The Energy of a Place

I had an interesting conversation at one of the local food coops the other day. I'm not sure how it started, but is segued into living in Vermont and the energy of Vermont. I said that I had lived and worked in the Chicago area and didn't think I could live there again because it's so frenetic. He then said that's why he moved from southern Florida to Vermont. 

I moved from the Chicago area to the Boston area for a number of reasons that I may have blogged about before. I started to visit Vermont regularly to work on the book with my friend and book designer. I realized at some point that I was much more in tune, I suppose I could say, with the energy of Vermont than that of the Boston area. I would feel this "lift" when here. It would slowly melt away while driving home through New Hampshire. I suppose it's easy to say that doesn't make sense because New Hampshire looks a lot like Vermont and is certainly less dense in terms of population than the Boston area for much of New Hampshire. New Hampshire and Vermont, however, are geologically different which could explain the energetic difference. (The book, A Time Before New Hampshire, explains the geological difference. New Hampshire is part of the old African tectonic plate and Vermont is part of the old North American tectonic plate. I seem to recall that there is a difference in the underlying rock of the bedrock as well.)

I think the density of the human population as well as the lack of closeness to nature has something to do with it. There are green spaces in Chicagoland, but I didn't have anything in Oak Park where I lived like the park with a river next to it where I regularly walk. I didn't have mountains surrounding me. I did see a fox, turkeys and red tailed hawks when I lived in Melrose as well as the swans that lived on a pond in the summer. But again, the human density is much higher and the energy feels not the right energy for me any more. I'm reading a book called The Finnish Way. The author talks about the difference it has made to her to have the sea and nature right next door. She lives in Helsinki, but it is surrounded by the sea. The Finns have made sure that they can easily access nature.

I believe that humans would benefit greatly by greening their environments much more than they have in some places. I know that moving to a greener place has helped me.

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The first photograph is by Hal Gatewood. I found it on unsplash.com. I took the others.
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