Celebrating Nature - All Year!

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How often do you celebrate events? 

Chatting to friends recently I mentioned that it would soon be a special anniversary for me and Weaselman. They asked what we were going to do to commemorate it.

Well, I ‘ummed’ and ‘ahhed’ a bit.  We’re really not very good at celebrating in our household. There’s never time, or we forget because something else happens which seems more important, and the moment is lost.

‘You should mark it, it’s an achievement’ our friends encouraged. ‘We celebrate all the time’!

 

Creating a Calendar of Celebration!

I’ve been thinking about those words, and what a sensible and positive attitude my friends have!  By celebrating and marking achievement in our lives, both big and small, we become more positive, happier, and grateful.

So, as here in Britain the season is turning towards the cold months, I’m going to begin to mark, with intent, what’s special to me in nature; creating my own ‘calendar’ to celebrate what excites or inspires me.  I’m thinking of things like:

  • the icy patterns of  the first frost

  • finding autumn fungi in the woods

  • seeing an otter on the marsh ( I’m nothing but hopeful!)

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Just a few ideas for things you might want to celebrate…..

Why not create your own celebratory calendar?

 Why not find some fun and creative ways to celebrate your own unique special, natural events?  This would be a wonderful thing to do with younger family members, especially if you are keeping a nature journal.

Choose those things which are really special to you. It might be something you regularly do each year, like a family outing to pick blackberries. Or it could be a reaction to something in nature, such as hearing the first geese migrating.  You could include anything – maybe one of your succulent houseplants annual flowering. (I always do a happy dance when the flowers appear on mine in each year!)

 

Celebrate any way you want to, and however is appropriate for you. You could go all out and 

 

  • make natural decorations,

  • write a poem,

  • film a video

  • invent a game

  • write or tell a story,

  • bake a cake

  • have a picnic

or just take time to sit quietly, think about, and fully appreciate the moment

 

Don’t forget to record your calendar events in your nature journal! I’m thinking of creating a special Celebrate! tag or icon. I’m just recording my celebrations in my journal, but you could make your own separate calendar if you wanted to

 (Oh, and yes, we did go out to celebrate our special day this year! I’ve no excuses now!)