Paying attention as reciprocity

I heard it before I saw it — the sweetest little gurgle of a sound coming from this bubbling flow of water on my walk today. It’s amazing what we can notice when we slow down and get quiet and curious. 

I can imagine some of you saying — “Amazing? That little puddle of rainwater? I guess she doesn’t get out much.”  And I’d be thinking the same thing probably, as I scroll through social media. But when we really notice the living world around us, so much becomes amazing.  (Also, you’d be right about me not getting out much hahaha.) 

It’s hard for me to describe the effects of forest bathing / nature therapy. Partly because it’s different for everyone, every time, every moment, and partly because nothing beats just FEELING what happens for yourself. 

Maybe you’ll get a super-good feeling like I got when I noticed this stream.  (I like to call it #thatforestfeeling :)) 

Or maybe you’ll catch yourself later in your day or week having a different reaction to something that would normally set you off. Maybe before you yell at your kid, or cut someone off in traffic, or judge someone on social media, you will slow down and get curious first. Because your body remembers slowing down and getting curious in the forest. 

Or maybe just maybe the little bubbling temporary stream of water will notice you noticing it. Maybe you wonder if it appreciates your attention. Maybe something shifts in you and the world when you open yourself to that possibility. 

As revered Native American ecologist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer says:

"Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world.” 

Want to come and pay attention to the living world with me? 

New public walks and private availability at www.thatforestfeeling.com/register 

*There is actually a lot of scientific research that explains what happens in our bodies when we forest bathe, but that's for another time.