It’s “Connect with Nature” Week at Heartspoken.com.

The fourth week of each month this year will focus on ways to strengthen your connection with nature and the natural world around you. Whether you live in the country or in a high rise apartment, there are ways to become more aware and more connected to your natural surroundings.

Anytime is a good time to start a nature journal!

January is a time for beginnings, but no matter when you’re reading this, starting a nature journal will begin a journey of discovery, fun, and learning that will enrich your life immeasurably. Here’s a baker’s dozen of great reasons to start one. I’ll include some suggestions about what to put in your journal and discuss some different types of journals. Find one that calls to you and get started today!

1. You’ll preserve fond memories of things you’ve seen and create a future source of pleasure. When you peruse your old journal entries, you’ll remember what inspired them.
2. You’ll become more observant and more open to discovery.
3. You’ll become more appreciative of nature’s beauty and complexity.
4. You’ll spot trends that you might not have noticed otherwise (e.g., when the first robins appear in the spring, changes in high and low temperature ranges, changes in rainfall, frequency of the appearance of certain birds or animals).
5. You’ll begin to see patterns in behaviors, colors, sounds, and smells.
6. You’ll be able to talk to your nature-savvy friends more intelligently.
7. You’ll be inspired to look things up to expand your understanding and appreciation for what you’ve observed.
8. You will deepen your relationship with the earth and begin to care even more deeply for it than you do now.
9. You will more fully appreciate others who observe and write about nature and better understand their enthusiasms for nature and concerns about environmental issues.
10. You’ll increase your sense of connection with all living things.
11. You’ll find your spiritual life is enhanced through an increased appreciation for God’s creations and a shift from egocentric thinking to realizing we are part of a wonderful whole.
12. Strengthening your connection with nature through a nature journal is both restful and restorative.
13. You’ll learn more about yourself by noticing what things you find especially beautiful, interesting, or inspiring.

What do I put in a nature journal?

Include anything about your day-to-day encounters with the natural world! Some people make notes. Others write sentences and narrative descriptions. Still others only sketch or use some combination of writing and sketching. If you’re a photographer, you may prefer to use annotated photos.

• Jot down observations about what’s in bloom in your yard or your walk to work.
• Start a master list of birds, animals and plants commonly found in your area.
• Record seasonal changes such as which trees start to show green leaves first in the spring or which ones turn colors first in the fall.
• Make a note when you get a glimpse of that family of foxes under your garage.
• Chronicle the visit from a hungry bear to your bird feeder.
• Preserve for posterity the day you saw the bald eagle overhead.
• Write about the day you took your grandchild on her first fishing trip.
• If you’re a gardener (even a container gardener on an apartment balcony), make notes about what you plant, when you plant it, and how well it grows.
• Jot down questions in your journal. Visit your regional arboretum or local garden center with your journal in hand and get answers from the naturalists who work there.
• When you travel, keep a list of bird and animal species you see and note which ones are different than you have at home.

I’ll have future posts with tips to maximize your nature journaling experience. Use the sidebar search box to find all entries for “nature journal.”

What kind of journal should I use?

You want something that’s easy to carry, somewhat durable, and appeals to the naturalist in you. Some folks are content with a spiral notebook or an all-purpose journal like these:

Others take their notes on plain paper or index cards and bring them home to file in a box, folder, or spiral notebook. My father used to use a small desk calendar/date book and make his entries about weather, temperature, and wildlife observations on the appropriate day. Here are some lovely desktop and pocket calendars for 2012:

I  prefer a journal designed to be a nature journal with ideas and prompts. Here’s one I love to use, designed by naturalist/artist Clare Walker Leslie:
…and its companion book:

Where can I get more ideas?

Read the writings of other nature writers for inspiration, and you’ll begin to see the kinds of things they noticed and wrote about. The best include: Edward Abbey, Diane Ackerman, Mary Austin, William Bartram, John Burroughs, Rachel Carson, Annie Dillard, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Meriwether Lewis, Barry Lopez, Bill McKibben, John Muir, John Wesley Powell, Gary Snyder, and Henry David Thoreau.

What are you waiting for?

Order one of the journals above today and start your nature journal. Don’t wait until it arrives to start noticing the amazing natural world around you. I want to hear from you this time next year and see how you’re enjoying your stronger connection with nature.

Photo credit: “Young Woman in Woods” by PT Images via BigStockPhoto.com

One of the unanticipated joys of writing a blog about the Power of Connection is finding so many others of like mind who are also exploring and writing about connections of all kinds. I just discovered a great website from Julie Ardery called the Human Flower Project. Julie is a sociologist and writer in Austin, TX, and she describes her site/project thusly:

The Human Flower Project is an international newsgroup, photo album and discussion of humankind’s relationship with the floral world. We report on art, medicine, society, history, politics, religion, and commerce. Written and photographic submissions are welcome…

…Making daily posts, I want to share this space with anyone who has observations, photos, information or stories about how the lives of people and flowers intersect.

Those of us who were raised in the country–in my case, with a mother who raised the most exquisite flowers, especially lillies– or who are fortunate enough to have a flower bed or garden now, I don’t need to convince you of the richness and beauty that flowers can bring into our lives. Julie’s explorations at The Human Flower Project have broadened my perspective even further as to the value of flowers and the impact they have had throughout time, not just on individuals, but on entire societies, cultures, and economies.

From the mourners of a Neanderthal man buried with flowers in 60,000 B.C. to today’s megawatt floral designers on HGTV, people have turned to flowers out of anxiety, necessity and joy.

By studying flowers, we look into human emotion and value. Since the flower trade is global, and has been for centuries, by following the circuit of plants across the world, we track international relations and economics.

If you want to know and understand more about the flowers and plants that too often we take for granted,  join me in exploring this fascinating site and learn a few new ways to Connect with Nature.

Photo credit: John A. Cottrell, Jr., M.D.

Permalink: http://www.heartspoken.com/2011/01/the-human-flower-project

Let the beauty of the wild leave footprints on your heart.”

Peggy Anderson

Sometimes my need for the wild…for touching the natural world…is so overwhelming, I just have to stop and go outside for awhile. I am blessed to live in the Shenandoah Valley, where my ability to do this is just a few steps away. From my kitchen window, I can gaze out to the Massanutten mountain range, and in my yard, I can watch deer, squirrels, groundhogs, and birds almost any time of year. Right now two ruby-throated hummingbirds are fiercely protecting their territory and access to the feeder. The drought is making them extra thirsty.

When you need to immerse yourself in the beauty of the wild — and you either don’t have time or are not near enough to do it — take five minutes and watch this inspiring video.

I’d love to hear about your experiences of being inspired by something in the natural world.

Photo credit: John A. Cottrell, Jr., M.D.

Introducing Earth Connection Messenger: April Moore

Some of the most powerful Connection Messengers in my life have been those people who see the same things I see every day but who can, through their words, their music, or their art, help me see them in a wonderful new way that forever changes my appreciation for what might before have been mundane or overlooked. April Moore is just such a person when it comes to Nature. Having visited her beautiful home deep in the forest high up on a mountain ridge, I understand what inspires her.

“The environment is my great passion,” says April in her website bio. “I have delighted in nature for as long as I can remember.  Many of my moments of greatest spiritual connectedness have been inspired by the natural world.”

If you’re looking for a reminder about the breathtaking beauty and mystery of our island home,  look no further than her Earth Connection Blog: http://www.theearthconnection.org/.

April shares inspiration, musings, and wonderful links and pictures about all aspects

April Moore, Guest Author

of Earth and Nature, including an occasional painful reflection on the havoc mankind is wreaking on her. Her reflections in this post on the forest are especially nice.

Whether you live in the city or the country, you’ll love seeing Nature through April’s eyes and her beautiful writing.

It’s so important that we teach our children and grandchildren about the fascinating natural world around them. Many of my posts will lead you to great information on how to do this. Here’s one I found recently

Discover The Forest (http://www.discovertheforest.org/)

Many of you are probably familiar with Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. It is a compelling wake-up call to us that the migration to urban and suburban living has led to a Nature deficit in our children and what this can mean. I am thrilled to see a joint campaign being launched by the U.S. Forest Service and the National Ad Council to get children back outside. Their actual TV and radio spots can be viewed here: http://www.discovertheforest.org/about.html. Scroll down to the links.