places to play hide and seek, dirt to dig in, water holes to splash in. All these activities help your co-ordination, body awareness and control and sensory development. And then there are the other aspects of physical health like fresh food grown in the soil – that’s so important too!

MENTALLY nature presents interesting challenges that keeps your mind active with problem-solving, creativity and reasoning. There are opportunities to focus attention in nature and opportunities to relax and de-stress.

EMOTIONALLY nature is an ideal space for many people to feel nurtured, to experience a sense of renewal and emotional healing. There are many studies on nature that have identified some of the reasons for this and we’ll explore some of these in other blog posts. But it’s worth noting here that bringing an attitude of mindfulness to your time in nature opens up a whole host of benefits for your emotional health.

SPIRITUALLY nature supports you to make connections between your external and internal worlds. When you spend time in nature and intentionally bring your attention to your surroundings, something wondrous happens. You experience a sense of awe and respect for the natural world around you and inside you. It changes your relationship with the world you live in and with yourself.

Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually we all benefit from connecting with nature. But there are other ways you can benefit too.

The Adventure Therapy Project MTB

Nature’s lessons

When you take the time to reflect, even the hardest life lessons are mirrored in nature. There are opportunities to learn about and incorporate the strategies you need to manage challenging times. After bushfires there comes new growth. At first it’s incredibly small but it’s there and it gradually grows. You can learn about patience, persistence, commitment and hope. Grief and loss is intimately connected with birth and growth. Things that don’t make sense in your logical mind can make sense when you experience them in the outdoors for yourself.

Be active or be still … nature doesn’t judge you!

One of the things I love most about nature is that she doesn’t judge anyone who ventures into her world, but she does give your inner child permission to run, skip, climb, jump, twirl, dream and ….. to be still. I challenge you to try it for yourself. Spread your arms wide and look up at the sky with a big smile on your face, breathe deeply and move your body just as you want to.

Or be still. So still that you can feel your heart beating and your breath at the tip of your nostrils. Still enough that you notice the delicate aromas around you, hear the trees whispering to each other and feel the breeze in your hair. Do you notice any judging from the trees or the birds or the breeze? Where else do you experience that kind of freedom? Nature truly is a place to feel fully alive whether it’s through stillness or activity.

Nature talks to you

I also believe that nature has ways of talking to you. Not in the usual way that you’re reading my words right now or if you were to listen to my podcast. Nature has a symconect with nature - fern unfurlingbolic language that needs no spoken or written words. You simply need to be there, immersed in a natural environment or in the presence of one of nature’s many gifts to feel supported, connected, understood and process your inner and outer life. As you observe, listen, smell, taste and touch your natural surroundings, you’ll discover wisdom there that can’t be explained with words. The rough bark of the tree reminds you of the tough shell you show the rest of the world. The pebble symbolises the strength and resilience you have. And the wispy clouds blown across the sky remind you that nothing stays the same.

How I connect with nature

For myself nature has a habit of calling me into her arms each day, reminding me that I’m part of a much bigger world. I spend some time most days walking, bushwalking, riding a bike, in the garden or simply pottering around the yard. Sometimes I have wonderful adventures on multi-day walks.

Some days I stay mostly indoors because I’m too hot or the flies irritate me too much. But I can always be with my pot plants on the verandah, watering them, talking to them, and nurturing them. I have sea shells and potted plants in the bathroom that remind me of the vast oceans and the rainforests. My big windows let the natural light in and capture my attention when the cockatoos fly over or a storm is on the range. I hear the birds setting off their alarm calls in the neighbourhood as a goanna prowls the paddock. And the poem about nature that I listened to in my morning meditation repeats its calming words in my mind as I go about my day.

create a habit of getting outdoors

How do you connect with nature?

However you connect with nature, whether it’s time in the great outdoors or with nature’s gifts indoors, you can be reminded that you’re never alone and that nature’s embrace is always there for you.

You can use your imagination to visualise yourself in nature even when you can’t physically be there. Picture yourself at the beach breathing deeply in and out, being one with the waves as they glide across the sand. In the forest in your mind you can reach out to touch the rough bark of an iron bark tree, and recognise your own strength and resilience. Or you can find yourself walking across a dry pebbly creek bed and know that the challenges of today will become a strong path for you to walk on tomorrow.

You are nature

You are part of nature. I am part of nature. And nature is in both you and me.

I invite you to take a moment to think of the ways that you already connect with nature in the outdoors as well as indoors.

And what new way would you like to connect with nature this week so that you continue to strengthen your health and wellbeing – your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health?

Connect with me!

I always love to hear from you. Join my Grounded Inspiration newsletter or send me a message.

We’re sharing more ideas over on our private Outdoors is my Therapy Facebook Group so I’d love to connect with you there too!

You can also listen to the podcast episode that goes with this article!

daisy spokeDiscovering mountain biking as life’s ultimate parallel universe in her middle age, Kathryn Walton shares information and reflections that inform, inspire and empower women to a healthy and active lifestyle.

Slower Living

There’s something that’s been on my mind more and more over the past few years – living life at a slower pace, with greater simplicity and with moments of stillness. It’s something that I used to scoff at but it’s increasingly been something I’m drawn towards.

Living life in the fast lane can be very satisfying. Running on adrenaline keeps you energised and buzzing. I know. I’ve been there! But it has lots of drawbacks too. In the hectic pace of living a busy life, even one you love, your stress hormones are circulating constantly through your body and this can have a significant impact on your longer term health. Yes, you might not feel it in the moment, but over time the impact can affect your health including your mental health. There can be silent wear and tear going on in the background affecting your gut, your nervous system and other systems in your body.

Bringing a slower pace to your life, even for just a small part of your day, can invite a healthier balance for your body and mind. Just a few minutes a day is a perfect way to start a new habit of resting, re-energising and restoring your inner balance. I often encourage people to do this in nature if they can.

Nature has some amazing effects on the human nervous system which benefits your overall health and stress levels, and can also help improve your sleep. If you can’t get outdoors into a relaxing natural environment – maybe you’re in the city or the weather is wild outside or you’re in quarantine or you’re not able to move about – whatever the reason, you can spend a few minutes looking outside through a window, snuggle up to your favourite indoor plant or hold a shell or river pebble while you take a few deep slow breaths.

orange flowers
Slower living in nature – spend some time in the garden

Choosing moments of slow living each day, whether it’s for a couple of minutes or a couple of hours, is a valuable treasure in your day. Remember, something is better than nothing, and your mind and body will thank you for it.

You can read more about my efforts towards slower living as well as other people’s actions over on my friend Margy’s blog Simple Slow Still.

If you’d like more handy little tips to connect with the outdoors for mind and body health, you’ll love my newsletter Grounded Inspiration which comes out about twice a month. For a limited time I’m giving away “Your Guide to a Perfect Nature Escape Day” to new subscribers. This is a super-easy-to-use checklist that will help you easily and effortlessly plan a day of escape in nature where you can relax, rejuvenate and rediscover inner peace and calm. I have very regular escape days and I highly recommend them! I’ll tell you more about them in an upcoming blog.

SUBSCRIBE to Grounded Inspiration and download your free guide to a perfect nature escape day!

I’d like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which I live and work, the Gidhabal people. I pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

Listen to the audio of this blog post on the Outdoors is my Therapy podcast – Episode 28!

daisy spoke blogDiscovering mountain biking as life’s ultimate parallel universe in her middle age, Kathryn Walton shares information and reflections that inform, inspire and empower women to a healthy and active lifestyle.