How nature inspires purpose in life
Scientific litsketch on boosting mental health
Research shows that finding patterns in the natural environment can help develop our sense of purpose and meaning in life (Heintzelman et al., 2013).
In an experiment, people were divided into two groups. Group One was shown 16 photos of a tree that changed following a natural pattern of changing seasons over time (spring, summer, autumn, winter). Group Two was shown the same set of photos in a random order so that they did not follow the natural pattern of changing seasons. Finally, both groups were asked how much purpose or meaning they have in their life.
The results showed that Group One that observed the seasonal pattern reported having a greater sense of purpose in life than Group Two.
There is amazing hidden power in nature that simply finding a natural pattern helps us find greater purpose and meaning in our life. We can clearly see the eternal power and divine nature in the patterns of all the creations that we see everyday. So we should once in a while play a childish game of finding patterns in the world around us.
Heintzelman, Samantha J., Jason Trent, and Laura A. King. "Encounters with objective coherence and the experience of meaning in life." Psychological science 24, no. 6 (2013): 991-998.