The emotions we are most likely to feel in nature—wonder, awe, curiosity, hope—are natural antidotes to worry, distraction, and depression. As one man describes the internal state he felt while canoeing through Canada’s wild rivers, “There were no sharp things inside me . . . not a sense that something was wrong, or I needed to work on something, there was just a peace, there was tranquility, there was acceptance, there was harmony.” Others report finding in nature “a complete sense of belonging” and a feeling of being held, “similar to when you really genuinely hug a person.”
