1 Being Present in Nature

Nature plays a big role in my life. It started at a young age too...I was not even a year old when I went on my first camping trip. My parents had us out hiking, camping and bike riding pretty much the entire summer. As a kid I would explore every inch of the forest, taking it all in. The sound of wood breaking underfoot of a chipmunk running across the path, the smell of pine and wet moss. I find as we grow up we stop being present in the moment. We are too busy talking or texting or taking pictures to really enjoy why we decided to be in nature in the first place.

On one of our walks last week I came across this old tractor. It looked like it has been there for decades but I have never seen it in the hundreds of times we have walked down this path. 

I had missed this old rusty tractor frame hundreds of times because I wasn't present in the nature surrounding us. I was too busy focusing on what was in front of me rather than what was around me. One day I went on a walk with B and left the stroller at home. We took our time, stopped to look at crickets and frogs, to pick up sticks and throw stones. I was in that moment with him and it rocked. Perhaps every walk after work or on a warm Saturday morning shouldn't be about 'something to do' or 'wasting time until bedtime'. It should be about slowing down, relaxing and reconnecting with each other and the environment around us. By teaching our kids to do this we are teaching them to appreciate nature and perhaps that will instill the drive within them to want to protect it.

What do you do to get out and enjoy nature?

Related Posts - Check them Out
Responsible Camping
Mommy, what did trees look like?
Come walk with us