How to connect with nature

Particularly if you live in a city.

There are many benefits to living in a big city, or even a smaller city. Easy access to amenities, public transport, good food and super interesting pursuits, to name a few (particularly helpful if you have an active interest in accumulating weird hobbies).

But there are sacrifices too. We don’t rest enough. We’re overstimulated by light and noise. We can’t see the stars! And it promotes a feeling of being separate to nature.

Which is bonkers. We’re here, on planet Earth, after all. We ARE part of nature.

I firmly believe that you can live in a city and still have a regular nature practice. And while it comes a bit more… naturally if you live rurally, it certainly doesn’t hurt to actively engage in a nature connection there, too.

I’m coming off 11 months spent undergoing a course that actively encouraged and promoted nature connection. I don’t mean this in a pithy way, but focusing on this aspect of existence has changed my life, for the better.

I’d like to write about aspects of this course in this newsletter, at some point. But I kinda need time to sit with and process the last few months. So, that can come later. But for now, here are some tips you can use to cultivate your own relationship with the natural world.

Local urban trails are great spots to to have a sit and think.

Make time to sit in nature

This is probably the most fundamental practice you can undertake, if you want to forge a connection to the natural world.

Find a ‘sit spot’, a place that’s strolling distance from your home. It could be in a local park. On a rooftop garden. In your backyard, or on your balcony. By a creek or on the beach, if you’re lucky enough to be within cooee of either.

You’ll come here, perhaps every day if you’re able to, or a couple of times a week, at least. It doesn’t have to be the same time every day. Sit there for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, half an hour. And just watch. And listen. And take note of what’s going on around you.

As you rack up time spent at your sit spot, you’ll start to notice things. Which birds call in the evening in summer, and who is loudest in winter. The activity of nearby trees, insects. Perhaps the changing cycle of the moon – and being in-tune with the moon is a simple, yet wonderful practice to undertake.

Perhaps you’ll go home and note observations in your nature journal. Or you’ll just file them away as part of your own knowledge.

It’s kinda akin to having a regular meditation practice, except you’re outwardly observing, rather than inwardly.

Start a nature journal

If you’re a bit of a scribbler and you want to get those observations down, perhaps consider starting a separate nature journal. You can take it with you to your sit spot, or wait ‘til you get home to write down what you saw, heard, smelt, tasted, touched.