In response to the blog I posted December 30, entitled “A Christmas Gift,” someone sent me the following link to a post on the Mother Nature Network (who knew she had one?) concerning seven cultural concepts we don’t have—but might want to consider having—in the United States:

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/blogs/7-cultural-concepts-we-dont-have-in-the-us

I liked them all, but I out and out loved the second one, the Japanese idea of Shinrin-yoku or “forest bathing.” It captures perfectly what I feel when I sit quietly for a while in the forest, the sense that all the sights, scents, and sounds of the woods are washing over me and, in some way I don’t claim to understand, refreshing me.