Sitting in the grass under the sun is one of the best things the world has to offer
Believe it or not, whoever said that it’s the little things in life that matter most was absolutely right. One of the best feelings in the world is that sense of bliss you get just sitting (or laying) in the grass as the sun covers you in the nicest, warmest blanket. This can be achieved alone or with a group of friends—one is much more meditative than the other, yet both yield equal amounts of bliss in the end.
It is possible I’m saying all of this due to a great sense of nostalgia I have for this time almost exactly one year ago—regardless of the reason, I am perhaps the world’s biggest fan of sitting in the grass and doing absolutely nothing. For the last month of Winter Quarter of 2020 (right up until about March 13), a huge percentage of my days were spent sitting on the West Quad of UC Davis, and that is when I had this epiphany.
The routine for me—and by the looks of it, for many other people—was to go to class, to get food at the beloved CoHo, to sit in the grass and ultimately to run into almost every person I knew, until it was time for my next class (unless said class was simply not compelling enough to abandon the Quad for). While those few weeks have a special place in my heart in terms of grass sitting, I have a hope they will come again, and in the meantime, we can all safely partake in a modified version of this Edenic experience.
The next time the sun is shining, perhaps with a perfect little breeze in the air, I urge you to find the nearest patch of luscious grass (whether it is in your backyard, at a park or even the Quad), and bring only the essentials to successfully find bliss in the sun—a mask, music or a book and maybe a snack to energize yourself after your sitting. What is it that makes this experience the perfect little slice of paradise? Is it the connection to the outdoors, the abundance of the color green or merely its meditative nature? As it turns out, it is a mixture of all three—green (like the perfect green of the Quad and the surrounding trees) has been found to make people feel “grounded and calm” due to its innate connection to the natural world. Simply sitting among all those shades of green and soaking in the sun might not solve everything, but it will surely aid in relaxation, and will hopefully improve your mood.
If you’re bored, stressed or slowly getting cabin fever from being in a pandemic for almost 12 months now, go find some grass to sit in under the sun for even just 15 minutes. It is time to reclaim the phrase “go touch some grass”—together we can change it from the current insulting connotation and take it entirely literally. Touch some grass today or sit in some tomorrow to perfect your grass-sitting technique for when it is time to return to campus and miss class in the name of the Quad.
It takes time to find your own favorite way of sitting, place to sit and ways to pass the time as you sit in the grass—just don’t give up. A pro-tip is to sit along the edge of some shade, preferably near the middle of your preferred patch of grass (to avoid people walking by and interrupting your bliss) and bring a jacket you really do not care for—or a blanket if you have that much foresight—to protect from those hidden bits of especially wet earth. Sitting in grass might be seen as simply something to do, but in reality, it is a way of life, a mindset and above all else, it is one of the best feelings in the world.
Written by: Angie Cummings — arts@theaggie.org
