Nature Journal: Community
/Dear nature loving friends,
Life’s pretty scary for most of us at the moment, and it’s very easy to get overwhelmed. Being a natural worrier myself, I’m very guilty of this. With so much happening, it’s easy to start thinking that any positive contribution we make is trivial, and not important. So, I wanted to share this with you.
This week I was incredibly touched, and pretty teary, when I received the most beautiful message on Instagram from a fellow journaler. She’d been feeling pretty low, and so opened my March ‘Notes from Nature’, e-letter a bit late, but, told me, what and how I’d written about nature had calmed her, and inspired her to go outside and start sketching.
I felt so happy knowing my small act had helped at least one person.
So, my plan is to create, to look for, and post something positive, nature inspired, (and some art/creative things too), daily, on social media. I may not make every day, but I will try.
If you’re feeling lost and anxious, please join me. We need community now, more than ever, and as lovers of nature we already know the advantages of engaging with the natural world. If you can get outside safely to do that, wonderful.
If you can’t, here are a few ideas for connecting and journaling:
Use your window like a bird hide! Set a time limit and see what birds you see flying over head or outside.
Start making weather studies.
Make a colour chart of all the natural shades you can see…
If you journal already, use some different media. Set yourself little challenges to focus your mind. I’ll try and share more ideas and prompts.
If you don’t already keep a nature journal, why not start? It’s so rewarding. There are resource ideas on the Drawn Into Nature blog (below) and on International Nature Journaling Week. You can join in there too.
Seek out inspiring and beautiful things on line. Many creative people are doing kind things and producing lovely free goodies and resources to help us through. Please share them, and spread the message. Try not to get bogged down, reduce your time reading news and re reading things ( I’m guilty!)
Find joy in nature.
Here are some quick sketches of British spring flowers which I’ve seen in bloom this week. They all brought me happiness!
It’s going to be tough, so let’s look after each other.
Some posts to help new journalers get started….