#Earthschooling365: Day Sixty-Seven
Inner Work Meditation (Heart): Today as I was looking in the creek for more catfish and watching the little minnows swim back and forth I suddenly noticed that if I stood at the right angle the trees and sun reflected in the creek and were making pretty watercolor pictures on the surface of the water. I had been standing there 20 minutes looking at the fish before I even noticed the reflections. But once I noticed them I was enchanted and spent another 20 minutes taking pictures of them and enjoying the art show. It was like my own private gallery opening in nature. And all I had to do was look at the creek from a slightly different angle. We’ve spent time thinking about how we can look at things around us differently but sometimes we don’t realize how simple this can be. It does not always take a major life event or something profound for us to be able to see something completely different in our everyday life. Sometimes all it takes is a short step to the left and an ever so slight tip of the head. Take some time today to think about how you can look at something slightly differently.
Nature Walk Idea (Head): For the next week we are going to work on learning some specific messages that nature gives us. Did you know that you can navigate by the sun or the moon or even by moss on trees? Or that you can tell temperature by the sounds of crickets? Let’s learn one new message each day. If you don’t have the resources to practice the message for the day you can write it down or “file it away” in your memory to use next time you go camping, or on a longer hike in nature. The first message we are going to learn is from crickets. Crickets can tell you the approximate temperature. All you need to do is count the chirps for fourteen seconds and then add forty. This will give you the Fahrenheit temperature of the cricket within a very few degrees. You will often hear crickets at dawn or dusk when it is a bit darker or in darker wooded areas. Sometimes you will even find them in dark places in the garden or the basement.
Photography Notes (Hands): Many times when we see trees in photos they are “just there” or part of a larger landscape photo. However, trees have an unlimited number of creative uses in photography. In the blue and black photo the tree branches make an interesting design that frame the crow. In the photo of the creek the sun peeks through the tree branches which are reflected in the creek, creating an interesting abstract image. Today’s assignment is to use a tree in a creative manner in your photo today.
Verse: Branches
Copyright Kristie Burns
Broadly
Reaching
Arching
Nodding
Climbing
Higher
Entrapping
Sunlight
*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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