The Secret Garden (1993)

Belden C. Lane, The Great Conversation

i cried while making this

Some ideas on how to (re-)connect with nature ♡

⭑ Take a walk through the forest or a park, don't use your phone or listen to music, rather listen to the sounds of nature actively. What can you hear?

⛤ Collect some leaves, rocks, pine cones, feathers or anything else that you think is pretty! Maybe use your bounty to decorate your home with it?

⭑ Go touch some grass! No, this is not a joke, let's go feel the grass between your fingers and toes.

⛤ Try to find some flowers and smell them, what can you compare the scents with? Preferably, go outside and find wild flowers instead if bought ones!

⭑ Take a bath in a lake or dip your hands and feet into the water (a river is perfect, too!) Close your eyes and just feel the water.

⛤ Have a little picnic on a meadow, at the lake, in the forest or at any other peaceful spot. It's a date with yourself and with nature!

⭑ If this is an option for you: do some gardening work. Get your hands all dirty with earth and mud!

⛤ Pick some wild flowers from a meadow and make a little bouquet with them. (But please don't rip out the roots!)

⭑ Talk to the trees. Yes, this sounds silly but a tree is a perfect listener and companion if you need to talk something off of your chest.

⛤ Watch the sunset or sunrise. Enjoy this magical moment. How many colors can you spot?

⭑ Get some houseplants and take good care of them every day. (If you have pets, make sure your new friends are not poisonous for them!)

⛤ Observe. What kind of birds, plants, flowers and trees can you find in your environment? What kind of animals can you meet in the forest nearby? (Maybe write your observations down in a notebook!)

⭑ Lay down on some moss, grass or sand and just exist and feel how the earth carries you.

⛤ Go plant some flowers!

⭑ Spend some time in nature without social media (maybe leave your phone at home!)

⛤ Take a walk in the rain and / or dance in the rain.

⭑ Watch a thunderstorm from a safe spot

⛤ Craft a moss jar (these are so cute and perfect if you want some more nature in your own home!)

⭑ Keep little jars or flasks of the elements in your home (examples: earth - moss/earth/sand, water - water from a lake/river or collected rain water, air - a feather, fire - ashes, a used match)

⛤ Be more attentive to your environment: when do you notices changes in the seasons?

⭑ Have a self-love day, because you are a part of nature as well and deserve your own love!

⛤ Try to actively appreciate nature: be more thankful for the food, the water, the warmth nature provides us

The best advice really is to just write. Write badly - purple prose, stilted conversations, rambling descriptions. Don't delete it, pass go, take your $200, save all your garbage in a big folder. Look at how much you've made - it doesn't matter if it isn't perfect, isn't polished, it was practice. Every time you write you learn a little more, and find another piece of your voice.

nature series 26/∞

making a collection

For @mythologicalnet‘s event: “Siblings”

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