The bright yellow sun sets into a green pasture in the foreground, causing a slight lens flare. Clouds in shades of grayish-blue to creamy yellow to peach to white hover in a light blue sky in Dodson’s Crossroads, N.C. Photo by Margot Lester.

Sunset in Dodson’s Crossroads

Note: This is the second in an intermittent series we’re calling Interstitial, shorter periodic missives between our longer columns. Read the previous one here.

“Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Busy. Busy. Busy. The transition into spring can be exhausting. Follow Emerson’s advice!

To help you do that, Margot’s sharing some of her favorite nature connection activities.

Interstitial #2 – Connection

With the rush of spring tasks and activities—and all the other stuff that’s going on—one of the best things we can do is to ease up a little and spend some time outside. Especially now that the pollen has abated. Research shows that just looking at nature, much less getting out in it, has physiological effects that reduce stress and increase feelings of happiness. In other words, getting outside is good for you.

For more on how nature influences your health, read Your Brain on Nature by Eva M. Selhub and Alan C. Logan.

4 ways to slow down with nature

The best part of this is you don’t have to do anything. Just showing up has benefits. If you want to get a little more from the experience, here are some things to try:

  1. Focus. Look at the canopy or at the ground. Notice recurring patterns (fractals) and interesting shapes and when you find one that intrigues you, hold it in your gaze for a few minutes. See if your breathing changes, heart rate slows or your mood improves. If you have a nature ID app on your phone (I like iNaturalist), upload some pictures to identify the things that caught your eye.

    The bottom of a dark brown pinecone showing individual scales arranged in a spiralling pattern known as a fractal. Photo by Margot Lester.

    With their scales arranged in a recurring pattern, pinecones are one of the most common plant fractals

  2. Breathe. Take a deep breath, hold it a beat, and then exhale slowly to relax. Now take a second breath. What do you smell? Take another and try to notice the elements that make up the smell—like dirt, leaf litter, evergreen, wet dog. Take one more deep breath. How do you feel physically and emotionally in this place?
  3. Listen. Stand or sit and close your eyes if you want to. Tune your ears to sounds that surround you — up, down, front, back, left, right. Listen to sounds that are nearby and far off—like a babbling brook, wind in the canopy, chirpy avian pals. Try not to get mad if you hear human-made sounds like leaf blowers or chitchat. Acknowledge them and then re-tune to something more pleasing. If you have a bird ID app on your phone (I like Merlin), see how many species are hanging out with you.

    A photo of a brook at Fearrington Village’s Camden Park cascading over a small stone dam against a vibrant spring background of greenery and blue skies.

    The brook at Fearrington Village’s Camden Park makes a pretty sound as it cascades over a little dam.

  4. Appreciate. Think about one reason you’re grateful for our planet. It could be this exact spot, somewhere else, that cool beetle trundling through the leaf litter, or a wispy cloud scudding across the sky. Anything.

More ways to connect with nature

Want something more intentional and active? I developed a set of activities for the Triangle Land Conservancy that you can download or screenshot to take to your backyard or favorite nature spot away from home.

A horizontal image with the line-drawn notebooks featuring line drawings of a flowing plant, a cardinal, water droplets, a leaf, the rings of a tree and some seeds. Each notebook includes nature connection activities: WRITE Writing about our experience in nature deepens our connection to it. Not sure what to write? Choose one or more of these prompts to get started: ○ What do I notice (see, smell, hear, feel, sense)? ○ How are my mood, my heart rate and my emotions? ○ What do I wonder about? ○ What questions do I have? ○ What is this experience teaching me about myself or nature? ○ What a-ha's am I having? ○ What other times have l been moved by nature? ○ What does this remind me of? ○ What am I grateful for in this moment? ○ How can I express this gratitude? MAP Sound mapping is a fun way to notice what's going on around us. Here's how: ○ Draw a dot in the middle of your page. ○ Listen carefully for sounds around you for a few minutes. ○ Note the sounds and where you hear them (like behind you, above you, to your left, etc.) with a dot, a picture or words. SKETCH Drawing allows us to take nature with us. Here are some ideas: ○ Sketch something that catches your eye, like a bird or the forest reflected in the pond. ○ Recreate recurring patterns you see around you. If any remind you of another pattern (like your veins or lungs), draw them, too! ○ Create a swatch for all the colors you see or all the different shades of a single color, like brown. ○ Doodle random shapes inspired by what's around you.

You can keep the nature connection going with community science projects, too:

Looking for a good read instead? I’ve got a list of my favorite nature, science and climate books going. Remember to buy responsibly or borrow from one of our local libraries.

Right. That’s it for me this month. See you in June when Geoffrey will introduce you to some more Franklin Street trees.

All photos by Margot Lester

Geoffrey Neal is the director of the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference. You can see more of his photography at @soapyair and @gffry. Margot Lester is a certified interpretive naturalist and a writer and editor at The Word Factory.

Photo of a dead cyclamen flower, black & white, by Geoffrey Neal

About the name: A refugium (ri-fyü-jē-em) is a safe space, a place to shelter, and – more formally – an area in which a population of organisms can survive through a period of unfavorable conditions or crisis. We intend this column to inspire you to seek inspiration and refuge in nature, particularly at the Arboretum!

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