Shankar Vedantam

Mark, these are such powerful and moving stories.

Has there been any research specifically on the effects that nature can have on people who are grieving?

When we come back, how our cultural views shape our engagement with nature.

You're listening to Hidden Brain.

I'm Shankar Vedantam.

This is Hidden Brain.

I'm Shankar Vedantam.

We have many idioms and metaphors about nature.

Mother Earth, the Tree of Life, a River of Time, branching possibilities.

All of these suggest the many ways our experience of nature is woven into our experience of the world.

Mark Berman is a psychologist at the University of Chicago.

He studies the effects that nature has on our minds.

Mark, we talked about how nature can help us when we are depressed or stressed or grieving.

We also heard from listeners with thoughts about our cultural and philosophical views on nature.

One of those messages came from Lisa.

She's from Canada, and she shared the perspective of her indigenous culture, the Métis people.

What do you think of this framing, Mark?

We often use the phrase the natural world to describe what it's like to be in the woods or by the ocean.

There is something natural about being in nature.

As Lisa says, we are one with it and it is one with us.