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!
Every day we will post one day. We will leave up 2 weeks of nature walks at a time. At the end of two weeks each nature walk will be transferred to the Lifetime Member’s Only Blog and will be accessible only to Lifetime Earthschooling Members. If you want to own the entire series without enrolling a an Earthschooling Lifetime Package Member you can purchase the entire series for only $35.00 (for the entire year!)
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You can start your journey any day. You do not have to follow our schedule. However, we will leave up the first week of the project all year so you can follow the steps to get started.
#Earthschooling365: Day Nine
Inner Work Meditation (Heart): Squirrels. We see them every day yet we don’t. They often get filtered into the “seen that before – no need to take notice” part of the mind. This part of the mind is very important because it prevents us from becoming completely overwhelmed by sensory input. If we actually took time to evaluate and focus on every sight, sound, smell, feeling and taste we experienced every moment of the day it would be impossible to function. However, in meditation and inner work, sometimes that is the best tool to use to regain our focus. Take ten minutes today to simply “be” in the moment. Wherever you are take time to notice everything around you. Now reflect on how you feel after this ten minutes. This simple exercise can be used in so many ways throughout the day – even in three minute intervals. It is a great way to encourage yourself or others to calm down or regain focus. Use this tool throughout the day with yourself and others when needed.
Nature Walk Idea (Head): Today your nature walk task is to relax and stop shutting so much out. As we reflected in our morning meditation, it is healthy to shut things out but we also need to take time to focus. However, this task is a bit different than our morning meditation. This task is about learning when it is safe to “let down your guard” a bit more. You won’t necessarily be focusing as intensely as you were this morning. Instead, consider how much you usually “shut out” when you go to the mall or the grocery store and accept that during your nature walk you do not need to protect yourself so much. To do this imagine a hug or an embrace. Imagine the trees, the leaves, the animals and the sky are all embracing you in a protective bubble and it is now OK for you to let down your guard a little and not shut as much out. If you ware walking with children simply give them the image of being hugged by the trees for their walk today. Ask them to imagine they are being embraced by each plant they see as they take their walk today. If you want to explore more ways to embrace treating your senses more gently consider our webinar Managing Sensory Processing Disorder Naturally.
Photography Notes (Hands): Your assignment today is to find a way to photograph a common subject in a different way. In the photo I took today I watched a squirrel playing for some time and took a photo of him scratching. It was very difficult to get the photo of him scratching because squirrels are very sensitive to when humans are around. Usually if you get anywhere within photographic range they will run away or freeze up and stop what they are doing. This little guy got relaxed enough around me that he was able to just “be himself”. The resulting photo shows a different side to a squirrel’s personality. Many of my other photos show them frozen up looking at me. You can get your “different from common” photo by waiting for the right moment (like I did), by using a different angle (try laying on the ground or taking a photo looking down on it) or simply by taking an unexpected photo. In this photo, for example, I could have taken a photo of just his furry tail and contrasted it against the rough bark.
Verse: A Squirrel Limerick
Copyright Kristie Burns
There once was a squirrel nutkin
Who had an itch on his bumkin
He paused on a tree
And lifted his knee
And tumbled into a pumpkin
*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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