What Childhood Fields, Forest Floors, and Vanishing Forests Teach Us
Yesterday, I heard a speaker talk about flower arranging for large banquets and public spaces. As the complicated designs flashed on the screen, I found myself thinking about the fields of flowers I remember from childhood. Driving down a country road, you would inevitably come across a field or wooded area where the ground was covered with wildflowers. No one planted them. Their seeds traveled on the wind, carried from one bloom to the next as each completed its life cycle.
If you are lucky enough to live near a wooded area, you may have walked among the trees and seen the variety of wildflowers carpeting the forest floor. Lily of the Valley was my favorite as a little girl — tiny bells dangling from bent stems, moving ever so slightly under the weight of the blossom. The scent was a sweet lemon with a hint of soap.
Virginia bluebells are also lovely. They are prolific in Virginia, and Thomas Jefferson even referenced them in his writing. They begin as pink buds and shift to blue as they open. Their scent is light and sweet, and they tend to cluster together like any Southern family.
I also love many of the larger wildflowers — coneflowers, wild daisies, and lupines. Lupines stand tall, announcing their presence with spikes of blue blossoms swaying in the breeze. And I have always appreciated that Lady Bird Johnson championed the planting of wildflowers along the Interstate Highways. Sprinting down the highway becomes a delight as you try to identify the colorful display as you pass.
When was the last time you took a walk in the woods?
Unfortunately, the woods are slowly disappearing. Deforestation is increasing as global food demand rises. Forests are being cleared for large-scale industrial crops — soybeans, cattle operations, and other agricultural expansions. As the world population grows, the need for food increases. Soon, we may find ourselves in a crowded world without the ecosystems that sustain us.
Global forests provide life-sustaining ecosystems for all of us. As we remove them, we risk our own extinction.
You may not realize the critical role forests play. They recycle nutrients and produce oxygen — the very thing we need to breathe. Forests are the “lungs” of the world. We have already lost one-third of this protective forest cover, and there are no plans to replace it. Imagine removing one-third of your own lungs. Breathing would become nearly impossible. We would each be trailing an oxygen tank.
Not only have we lost the habitat for wildflowers — we have also lost the habitat for ourselves.
For more reflections on nature, memory, and the psychology of environmental connection, explore articles on Psychology Today and research from Greater Good Science Center.
If you are exploring how environmental loss, childhood memories, or the natural world shape your emotional life, therapy can help you understand and integrate those experiences. Learn more about individual therapy in Maryland and DC or explore therapeutic approaches that support emotional clarity, resilience, and connection.
By Dr. Gloria K Vanderhorst