Life is stressful. With 2020 not letting up, it’s high time to find ways to relax and find ease. You can zone out with video games, binge TV, or food/drink. But that only numbs, it doesn’t refresh. Observing nature does this for us. Keeping a field journal allows you to revisit those moments of peace to refresh yourself anytime.

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Nature refreshes – Documenting takes it deeper

Nature is so comforting because it’s solidly and consistently there for us whenever we decide to reconnect. There’s a comfort in knowing wolves go on being wolves in Yellowstone whether anyone is there to watch them or not. The same goes for the geysers. Old Faithful continues to erupt, and we can watch it on the webcam. Nature is indifferent to our struggles. Knowing nature is so very steady gives a sense of comfort.

Training yourself to pause and observe nature for a few minutes a day can center you and give you a break from the stress. Listen to the robin singing sweetly. Look up and appreciate beautiful clouds in the sky. Pause to watch a rabbit nibble on grass. Developing this as a regular practice lowers your blood pressure and slows the momentum of thinking of stressful things. It is a type of mediation. This is the first step in field journaling.

Taking notes or photos to document these moments allows you to revisit them and bring back the relaxation. By focusing on the process of documentation – either through records in a notebook or to take a couple of shots with your phone takes it deeper. This small extra step allows you to enter the moment more fully. It pushes other thoughts further aside, even if just for a moment.

Molding those notes and photos into a field journal entry takes that even farther by spending more time in that moment. It’s revisiting it again. Once added to the field journal, that moment is there to visit repeatedly.

No matter how far you take this process, it’s a journey worth taking. All I know for sure is that field journaling makes my life better by allowing me to better appreciate all the wonders surrounding me. I thrive better with this practice of appreciation and invite you to see if it helps you thrive as well.

Books to get you started:

• The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling
• How to Keep a Naturalist’s Notebook
• Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole new Way of Seeing the World Around You
• Illustrating Nature: Right-brain Art in a Left-brain World
• What the Robin Knows

Be Outside • Take Notes