Three Simple Ways to Connect with Nature: finding your special spot

As children, many of us naturally adopted a ‘special spot’ somewhere outside where we felt peaceful or playful, or maybe it was place we went to when we needed a little solace. Throughout the years, I asked my students about their special childhood place. Nearly every student fondly recalled their ‘special spot.’ For me, my special spot consisted of playing in the creek that ran through my neighborhood and spending countless hours floating ‘leaf boats’ down the stream until my mother called me in for dinner.

In part 2 of the technology-free day assignment, students are asked to spend 6 separate occasions in nature, preferably finding for themselves a special spot. Each time, they need to spend a minimum of 20 minutes alone in nature, without the use of their cell phones, or iPods. They are also given journal questions: those that pertain to “Wilderness Without” and those that pertain to “Wilderness Within.”

Anyone can find a special spot. Families can enjoy time in nature and get to know their place at the same time. Students in a class of any age can also engage in this project.

Here are three easy ways to connect with nature:
1) Find your own special spot: a place that you like to go outside in nature, maybe it is simply in your own backyard; maybe your special spot is at a local park; maybe you are lucky and you can still visit your special childhood place.
2) Promise to go there once a week for the next several months and spend at least 20 minutes there.
3) Use the following questions to get to know your special spot and write down the answers in a nature journal. Wilderness Without Questions: How much sunlight does my ‘spot’ get? How does it look in the morning, afternoon, evening? Is there water in my ‘spot’? Take one day and track the source. Orient yourself in your ‘spot.’ Find north, east, south, and west. From which direction is the wind blowing? What kinds of sounds do you hear? Which ones are nearby? Which are further away? Are they all ‘natural’ noises? Describe the soil in your spot today. (i.e. crumbly, moist, dry, flaky). Are there trees in your ‘spot?’ Are they native trees. Are there any wildflowers? Do you see signs of animal life? Insect life? Describe them. Are there any edible plants, resident or migratory birds? What kinds of rocks are there?

How does this undertaking “help other people and the earth” you may wonder? Well, for one thing, it may help you and YOU are part of the earth, by giving you a place of peace and repose. And secondly, it helps us to get to know our place on this planet, and we are more likely to care for what we know and love.

Tommorow, you can learn the Wilderness Within questions!