We are easily and deeply influenced beings, and that’s a big if not subtle part of our vulnerability. We all know how being around other people can make us feel. Depending on the company we find ourselves with, we may suddenly realize that we are feeling more energized, or moody, or uneasy or light-hearted or calm or safe, and the list can go on. Other beings and their energy has an effect on us. The same can be said of animals and plants and even something that we assume to be inanimate like a rock. Their energy affects our energy (and oh, yes, we affect them, too).
When I was a child, I learned rather intuitively that time spent out in the woods had some really positive effect on me such that even the idea of heading out to the woods was always met inside me with a “yes!” Later, in college where living in a huge, high rise dorm meant being surrounded by hundreds of other human beings all the time, I re-discovered that getting outside, sitting on the ground, being near trees immediately brought me back to a place of calm and clarity.
If you really want some science on this form of our vulnerability (being energetically influenced by other beings) consider what the National Institutes of Health and a dozen peer reviewed studies show about the effects of grounding. Grounding happens when humans have bare skin (think bare feet) contact with the earth. The studies show that grounding “produces intriguing effects on physiology and health. Such effects relate to inflammation, immune responses, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.” (see link below). When we make direct contact with the earth, our bodies are flooded with negative ions which have an antioxidant effect and begin to work to reverse the effects of disease and inflammation.
We certainly can cover ourselves up, shield ourselves, wrap ourselves physically, emotionally and socially. Life can give us plenty of reasons to do that, and shielding ourselves can be a self-protective mode that is necessary to our survival. But, when we shield away the bad things, if we are not careful we also shield away the good energies that we need on all those levels. We can choose vulnerability, making ourselves open, to the beings who bring us joy and healing and peace. We can choose to be those kinds of beings for others, as we walk our paths on the search for truth and meaning.
~Bob Patrick
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/
This link takes you to a study done and published by the National Institutes of Health, “The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.” Be advised that it includes photographs of wounds and the healing process aided by grounding.
So there is science to back up the web philosophy. Even though I don’t have my biology aligned with the earth I have a high respect for those that do. One of the behavioral researchers in Education , Howard Gardner, posited that we each have certain types of intelligence. One of which is the connection to nature. My mother had this and so does my daughter. I have seen plants and animals interact in some unbelievable ways, like responding plants that have been handed down as heirlooms that bring back the one who has passed through the language of glorious blooms. It is a gift to be that connected.
I believe my Grandson has the gift too.