This morning at 8:00 the air was soft and humid but still fairly cool as we gathered to practice mindfulness and nature journaling. I was delighted to have Rosealin, Glenn, and Oscar as participants in this event, and we headed off to the north pond to get started. A lush growth of willows encircled much of the pond, and turtles swam beneath the surface. A green heron squawked and flew overhead.
We talked about focusing awareness on our breathing as a way to stay in the present moment. It is so easy to slip away into thoughts about the past or future, or to become involved in thinking about identifying trees or insects. The point of mindfulness is awareness of the present moment – and the trees or insects themselves – rather than our commentary on those moments or our memories or plans. Our practice would involve noticing when thoughts occurred, then letting them go and returning our awareness to what was happening in the moment.
After some time spent practicing, we got back together to compare notes a little, and then spent some time writing or drawing in journals. I pulled out the thermometer/hygrometer and noted that it was 79F and a very muggy 82% humidity near the edge of the pond, and then did some writing.
I wrote that “cardinals have been calling, competing with traffic noise. The long buzz of cicadas comes from several places in the trees.” We know that birds are adversely affected by noise, showing unusually high stress responses to threats in the presence of chronic noise from human sources. I wondered about the birds’ awareness of and reaction to traffic noise just outside the preserve. Glenn had made similar observations, and the group talked about our own reactions to noise.
I also drew a nearby clump of little bluestem and while it was a limited success, it will bring back some of my memory of those beautiful grasses and the graceful curves of their thin leaves. I will follow Rosealin’s suggestion of bringing pencils for shading and illustrating those beautiful pastel shades of blue, green, and violet.
I look forward to doing this again next month with participants new to this as well as those who have been here in past events.