This is not a post to take a side.  I’m not advocating for staying “locked down” or for “opening up”.  What I am advocating is for us to resist the temptation to what we call in psychology “black and white thinking.”  Black and white thinking is when we divide into extreme positions on one side of an issue or another while missing all the shades of gray. This style of thinking is, in fact, considered a defense mechanism.  Against what?  Against the painful complexity of not being sure, of uncomfortable inconsistencies and complexities, and of the scary feeling that we may not be doing things “the right way.”

I’ve noticed as each state begins to “open up,”  there’s a lot of opinions about what is acceptable.   On the extremes are people who feel the whole lock down is a bogus infringement on “freedom”.  On the other extreme are people who are horrified by anyone who selfishly ventures out and puts the entire community’s “safety at risk”.  These extremes come down to an argument, along with harsh judgments, regarding the perception of freedom versus safety.  And this to me is a great example of the polarizing effect of black and white thinking.  

The fact is, if you really think about it, you can’t be free if you are not safe. Both of these concepts need to come together as we consider what is the “right” or “best” thing to do.  For those of us who have an underlying health condition, the terror of becoming infected is a great infringement on our freedom.  And for those of us who are financially on the edge, needing to return to work or open a business, the financial implications are also a great infringement on our freedom.  Because in order to be free, we need a certain amount of safety.

Safety comes in many forms.  It can be the safety of knowing where your next meal is coming and where you will be sleeping each night.  Safety also comes in the form of being free of debilitating health concerns or at least having access to the care you need.  And it also can be the safety of knowing you are free from violence or abuse.  Or freedom from overwhelming emotional distress such as anxiety and depression.  Freedom and safety are not opposites, but in my mind are very much interrelated.

My older daughter put it really well when we were talking about the polarization’s happening all over social media: “You don’t know someone else’s story,” she said.  So very true and this perspective gets right to the heart of the debate.  When we judge someone for their actions, we don’t really know all that is going on for them that’s behind the choices they’re making.  It’s a defense mechanism to think that we know better what is the right way to be.  The simple truth is, these are complicated times with unprecedented uncertainty.  We still don’t know enough about COVID-19, the ways that it is transmitted, what it means to be infected, and the long term implications for our health and for our economy.  Uncertainty is hard to tolerate, especially on such a long term basis with such gigantic implications.  And so we retreat to our corners where certainty feels more comfortable and reassuring. 

What we all have in common is a sense of threat that is invisible and yet so very real.  How we respond to this threat is so important in terms of our capacity to ride it through and work together as a community and society.  We are all doing our best to make good choices and to manage our own safety issues. (Can my hair be considered a safety issue?  It is definitely becoming a threat).  So I invite us all to avoid the temptation to run to the black side or the white side.  Now more than ever we need to try on the various shades of gray (like my hair). Freedom and safety are not mutually exclusive. Being human is all about being vulnerable and doing our best to manage our lives through the choices we make, hopefully out of love and thoughtfulness rather than fear and rigidity.

Have you seen the movie Groundhog’s Day?  The one where Bill Murray keeps waking up to find he’s living the same day over and over and over?  That is a reference I’ve heard a lot this week with our shelter in place orders going on and on.  Many of us wake up in the same place, work in the same place, eat and sleep in the same place, interact with the same people doing the same things day after day after day.  There seems to be a collective sense of burn out, for sure.  The only thing that I hear making a reliable difference is getting out in nature, for those lucky enough to do so.  So today my post will sing the virtues of interacting with nature.  It isn’t just a hunch or a sense, but there is real science behind the psychological benefits of interacting with natural elements.

Biophilia (for once a “philia” term you actually want to have) refers to our attraction and affinity for living systems and natural things.  It posits that we humans have an inborn need for contact with nature and that this connection is essential to our health and well being.  Exposure to nature has shown a positive impact in recovering from surgery faster, improving the ability to focus and improving blood pressure levels.  There is even an emerging treatment method in Japan called “forest medicine” to take advantage of the healing benefits of our interaction with nature.   Being outdoors gives us energy, makes us happier, helps us to relieve stress, and even opens the door to being more creative.

While authors, poets and naturalists have been sharing the benefits of their profound experiences in nature for hundreds of years, scientists are now able to see the changes in the brain and body that underlie these physical and mental health benefits.  Results of various experiments show that people who walk in forests had significantly lower heart rates and reported better moods and less anxiety than people who walked the same distance in an urban environment (so it’s not the exercise alone).  In one study, a researcher focused on how walking in nature affects rumination, which is associated with the onset of depression and anxiety.  He used MRI technology to look at brain activity to compare people who walked in either a natural or urban setting.  People in the natural setting reported decreased rumination and this was supported by their brain scans, which showed increased activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex (I bet you didn’t even know you had one), an area of the brain whose deactivation is affiliated with depression and anxiety.  Further research shows increases in problem solving tasks, short term memory and creative problem solving when we spend time in nature.  (Of important note, these positive effects all go away if you use a cell phone during your walk, showing the brain activity of someone with attention overload!).

Ok, you may ask, but what if I can’t get to a park or natural setting?  What if I don’t live near one I can walk to in our lock down, or am too vulnerable physically to go out?  The good news is that you don’t even have to be outside to get the benefits of nature.  Studies show that just watching a video of nature or even looking at a pretty plant has benefits for decreasing stress and improving our sense of well being.  There is even a design movement known as biophilic interior design that uses natural colors, images, and textures in office spaces.  It has proven to reduce absenteeism and mental fatigue, promote emotional satisfaction and increase productivity.

Believe it or not, according to a surveys by the Environmental Protection Agency, even when we are NOT in lock down, Americans stay inside for up to 93% of their lifetimes (when you include time inside and in transport).  Maybe one of the silver linings of all of this staying at home will be for us to truly appreciate the gift of keeping our natural word protected and the benefits it has for us.  In the meantime, we can buy pretty flowers, watch Nature on PBS (the one about weasels is adorable-Season 38, episode 12), and watch for birds out our window.  And if we watch closely enough, we might just get to catch a glimpse of that dang groundhog!