#Earthschooling365: Day Sixty-Three
Inner Work Meditation (Heart): Today my favorite two pictures were of rabbits. I love the way they blend into their surroundings and how the light catches their eyes just right sometimes. In fact, in both photos I never would have seen the rabbits if I was not looking very closely. This can happen to us in everyday life, too. Are you ever rushing about so quickly that you miss details? Or perhaps you are not looking for the right cues? When taking a nature walk and looking for animals there are certain tricks you can use to train your eyes to see them more readily. Meditate today on some different ways you can train your eyes to see more in those around you or in the world around you in general. Choose one idea and practice it all day. Some ideas I have used in the past are: Look at least person and thing for at least three seconds, chew every bite of food at least six times, look at people’s hands instead of just their facial expressions, read body language along with what a person is saying or take extra time to listen to each person that talks to you and each sound you hear today.
Nature Walk Idea (Head): Today your assignment is to make a list of tricks that you use to find animals, birds or insects on your nature walk. Or, use some of the tricks that I have listed here and see if those can help you as well. When making your own list ask yourself (or your students), “What has helped you spot animals, insects or birds over the past month?” For me there are quite a few tricks I use that help me find wildlife on my walk. Among these are:
- I always look low to the ground and see if there is a break in the ground pattern somewhere or an indention in the ground.
- I also look just above the grass line to see if there are any ears, eyes or other body parts peaking out.
- I listen for sounds and try to identify them all. They all give me messages. If I hear a new sound I will walk towards it to try to identify it.
- I listen for rustling and footsteps.
- I look for quick movements. Rabbits are often hard to see until they move.
- I stop often and scan the landscape for animals.
- I visit certain places over and over if I think they look like an animal home, if I have seen footprints there or they look like good habitat.
- I visit certain places over and over if I have seen an animal there before.
- I look inside of holes, dead trees and inside nests.
Photography Notes (Hands): Today we will be practicing quick focus and framing. So many times when I have seen an amazing animal or scene I will put the camera to my eyes and then I will lose the scene because the lens is so long or I will bring the camera up too slowly. Today, choose a subject and practice bringing your camera up to shoot quickly. After you have a smooth motion practiced, next, practice aiming the lens at your subject accurately so you don’t have to “find” it again once the camera is up to your eye. How accurate can you be? This is more difficult than it sounds. For example, choose a bird in a tree. Now put your telephoto lens up to your eye. Where is the bird? Practice finding “markers” that will help you be more accurate in aiming.
Verse: Sight
Copyright Kristie Burns
I scanned the sandbar, tree-line and shore
Saw rocks, logs, and weeds but nothing more
Wildflowers and pussy-willows swayed in the breeze
Then the wind coaxed from my nose a very big sneeze!
The rock became a tortoise and dove into the creek
A log transformed into a groundhog – gone in s streak
A wildflower sprouted wings and flew into the sky
A pussy-willow bud blinked it’s eye
The weeds became a long-eared hare
So many things I didn’t know were there!
*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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