A beautiful sunset that I experienced
in March 2003 while visiting Thief River Falls, MN.
At the beginning of the spring semester of 2003 I was running around each day like a chicken with her head cut off in order to be everywhere I needed to be and do everything I needed to do. I started out looking at "Knowing Nature" as just one more thing I had to attend to in my busy schedule. The first time I read in the books for this class, I read rather quickly and probably did not absorb more than a few words. When I went to class the next day I realized what a mistake that had been, not because we had a quiz on the material or anything, but because the discussion surrounding the readings was so interesting that I was really wishing I had payed attention to the stories in the book. Fortunately I owned the book so I was able to go back and read the stories that I had missed out on. My attitude towards the class changed after this and I realized that I seriously wanted to work on deepening my connection with nature. I think what really drew me in were the discussions about the wonder we have as children. My thoughts focused a lot on why, when, and how we lose it, along with if and/or how we can get it back. I examined my own childhood experience with nature and came to believe that a major factor in losing this wonder and awe is time.
A picture of my cousin Blair who still has that sense
of wonder.
While on a nature journey he found and was very excited about these
pinecones that I probably would not have even noticed.
I cannot pinpoint exactly when I lost the
natural wonder, but it seems to be around the same time I started getting
homework in school and also participating in extra-curricular activities.
The busier I got, the less important I perceived nature to be in my
life. The importance decreased until it got to a point where I rarely
thought about the world around me. So after I came up with a theory
of how I lost the wonder, it became extremely clear to me how I could get
it back, or at least work on getting it back. I would have to slow
down and pay attention to my surroundings. It took some work to get
myself to slow down because I was so used to thinking in my "I don't have
time for this" frame of mind, but I have slowed down considerably (click here for some tips on how to slow
down and sneak nature into a busy schedule). Sometimes I have to
remind myself to slow down and am always glad when I do because each time
I notice something new, which sparks new thoughts into my head. Since
I have been doing this, I have noticed that I think about completely different
things than I did before (click here
for examples of how my thoughts have changed). My initial journal
entries were brief because I had a hard time thinking of things to say about
nature, but now I have so many thoughts it is hard to sort them out and write
them down on paper. While on a nature journey he found and was very excited about these
pinecones that I probably would not have even noticed.
Going along with the idea that as we get busier we become more disconnected from nature, I also feel that we forget about the things we enjoy doing. On my journey back into nature I have discovered once again that I used to enjoy writing stories and poetry. This realization came to me as I was writing this journal entry and decided I wanted to turn it into a sort of story.
I feel that I have grown as a person and succeeded in deepening my connection with nature throughout the semester, but I still have a long journey ahead of me to gain back my wondering nature. The important thing for me to do is just remind myself to slow down and enjoy my surroundings.
~Becca Hanson
Click here for some other photos that I have taken
LINKS
The following link is to a website that contains poems about the prairie by different authors:
http://www.prairiepoetry.org/main.html
Here is a link to a site that has wonderful poems about the prairie written by third graders:
http://www.westmoor.district28.k12.il.us/kuchel/kuchelprairie/kuchelprairie.htm
Click here for some other photos that I have taken
LINKS
The following link is to a website that contains poems about the prairie by different authors:
http://www.prairiepoetry.org/main.html
Here is a link to a site that has wonderful poems about the prairie written by third graders:
http://www.westmoor.district28.k12.il.us/kuchel/kuchelprairie/kuchelprairie.htm