As the pressures of lockdown continues, advice on how to take care of your mind – look after your mental wellbeing – as well as your body, is fortunately becoming more and more visible and available.
In a recent study ‘Wild Words for Woods’, funded by Scottish Forestry, researcher Dr Mandy Haggith uses a creative poetic inquiry technique to draw attention to the powerful and positive source of wellbeing trees offer people.
All the words in the three-part poem have been contributed by participants who took part in three online events, set up to gather views and feelings about trees in our landscapes. Each section combines the chat responses to the question ‘Has the COVID-19 pandemic affected how you feel about trees?’, with the words reorganised to create a ‘poemish’ text.
The One Thing We Can Hug
One
Being among trees helped things feel less scary.
We somehow felt calmed by the trees,
more connected.
Yes, we feel more connected.
When it was raining,
we sheltered and sang under a group of yews,
bare-foot, feeling amazing,
reconnected to the earth.
We’re much more aware of the effect that trees have on mood.
As a consequence of walking more locally
we have noticed more trees,
watched the trees in a local park change from spring to summer,
discovered we’re interested in weeds,
looked much more closely at things growing,
liverworts and lichens,
fungi and other plants we hadn’t noticed before.
We learned a lot from this focused watching.
We completely slowed down,
took time to explore,
time to experience trees, every day,
surprised how much we’d missed before,
connecting with new trees that were nearer to us but not on our radar.
Our day to day lives with our ‘work’ trees have strengthened.
We have an embodied relationship with trees:
touch, smell, sight, sound, heart.
We feel inspired, we love listening to their birds.
Great trees seem to teach and protect us.
We feel healed by trees.
Two
In lockdown a tree becomes
the one thing we can hug.
Three
COVID-19 confirmed my love of trees,
intensified the joy in them that I already knew,
made me more aware of their natural cycles,
made me wish I lived even closer to woodland.
I sold my house.
Perhaps I can move closer to the trees.
I have always relied upon trees and nature to guide me, support me emotionally.
I channelled my pandemic anxiety into looking after trees.
I have so much awe for them now – even more than before.
During lockdown everything was very still
and made me realise that nature endures.
Nature has been bursting out all over.
For a depressingly short time
I spent much more time outside,
more time nearer home,
more time in the forest.
I have had lots more time
to look closely at trees
to see the trees
really see trees
stare at trees closely without feeling self-conscious.
I think I maybe do notice them a bit more now.
I slowed down and looked more.
The ashes are dying.
How many disasters have the trees seen?
ENDS
Dr Mandy Haggith is a lecturer in Creative Writing and Literature based at Inverness College UHI and is a researcher at the university’s Centre for Remote and Sustainable Communities. For details on future online events planned in February and March or more information on the ‘Wild Words for Woods’ research project email Mandy.Haggith.ic@uhi.ac.uk.
You can find links to a link to the University of the Highlands and Islands support services from the website www.uhi.ac.uk/en/students/support/ | www.uhi.ac.uk/gd/dhachaigh/taic/
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Wonderful words for wellbeing.