It's beautiful outside! Having lived with COVID and a heavy rainy season, many of us feel called to connect with nature, with warmer temperatures and a break from the rain makes this even more attractive. Posts of a tremendous California super bloom may inspire us even further to make arrangements for a visit to one of the many parks and outdoor spaces which the San Francisco Bay offers.
For some the ability to get outside is limited due to physical limitations or other reasons-still one can take part in the beauty of nature and experience the healing effects. Visit online resources, look at photos, listen to the sound of the wind, birds or bees. Let a friend share about their recent trip to a park or the ocean. Create an indoor nature space with plants, dried flowers, wood pieces, or rocks. You may wish to emerge yourself in this energy through your own creation, write down a memory, draw a flower, enjoy a nature magazine.
Simple observing: what do you notice when only looking at a small flower arrangement, or wild flowers in a meadow? Do want to take in the scent, or reach out and feel the plant in between your fingers. What memories and images are evoked? Take note, take time. Do you stay focused on viewing the flower, or is your mind pulling you elsewhere, telling you need to attend to something else. What feelings come up? Are these pleasant feelings, or are they unpleasant? These are all common responses.
I think there is something so valuable in taking time to be with nature and to be in nature. To see, to smell, to hear, to feel. There is a piece of bark, a bush, a bird, clouds, so many options, so much diversity. Give it try and see what happens. Be open to be surprised.