Nature versus nurture is a phrase I’ve heard used often when friends are discussing what factors mold us to become our present selves. I thought it would be rather amusing to flip that phrase on its head and use it in a different context:
Nature Nurture… the act of embracing the nurturing power of nature and the natural in your life; pursuing natural healing, restoring natural wholeness, and achieving natural happiness in your Life.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident…”
Nature is by its very nature, nurturing. I challenge you to spend 15 minutes basking in the glimmer of sunlight that might appear over the rooftops of your apartment dwelling or to walk alongside the swift flowing creek behind your home. Find the Nature in your surroundings today, and give it 15 minutes of your day. Your day and you won’t regret it.
What is Natural, enriches… what is Synthetic, counteracts the natural processes and even destroys them. (FYI, I’m not directly referring to something obvious such as holistic medicine vs. prescription drugs, although it could apply.)
A rather far-fetched but humorous image that might help you visualize my meaning behind this, is a slightly fictionalized Tale of Two Children:
The first child subsists on a diet of pre-packaged School Meals made of ingredients equivalent to salted cardboard, Hamburger Helper dinners at home and Sprite for liquid sustenance. This child is raised to believe that a salad is two pieces of iceburg lettuce topped with grilled chicken, dehydrated-and-re-hydrated cheese flakes, and fourteen cups of ranch dressing. Heaven forbid anything green and still living encounter this precious child’s fair lips. He might get e coli, after all. This child is also fed a steady diet of Television in the evening after his cardboard dinner, and is on prescription drugs to ‘stabilize his moods’. He sleeps somewhat poorly and when his parent(s) attempt to get reciprocation out of him on some family-related topic, they are met with the disinterested stare of a “typical teenager”. In other words, the first child is your standard American youngster in 2010.
The second child is eats more carrots than rice crispies, and plays actively both outdoors and indoors, generally twice as long a day as he spends watching National Geographic movies. His eyes are alive, and rather than dousing his creativity with prescription drugs, his parent(s) recognize his active (exhausting) brain for what it is and invest extra time in equipping him with the tools to use his abilities for the good of himself, his family, and the future in which he will most definitely play a role. When his parent(s) speak to him, this child responds intelligently, because he has been given the tools to communicate fluidly with adults and his peers. He wears jeans, loves contemporary music, plays sports… he is normal, but he’s better than normal, because he’s “normal supercharged“… healthy, stable, active and always in development. Equipped, rather than restricted!
The natural leanings of his mind are fostered by his parent(s) and others.
The natural world fills his Life and covers his breakfast Table. He is nurtured by the food he eats, the programs he watches, the books he reads, and the people he calls friends.
The first child will have much to overcome should he ever develop the gumption to overcome his upbringing.
The second child will shake the earth and move its foundations, from the doorways of his neighborhood to the Nation he calls Home.
I said my example was far-fetched, didn’t I? It may surprise you but I based my description of the two children on myself and my peers growing up. I was the second child, and today I am an empowered, earth-shaker-in-development.
I was surrounded by the natural as a child, and Nature and the natural became my strongest influences, my Nurture.
Today, on Raw Food Talk, a curious newcomer posted a brief rant about what a struggle eating Raw is for her. I posted the following response, and since it dovetails with this article, I’m sharing it with you now:
Givin’ it all you have implies struggle. It’s only a struggle if you want it to be and if you somehow subconsciously thrive on internal chaos. (I used to!!! And boy, nothing in life was working…. not Raw, not College, not Relationships, NOTHING…)
Release your grip on “struggling”…. it’s much more pleasant and just plain FUN to be alive when you do!
Allow me to elaborate briefly, then I will retreat into the shadows of exam preparations from whence I came…. I live a double life, you see. Raw Vegan gadabout by day, Opera Singer by night. 
Relax... raw is natural for your Body. There will be so many who will argue this, trying to convince you (as they are convinced to their detriment) that raw and living foods will somehow harm you. Ignore them, or just smile and wave as you pass them by. And there will be many in the Raw Foods family who will try to project their own fears and insecurities about life/their diet on you, as well. The “smile and wave” approach works pretty well there, too.
Eat RAW... surround yourself with vibrant beautiful LIVING foods and give into the temptation to eat THEM whensoever it strikes. Eat LOTS of food, eat OFTEN, and ENJOY what you eat! If you don’t enjoy something, don’t eat it. This is part of how you transition successfully.
Live… life encompasses much more than just your diet. For starters, get off your chair/couch/desk and MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!!! Exercise is NOT a dirty word… it’s a life-infused action of self-preservation and motivation. Your Body relies on YOU to get up and move her!!! So do it. 
I don’t enjoy sweaty, smelly gyms, so I do Yoga at home every evening. This is a new development! I avoided exercise like the plague until recently…. now, my life is richly enhanced by daily MOVEMENT.
Surround yourself with life-enriching People, Books, Ideas, Music, Activities, Foods, Animals, Sunlight, etc.… what goes in must come out – that applies for your Body, your Mind, your Spirit and everything in-between!
REMEMBER: what you THINK is what you ARE.
It really IS that simple… but don’t let that frighten you, because your THOUGHTS are in YOUR HANDS…. change them to reflect who you desire to become/be and what you want to experience/have/give in your Life, and you will attract to you those things, experiences, people, and “things” that create your new Life.
It works. I’m living it. I’m far from alone. This is not “hippy dippy nonsense”. This is solid wisdom.
Blessings,
The Diva
Namaste.
