#Earthschooling365: Day Fifty-Four
Note: We apologize – the wrong version of this post went out yesterday. We are resending it today. Today’s post will also be posted later today.
Inner Work Meditation (Heart): Today I stumbled upon a deer cleaning her wet coat after a light rain. She was so involved in what she was doing she didn’t notice me. I didn’t want to disturb her so I stayed farther back than I usually would, took only a couple shots and then quickly left. Usually I will stay for a while and take many photos of each scene. This process of letting things “be” is very hard for us as humans, and especially children. We are innately curious, we want to be involved and we want to be part of everything. Take some time today to think about what would happen if you stood back a little bit more and let things happen on their own. Think about how you can give the people around you a bit more space today and allow them to create their own art, make their own mistakes, and do things their own way. Later, take some time to meditate on what you learned from this exercise.
Nature Walk Idea (Head): Today when I saw this deer I thought, at first, that she looked like a dog curled up by the fire. In fact I often find a human element come into my nature walks. Sometimes I see a “door” in the way a forest tree bends or the letter “A” in the way some sticks fold together. It seems we can’t completely leave our human world behind when we enter nature. Today your nature walk challenge is to try to do that. Every time you see something in nature that reminds you of the human world (even if it is from the human world) change it (in your mind) into something from the animal world or world of nature. Watership Down is a great inspiration for this task if you want to take this lesson a bit farther. Watership Down looks at the entire world from the point of view of a rabbit.
Photography Notes (Hands): Today we are going to take a break from some of the technical workings of the camera and work on some technique again. In today’s world of selfies and “I was there” photos we end up taking a lot of photos where the subject is looking right at the camera. However, some of the best photos can be taken when the subject is not looking at the camera. In photography, unless you are taking a specific portrait, it is actually better if the subject is candid. Today, on your nature walk try to take a candid photo of an animal, insect, bird or person. Talk about or think about how this photo is different from how it would be if the subject was looking at you. For example, in this photo of the deer cleaning her fur after the rain, the viewer is allowed to enter the doe’s world and share a quiet moment with her. The photo is more intimate and powerful when she is not looking at us.
Verse: Doe
Copyright Kristie Burns
Doe
Gentle, Peaceful
Grooms her gown
Anticipating Mother Nature’s fashion show
White-tail Deer
*A Cinquain has five lines. The first line is the title word (noun), the second line is a two word description, the third line is three words of action, the fourth line is four words of feeling and the fifth line is one word (noun) that is a synonym for the title.
*These poems have been created for many purposes – from early childhood circle time verses to inspirational or expressive. They vary from day to day so you may find the way you use them or enjoy them also varies. If you would like to set these poems to music consider our tutorial: Creating Your Ow Waldorf Verses or Finding Your Inner Voice.
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What is #Earthschooling365?
This series takes you through an entire year of our nature walks and is part of our non-profit project #Earthschooling365 at www.Earthschooling.org. The photos and posts in this series are all copyrighted. Please do not share or re-print them. Instead, share the link to this blog with your friends.
Along the way I will be sharing our favorite photo of the day, an inner work meditation for the day, photography assignment/tip for the day, nature walk theme for the day and a short verse for circle time (children) or meditation (teens/adults). We invite you to “walk along with us” this year, take some time to use the inner work meditation, be inspired by the nature walk theme of the day and perhaps even start a photo series of your own. To join the community on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram please tag your photos #Earthschooling365. To receive these inspirations in your e-mail inbox daily please subscribe to our blog alerts HERE. Don’t worry about missing days – you can join us as many days as you want this year!
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