How do you find hidden treasures in life? Knowing where to look is important, but knowing how to look is even more so. Digital lifestyles are reducing our attention spans and our powers of observation have become limited to addictive screens. As a result some of our life’s most valuable gifts go by unnoticed.
In this mindfulness exercise, we will improve our skills of observation and reflection through photography. These skills are essential for understanding the world around us, making informed decisions and enhancing our creativity. More importantly they are crucial for developing empathy for others – one of the beautiful treasures we can offer to this world.
As an added bonus 3 of the images in this post hold links to some incredible gifts. Tapping on the right ones will transport you to magical lands. Wonder how many of them will you find?
Many people are alive but don’t touch the miracle of being alive.
~Thích Nhất Hạnh
Photography as a mindfulness exercise
There is a strong link between mindfulness and photography . Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present and engaged in the current moment, without judgment or distraction. The aim of mindful photography is to hold a moment in your mind that you can treasure forever.
In this forest bathing walk we will take the help of nature’s less seen gems to train your mind as well as your senses. You can do this walk alone or in a small group. The rules are very simple. Take only one photograph for each creative prompt. At the end of each exercise, groups can form a circle to share pictures and insights if any.
You can try this walk in any nature space close to you – even your garden. Just follow the basic principles of forest bathing: Be silent. Go slow. Think less. Feel more.
For a more detailed note on the Japanese concept read our Forest Bathing article or try the Nature Calm course.
Mindful Photography Exercises
1. Finding The Invisible For the first task, find and photograph a cluster of insect eggs. Did you know that there are over one million known species of insects, which makes up over 80% of all known animal species on Earth. Many insects lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves or on stems of plants. These include species such as caterpillars, beetles, and grasshoppers. Some insects lay their eggs in the soil or on the ground, where they can be protected from predators. Examples include ants, beetles, and some species of flies.
Train your eye to look carefully. Be fully present and attentive when observing your surroundings. Focus on the tiny nooks of nature and you’ll be surprised at what you can find. Observing the beauty of these hidden treasures creates awe and wonder. It helps to anchor the mind in the present moment and be free.
Each species of stick insect produces an egg that is unique in shape and design.
2. Character Exploration Find an insect with an interesting personality. You can look around a piece of bark or visit the flowers. Try taking a shot that show the subject in its environment. What is the mood of the insect you are photographing?
Insects have been around for over 350 million years, and they have adapted to survive in almost every habitat on Earth. The largest insect in the world is the Goliath Beetle, which can grow up to 11 centimeters long and weigh up to 100 grams. The smallest insect in the world is the fairyfly, which is only 0.139 millimeters long.
Mindfulness photography is not just about the external world. These exercises train you to be able to take an inner snapshot as well. To become more aware of your own moods and triggers that change them.
3. Abstract Art For this activity observe the leaves of plants and trees around you. Search for abstract pattern of holes left behind on leaves by foraging caterpillars. Some species of caterpillars can eat up to 27,000 times their own body weight in leaves during their larval stage. Some have even evolved to mimic the appearance of leaves, helping them to avoid detection by predators. See if you can spot some of these illusive artists or the nature art left behind by them.
The path to self-transformation begins with observation. Just as a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, mindfulness exercises bring about a journey of inner metamorphosis.
4. Insect Eye View Take a picture from the perspective of an ant. What does the world look like when seen from a unique angle? Be curious. Be curious and ask questions to become a more mindful observer. Expanding our awareness beyond the self is a mindfulness exercise for enhancing empathy.
There are over 12,000 known species of ants, and they are found on every continent except Antarctica. Some species of ants can carry objects up to 50 times their own body weight. Mindful photography teaches us to find beauty in everyday moments. Moments that we might otherwise overlook. Focusing our attention on the small details fosters joy in the simple things of life.
5. Water Droplets Create a picture with a water drop in it. Add a drop of water to a leaf or a flower, and experiment with different angles to capture the droplets in an interesting way. You can also try using a spray bottle to create your own droplets on a subject. And if you are doing this walk early in the morning, you’ll find some amazing possibilities with the dew drops.
For a beautiful photograph, we must pay close attention to the lighting, composition, and subject to create a visually appealing image. This requires us to be fully present and aware of our surroundings. Finding a big world reflected in a tiny drop of water is an interesting meditation on our own mind.
6. Flower Mindfulness Capture the beauty of a flower that calls out to you. Pay attention to the finer details that make the flower unique. Flowers have a special language with which they communicate with their pollinators. If you wait patiently, you can even take a picture of the flower with its special friend.
It is estimated that one out of every 3 bites of food we eat is made possible by pollinators. Bees are one of the most important insects in the world, as they pollinate approximately 70% of the world’s top 100 crops. Just like the bee and the flower, there are many such invisible interconnections that make our world beautiful. Look carefully, can we try to find those important connections in our own life?
7. Dance of Life If you could capture the dance of life in one frame what would it look like? Will you include yourself in the frame? In nature there are countless stories taking place simultaneously. Becoming aware of our own role in this intricate pattern can be a humbling experience. In the forest of our cosmos, each one of us is a tiny miracle dancing our way through life.
One of the most overlooked treasure of our lives is the joy of small moments that we spend with our loved ones. Mindful walks with nature offer a range of amazing benefits to improve not just the quality of life but also the quality of our relationships.
Knowing where to look for treasures is important. Knowing how to look, even more so.
More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. The total mass of insects is falling by a precipitous 2.5% a year, according to the best data available, suggesting they could vanish within a century.
Things which are hidden from our attention are often neglected, forgotten or lost. We hope this mindfulness exercise provides you with new ways to increase your attention, observation and awareness. It is through these skills that we can make new connections, identify problems, and come up with useful solutions – not just for our own life, but also for our community and the larger world.
This walk is part of our collection of 12 Uplifting Walks. Simple ideas that show you how to make your world wonderful.
To explore amazing new walks, games, arts, meditations, forests – join our free monthly newsletter.
How many of the hidden treasures could you spot? And what did you learn? Please add your thoughts in the comments.
Healing Forest is a volunteer run project. Our goal is to bring people and forests closer to each other through creativity and mindfulness. The aim is simple. Helping people heal. Helping forests heal.
Do share this post, so it reaches where it’s needed. |Download Mindfulness Exercise poster link.
A still mind, reflects the universe. Let us introduce you to the beautiful idea of a reflections walk. A walk that reconnects you to a few important moments from the past. These reflections will help you unwind the year that was and prepare you for the year that will be.
You can do the reflections walk alone or with people who are close to you. All you need is a pen and a notebook to collect your thoughts. Find a peaceful nature space near you and go for a gentle walk. Follow the principles of the Japanese concept of mindful nature walks, also known as ‘Forest Bathing‘. The aim is to be silent, go slow. Open your senses to absorb the calm of nature, and carry it within you.
“Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that have you received–only what you have given.”
~ Francis of Assisi
Reflections Walk
The reflections walk consists of 7 writing prompts. The prompts have been carefully chosen to light up parts of your mind that trigger positivity. These memories and insights foster the core emotions that make happiness grow: Compassion. Awe. Gratitude. Creativity.
Give yourself 10 minutes for each writing activity and in case you have others with you, follow it up with a sharing circle. For larger groups, it is recommended you break up into smaller groups of 3~5 for sharing. After each sharing session do a short 10 minute walk in nature. Combining reflections with a nature walk, helps us recharge our inner reservoir. It also helps in assimilating the learning and deepens your experience.
Here are the writing prompts for the reflections walk. Gather your memories from the last 12 months and pen down:
One thing you are grateful for.
One moment of awe
One act of kindness you received.
One act of kindness you gave.
One person who inspired you.
One lesson you learnt.
One thing you wish to create.
TIP: Doing the reflection walk on your own is wonderful, but sharing it with others is amazing. Creating a shared experience not only grows our collective learning, but also forms a special bond based on a deeper understanding of each other. An interesting idea is to email this post to friends who may be in different cities and schedule a WhatsApp / Zoom session to share insights from their reflection walk.
Download link of poster given at the end.
“The great secret of morals is love, and a going out of our own nature and an identification of the beautiful that exists in thought, action, or person not our own.”
~ Percy Shelly
Dacher Keltner, renowned psychologist and founder of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkley says, “The emotions of compassion and gratitude and awe, I think they really tell us that human nervous system isn’t just fight or flight. Sigmund Freud gave us a great legacy: the two great instincts of sex and death. We would say there’s a little bit more than that, right? Then, they also tell us that a lot of the great delights in life come from serving others, that the human mind is wired up to do so. When you express compassion, you’re getting this big rush of vagus nerve activation and oxytocin. This feels great. When you show gratitude to somebody or sharing, similar studies show you get activation in rewards circuits in the brain. We’ll find that happens with awe as well. Human beings are wired to care and give and it’s probably our best route to happiness.“
12 Beautiful Lakes to Reflect upon
Lakes serve as a metaphor for the complexities of our mind. As the year draws to a close, here’s a short film to reflect upon some beautiful lakes from different corners of our planet.
Our monthly posts help you discover not just uplifting activities but also amazing nature spaces from around the world. To get useful new ideas once a month join our free newsletter.
A Gift For The New Year
We hope your new year is filled with calm, clarity and good health. Here’s a collection of 12 Forest Wallpapers + reflections walk poster to inspire you to go out for more nature walks. And when you do, don’t forget to share the treasures you find with others.
Healing Forest is a volunteer driven project. Our goal is to bring people and forests closer to each other through creativity and mindfulness. The aim is simple. Helping people heal. Helping forests heal.
The decisions we make, design our life. But seldom are we taught the invaluable skill of designing our life, often stumbling from one decision to another.
Those who learn to observe nature, notice a beautiful balance that exists in all the designs. A harmony that has been crafted to perfection over an ocean of time. But Nature is never at rest. Just like our mind. Constantly changing. Constantly evolving.
Imagine, if we could learn the principles of design from nature. Would it change the way we make decisions for our life? Let’s try an interesting experiment in nature. We will create some unique nature art and introduce you to the rules that guide nature’s design. Also, through short reflective walks based on the Japanese concept of Shinrin Yoku, we understand how the same rules apply to our own life.
We hope this experience lends you new insights for your decision making skills, and helps you design a life in which your inner and outer world are in tune with each other.
Nature’s Design Tips For Your Life
Design is nature’s way of problem solving. In this article we offer you some thought-provoking design challenges to grasp the art of nature’s design through hands-on activity. Each activity is followed by a short walk to deepen your experience as well as your learning.
These walks are based on the Japanese concept of mindful nature walks also known as Forest Bathing. If you haven’t already, do check out this short guide before you begin: What is forest bathing?
The aim of a mindful nature walk is to use our senses to quieten the mind. In the stillness, we gain new insights about human nature by growing our awareness of the nature outside. All activities are done in silence. Each activity is followed by a slow walk, focusing on one of our senses. The senses act as a bridge between the inner and outer.
This activity is part of our 12 uplifting walks that help us learn life’s most useful skills through nature.
Nature’s Design Tip #5: Impermanence
Designing 2 Spirals: For the first activity, the group is divided into pairs. Ask each participant to create a spiral from objects found in nature. So each pair needs to create 2 interlocked spirals. Interlocked spirals enclose each other, but don’t touch each other at any point.
The spiral is a metaphor for the trajectory of our lives. As humans, we try to move in an ever expanding path of growth. However, when life ends, the spiral terminates abruptly. When we observe nature’s design, we see that things serve a purpose even in the after-life. So it starts from nothing and fades back into nothing.
Impermanence can brings a new perspective to our decisions. The ability to make a good decision is also the ability to foresee its impact in the future. Consider the 10/10/10 rule. What will be the impact of your decision 10 minutes from now, 10 months later, and after 10 years. What decisions can we take for our life’s work to have meaning, even after we are no more?
Walk: Take a 10 minute silent walk and reflect on the impermanence in nature’s design. You can walk by focusing on the sounds of nature. Start by focusing on the louder sounds, and gradually mover your attention to the more softer sounds. Every sound is a song of impermanence.
Nature’s Design Tip #4: Interconnectedness
Ant Bridge: Design a bridge for ants to cross. Find any large gap in your surroundings and build a connection so that it can serve as a bridge for ants and other tiny creatures. Only use material that can be found around you, without breaking or damaging the nearby plants. This activity is also meant to be carried out in pairs or small groups. Give bonus points for the longest bridge, and for the strongest bridge.
Bridges are metaphors for interconnectedness. Creating connection helps us get from where we are, to where we want to go. There are many times in life where we get stuck at some problem. Quite often the solution is to connect with someone who can get us out of our predicament. Bridges serve as links of exchange between us and others. Learning their importance uplifts our lives.
The design of nature is filled with invisible interconnections. For example, the roots of trees in a forest are connected to each other and communicate with each other through a network of fungi. It is this interconnectedness that allows many species to co-exist and thrive.
Walk: For this segment of the silent walk, bring your attention to your feet and the ground beneath it. With each step become aware of how deeply we are connected to the earth.
Nature’s Design Tip #3: Interdependence
Pyramid / Inverted Pyramid: Design a pyramid made up of sticks or rocks. To make it more challenging ask the participants to design an inverted pyramid, where the base is smaller than the section on top. The task might appear a bit daunting, but the secret of designing an inverted pyramid is to create proper support. Those who can figure out the trick of supporting the heavier section will be able to overcome the difficulty of imbalance.
With new insights emerging in our theory of evolution, “survival of the fittest” theory has been transformed into “survival of the kindest.” Darwin himself wrote, “Those communities which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best and rear the greatest number of offspring.” What Darwin called “sympathy,” can be termed as empathy, altruism, or compassion. According to biologists from Darwin to E. O. Wilson, compassion is the reason for both the human race’s survival and its ability to continue to thrive as a species.
Walk: Walk with your attention on the breath. Every breath we take, has come from a tree. Every breath we give, will go back to the forest. The design of nature is a delicate balance, in which how we are all interdependent.
Nature’s Design Tip #2: Individuality
Forest House: This is a solo activity. Every participant is asked to design a tiny house for a creature of the forest. The creature could either be an animal or bird that is commonly found in the area or for a magical being like an elf or a gnome. The design of the house should reflect the needs of its occupant. The designers can even give a name to their house.
Once the houses are complete, all participants can do a quick tour of the colony of tiny homes that have sprung up. The makers explain their thought process and the most important aspect for them while designing the house.
The learning from this activity is to appreciate the uniqueness of each design. To observe how for every person, certain values hold greater importance over others. The designs they create and the decisions they make stem from these values. Nature has gifted each one of us with a unique mind. Exploring our inner world to uncover that uniqueness, can lead us to make better choices for the direction of our lives.
Walk: This segment of the walk focuses on our visual sense. Pay attention to what you see around you. Observe the uniqueness within each and every entity in nature. Becoming aware of this grand scale of nature’s design fills us with respect and humility. It makes us appreciate the individuality within others as well as within ourselves.
Nature’s Design Tip #1: Inclusivity
Forest Creature / Forest Village: This is a group activity. Divide the participants into small groups of 5 or less people. Each participant collects 10 fallen leaves and brings it to their group. The aim of each team is to design a small forest creature or a forest village using leaves to represent buildings / body parts. The teams are free to include surrounding stones or trees as elements in their design. Within the team, members can only speak in 1 word conversations – to elaborate what the items represent: for e.g: a school, a hospital, a park etc.
Including others in the design and decision making process can be very challenging. Especially if they have divergent views and personalities. However, nature teaches us that greater diversity yields richer benefits. In nature, biodiversity is critical for survival as it enhances the ability to face challenges and natural calamities. Similarly, bringing different ideas together allows us to create something where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Walk: We close the Natures design walk, through a group sharing activity. All the participants form a circle, facing outwards – towards nature.
Sit in silence for 5-10 minutes. Observe how we are all part of nature, and how the same rules that are found in nature’s design apply to our own minds, bodies, and lives. Let the boundaries between our inner nature and the nature outside slowly dissolve. Experience a sense of oneness.
To end the Nature’s design walk, participants can share any insights or learning from the different activities. Sharing transforms individual learning into a collective experience. On the same lines, do leave your thoughts in the comments to share any insights or observations.
The Larger Design
Some of the greatest challenges we face today are a result of designs that dictate our society’s growth. The world’s 7.6 billion people represent just 0.01% of all living things by weight, but humanity has caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and half of all plants.
The multiple crises we face today are so overwhelming that they can create a certain degree of resignation and despondency. But as humans we have a capacity to redesign our way of thinking. Reconnecting with nature will bring us old wisdom and new ideas for solving our current problems. Above all, it will link like-minded friends, so that we can create a mindset shift on a much larger scale.
Let’s reimagine a new design for our planet… one walk at a time.
REQUEST: Please share this article, so it reaches where it’s needed. To get useful new ideas and inspiration, you can join our monthly newsletter For more activities and many other experiences, try our Nature Calm course.
Healing Forest is a volunteer driven project that aims to bring people and forests closer to each other through creativity and mindfulness. Our aim is simple. Helping people heal. Helping forests heal.
Healing Forest 