Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, I was planning on starting a new weekly series called Around the Campfire. In these short posts, I want to share my thoughts about the meaning one can find exploring our Land. Now seems like a good a time as any to roll out this series. Nature can be found almost anywhere. So, this is the closest I can get to hike tips 100 meters from home 🙂
This first post is particularly relevant now as we are all mostly stuck indoors. But, you would be amazed at the incredible surprises you can find right outside your home when you make time to look for them:
We all have memories of nature from childhood. For me, they are of dragon flies flitting around the sandbox. Or finding doodle bugs under rocks – we picked them up in our little hands to watch them curl into balls.
I remember relishing the feeling of acorns as they crushed beneath my feet. I’ve permanently imprinted the sweet smell of jasmine in the springtime, right before caterpillar season.
As children, we picked up on a universal truth: nature is interesting.
We noticed the way raindrops collect on a spiderweb. Or the peeling bark of a birch tree – it was something we were internally programmed to do.
Seeing the beauty of creation brings us happiness. It touches our souls and satisfies our inner curiosity.
It communicates a message: no matter how inwardly focused we become, how important our workplace and home life seem– life goes on outside of ourselves. Beauty and complexity occur, even when we do nothing to create them. The tapestry of nature invites us to go outdoors and experience its variety.
And it’s always there waiting – we can step out of our lives and back into nature…whenever we want to.
The natural world draws us in as children. And if we give in to the pull, it can do the exact same thing throughout the course of our lives, a gift for the taking.