How many of you walk the same trail each morning and are bored with the experience? That’s how I felt until I started paying more attention to my dog, “Mr Mook”. Every morning, Mook’s nose gives him a full report on what was on the trail the previous night. While he is getting more pumped up by the minute, I am just trying to “power through” the hike as quickly as possible, so I can get to work. Although, the walking gets my heart rate up, there isn’t any connection with the living things that I pass along the way.
So how could a person start having a similar experience as Mook? Every new smell puts a little more jump in his step. But taking a “smell hike” is never going to improve your experience on the trail, since his olfactory sense is almost 50 times better than ours.
But there are things you can do to connect more with nature, and experience the vitality that is in the woods near your home. Below are a few ideas that may help you find nature’s beauty, and improve your quality of life.
1. Silently name everything that you see, hear, and feel during a hike. “Naming” will keep you in “present time” and you’ll start seeing things with “fresh eyes”.
2. A variation on this activity is to find new things that you’ve never seen. This morning I saw 7 new things (I wonder if they were really “new” or if my memory is really poor). Regardless, you will finish the hike feeling great, and start your day on a positive note.
3. Walk slower than you usually do, and try to be as open as possible to everything around you. Look for trees that grow close to each other, or have a double trunk . Stop between the trees (or trunks) and attempt to feel the strong vibrations the trees are giving off. Then, walk between the trees (or trunks). (When I have done this, I have felt a little bump in my energy and even wondered whether the trees felt the same).
4. Lastly, my daughter Alli had the following comment about walking in nature with a companion: “From a very young age I learned to walk respecting nature. Staying light on my feet, and using gestures to communicate with my walking partners, rather than words. When I walk like this, I believe that the animals are more apt to go about their lives as usual.”
Walking with nature is about walking with intention and seeking beauty in your neighborhood. Share your experiences of what makes your morning hikes special and helps you connect with nature.
I like how you call it “walk with nature” and acknowledging one’s surroundings as you stroll. Good ideal to keep grounded. My place in Louisiana is a total natural experience (for me anyway). I sit for hours on end in the woods, by the bayou, in a field just noting nature. I spent Christmas day sitting in the bayou with the sheep, goats, and donkeys! A couple months ago, after Jim and I finished working on some fencing, we sat on the ground at the edge of the woods way back in pasture just talking. We sat for sometime and in our talking I noticed we were drawing pictograms in the dirt using sticks as illustrations to our conversation . It was so natural of a feeling being human at that moment!
Yesterday, when I went to and from my mailbox at dusk, I did the naming exercise you suggested….textured tree trunk, berries on bare tree limbs, brown grass, full moon in a vivid blue sky, a sense of peace/stillness, setting sun in a luminous pink sky, a burst of inspiration, sounds of silence broken up by the distant bark of a dog, etc. Very powerful.
I’ve always loved walking with intention….slowing down and taking time to observe and participate in the landscape of life. However, I often forget to engage in this thoughtful, connecting activity. Thank you for reminding me of its importance in feeding my soul.
Lovely! In each entry you write, you entice an “aliveness” and “connection” to nature that all of us (as humans) should feel and experience. We should maintain respect and honor for every living being on earth.