Virtual Retreats for Self Discovery and Spiritual Exploration
Take an entire day to be in nature, even if it is only in your yard or a neighborhood park. Use all five senses in your observation: sight, smell, feel, taste, and hearing.
Write a sentence about each of the 5 senses.
1. Sight: What do you see?
What color are the leaves on each tree?
2. Smell: What do you smell?
Is the air fresh and clean? Do you smell pines, flowers, river algae, skunk?3. Hear: What do you hear?
Do you hear the wind blow and leaves crunching?4. Taste: What do you taste?
Is there a taste in the air? Does a taste come to mind?
5. Feel: What do you feel?
What does the bark feel like?
What does it feel like to crunch the leaf in your hand?
Take note of what kinds of trees and plants there are.
Is there a body of water nearby?
What kind of birds do you see? Are there any you hear and do not see?
What kinds of animals do you recognize? Squirrels, rabbits, lizards, butterflies, honeybees, dragonflies, ants?
What color is the sky? Is it clear?
Are there cumulus clouds, all puffy and full, or are there the thin and wispy cirrus clouds?
Do you see any shapes in the clouds?
What is the ground you stand on? Is it dirt, is it grass, is it wood, is it rock?
How many kinds of grasses are there?
What are the shapes of the leaves on the trees?
What sound do the leaves on the trees make as the wind blows through them?
Notice the position of the sun. If you did not know what time it was, would you be able to correctly estimate the time by the position of the sun?
Do you know what time the sun comes up each day, and what time it sets?
Do you know what phase of the moon we are in right now? Is it near full moon, or is it dark, near the new moon?
Do you cut your hair or schedule your gardening chores by the phase of the moon?
What else do you notice by being out in nature?