The first time I spent any substantial time in nature, fully present to it, was 17 years ago this fall, at a nature retreat. It was a cool and misty weekend at Mt. Alverno, a sprawling 100-acre retreat centre located in Caledon, Ontario (about an hour outside Toronto) and stewarded by Capuchin monks.

Our facilitator, Marianne Karsh, ran retreats designed to bring people back to nature and spirituality. As I remember it, Marianne defined spirituality as our connection to ourselves, each other, the natural world and Source. This was a novel concept for me at the time, the idea that nature had anything at all to do with Spirit. As the weekend went on, I became aware of how disconnected I had been from nature, spending most of my childhood living in a downtown condominium, and only very rarely going to the local park with my Dad.

Looking back now, I realize how life changing this weekend actually was. As we walked the land in groups and on our own to discover what nature had to teach us, a seed was planted deep in my heart that led me to the work of GoGreenInside.

There are a few other things from that weekend that are forever etched in my mind:

On the first evening of our arrival, Marianne showed us a slide show of beautiful landscape photography, the work of her father Malak Karsh, brother of the famous portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh. She invited us to lie down with blankets to watch the presentation, and to fill ourselves with the beauty of it. She told us that her father believed every person deserved to find as much beauty in their lives as possible, and that nature was the greatest source of it.

The next day, we learned how to walk meditatively in nature, taking a question from our life with us, observing and listening deeply for answers. I had asked nature to reveal my purpose. Waking up in the middle of the night, I took to my notebook, full of creative fire and passion, to pour out a manifesto about the future of health care (which became my “why” to co-found a national charity dedicated to advancing natural healthcare). I understand now that this inspiration (in-Spirit) very much resulted from being out in nature. It’s because of this weekend that I know, for sure, that spirituality, creativity and nature are inextricably linked.

On the final morning, I woke up early to spend as much time as possible on the land. I brought my camera with me, partly inspired by Malak Karsh’s photographs, and wanting to capture as much as I could of this beauty and bring it back with me to the city.

When I got home I had my photos developed and was so delighted with them that I decided to put them into an album. I immersed myself for several hours in the delight of creating a story of images, and all these years later, this has become a cherished book I revisit every fall season.

“Earth’s crammed with heaven.” – Elisabeth Barrett Browning

Here’s a selection of the photos and quotes that fill the album (because I no longer have the negatives and couldn’t bear to pull the originals out of the book to scan them, I took these with my iPhone 5 camera, so they may not be as crisp as the originals).

I found a collection of tiny quote cards, A Box of Thoughts on Joy, and matched some of them to the photos. I used calligraphy skills from my school years to add them into the album in gold pen.

When I started out that morning, a thick blanket of fog made it difficult to see, but there was no denying those magnificent colours.

“There is a dawn in me.” – Henry David Thoreau

“I saw old Autumn in the misty morn stand shadowless like silence, listening to silence.” – Thomas Hood

As the fog began to clear, I discovered new pathways that seemed both mysterious and full of potential.

Here’s a moment captured in both a photo and a haiku.

I found again the magical spot where I had spent time the day before journalling the wisdom of nature.

“There was every joy on earth in the secret garden that morning.” – Frances Hodgson Burnett

It was indeed a magical experience, and a joy, to walk those rolling hills, rediscovering nature and my place in it. It has profoundly shaped my life and work in ways I could never have imagined.

I am so curious, what are your most cherished memories of spending time in nature? How have you captured those memories through your creativity? What is your relationship to nature and how has it informed your creativity or spirituality? I would love to hear, and to see the ways you have captured the beauty in nature in your photos, art, writing or other creative pursuits. Please comment below or share your creation on our Facebook page.

“I feel my heart new-opened.”     

– John Fletcher