Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart. –Robin Wall Kimmerer
The nature journaling event co-hosted by Shasta Environmental Alliance and Western Shasta Resource Conservation District (WSRCD) at Lassen Volcanic National Park, on Sunday, July 20, was, without a doubt, a very special day. Heather Bortolussi, a GrizzlyCorps Fellow who works for WSRCD, joyfully led our group of 16 (plus a passer-by who joined in) through the finer points of connecting to the natural world in the practice of recording what can be noticed, questioned, and imagined when we slow down enough to pay close attention.
Capturing these observations in a nature journal through drawings, words, symbols, numbers, and/or color palettes does many wonderful things. It lights up our hippocampus, brings us joy, and increases memory retention! Who doesn’t want more of that?
While some of us may resist artistic expression because of limiting beliefs about our creative abilities, nature journaling puts a gentle hand on our shoulder and says, “Do not worry about the end result, just enjoy the process of expressing your wonder.” Heather bolstered the group’s confidence by laying out three irrefutable truths for the day: “We are all artists, we are all naturalists, and the world loves us.” We each took these truths and headed out, alone or with friends or family, into the forest surrounding Manzanita Lake to fill our notebooks with drawings and words of wonder and imagination.
What might a casual observer have noticed about our group that day? They might have witnessed a mother and son spending quality time together in a shared activity, or two friends sharing a fallen log and some art supplies in the mountain sunshine. They could have observed a seasoned naturalist capturing the artistry of the landscape and jotting down metaphors for life, or perhaps they beheld a small family offering their young son a different way to experience the outdoors. They might also have noticed how this activity equally served the introverted and extroverted members of the group, by offering time for both solitude and community. Perhaps they may have even reflected on the possibility of their own need to slow down to pay attention to the details of their surrounding environment.
As the journaling part of our time came to a close, we gathered once more as a group to eat lunch and share our observations. Together, we created a temporary art gallery of landscapes, illustrations, observational notes, and poetic expression. It was a day of relaxation, connection, and restoration that concluded with a short walk to an enormous Jeffrey pine to inhale its sweet vanilla scent – a true reminder that the world does indeed love us with its continuous gifts. As we move through our lives, perhaps with a bit more awareness, how might we return that love? ~Juliet Malik