Step Into Nature: Nurturing Imagination and Spirit in Everyday Life

by Patrice Vecchione

Step outside your door and reconnect with nature. From the author of Writing and the Spiritual Life comes a guide that will replenish your connection to the earth and inspire you to develop and strengthen your imagination.

The natural world has inspired artists, seekers, and thinkers for millennia, but in recent times, as the pace of life has sped up, its demands have moved us indoors. Yet nature’s capacity to lead us to important truths, to invigorate and restore our imagination and equilibrium, is infinite.

Step Into Nature makes nature personal again by stimulating awareness and increasing our understanding of the environment. But being in nature doesn’t mean flying off to remote, faraway places. Nature is as close as opening your front door—and opening your heart to the sky above, the miniature gardens that push their way up between the sidewalk cracks in our cities, and the small stream just down the road.

Patrice Vecchione demonstrates how nature can support and enhance your creative output, invigorate your curiosity, and restore your sense of connection to and love of the earth. Included throughout the book is “The Cabinet of Curiosities,” exercises and suggestions for practical and unexpected ways to stimulate your imagination, deepen your relationship with nature, and experience the harmony between creativity and the natural world.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Writing, Spirituality

272 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2015

About the author

Patrice Vecchione is the author of Writing and the Spiritual Life, as well as two books of poetry. She is also the editor of many highly acclaimed anthologies for children, young adults and adults. Vecchione has taught creative writing and collage workshops at universities, libraries, in community and spiritual centers, including Esalen Institute, and privately for over thirty years. She also teaches workshops outdoors through parks departments and recreation centers. She lives in Monterey, CA.

Reviews

[Maisaa Salma · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I stated reading this book I though it is such a basic book about nature maybe I will stop reading it and get another one but then for some reason I continued. I think I was hooked into reading it because it talks about nature and I love nature, then there was a mention of the author first time visit to Jacks Peak Park in Monterey and the not so good impression of it and then later to discover that it is really a beautiful Park, I had the same exact feeling about that Park the first time I visited it and later it become my number one destination for running in nature.
I am never a person of Poem but the combination of nature, poem, art, and the author personal stories and experiences made this book different than any other I have read. It is hard to rate this book but it is really a creative one and a different one.

[Shani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given this book of essays as a gift. I don't think I was the target audience. I found the writing to be decent, if ambling - but that was kind of the point of the book. Letting your creativity flow, getting inspired by nature. There were interstitial guiding questions - for the reader to think about their own experiences related to the ones the author writes about - that I ended up skipping over after the first chapter. The book just didn't really work for me.

[Romaisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't read the whole of it, so you get the idea. Good effort though.

[Leslie Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely spellbinding, timely and topical for today's society. We're bombarded by technology, multi-tasking, and man-made devices that we forget to commune with what's in front of us: nature.

STEP INTO NATURE is a beautifully written guide to help you replenish your connection to the natural earth, while at the same time sharpening your creative skills and inspiring motivation. It's almost like THE WAR OF ART (Pressfield) on a natural high. Vecchione will take you on a personal journey of reflection with her practical advice laced with her poetic narrative. When you empty your pockets at the end of reading, I am almost sure you'll find a sparkly rock, a feather, and tiny grains of sand when you do.

For all of my reviews, including author interviews, please see: www.leslielindsay.com

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's way too easy with our busy lives and set routines to spend most of our time indoors--glued to a computer screen or stuck in traffic. Such lack of exercise and creative inspiration can make us depressed, which is why Step into Nature is so important. Through a rich blend of poetic prose, personal stories and practical advice, Vecchione encourages us to re-awaken our imaginations by reconnecting with nature.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. Want to read it again in a few years

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. It's a great book for any writer seeking inspiration in nature, how to look for it, where to go, and one woman's journey.

[Donna]

Exploring a connection between nature and spirit - in a everyday sense

There is power in nature -- accessible to all.