Assignment: Self-Reflection Lens

Learning from Nature: Self-Reflection Lens

THIS WEEK: SELF-REFLECTION LENS

  • Go outside.
  • Take a wander. (Be sure to wander in a place that you'll have access to for the next few weeks!)
  • Find a place. Identify a spot that feels good (safe and free of interruptions) and piques your interest or evokes a connection with you. A place with more natural surroundings is ideal (vs. concrete) but any place will do.
  • Get settled. Sit. Relax.
  • Take several deep breaths. Breathe.
  • Quiet your cleverness (meaning, slow your mind; try to receive rather than project)
  • Open your eyes. Open each of your senses! Don't forget to smell, touch, hear, and, yes, even taste your surroundings.
  • Observe. Spend at least 20 minutes taking in your natural surroundings.
  • Focus. Do not give up. Stay with it. Try to focus on something and just watch it. Really observe your place and its inhabitants. (SEE GUIDING QUESTIONS BELOW)
  • After 20 minutes, begin to document your observations in your notebook/journal. (You’ll want to make lots of notes, bulleted lists, diagrams, and sketches, etc., because you’ll be creating a blog post from your nature journal notes. This will help us to know your observation and journaling process.)
  • Note the date, time, location, weather, wind, cloud conditions
  • Follow your guiding questions below
  • Make quick sketches
  • Make detailed drawings
  • Make lists to organize your thoughts
  • Take pictures
  • Leave you place just as you found it and go back inside when you’re ready.

Some guiding questions to stimulate your SELF-REFLECTION LENS observations:

  • Along with observing nature, observe how you are different during this time. 
  • What do you notice about yourself? How has your attitude, behavior, patience changed or stayed the same?
  • What do notice that is different about your location?
  • How has your perspective changed?
  • What surprises you about what you "see" differently?
  • What do you feel you "see" the same way? Why?