Mindfulness Noticing Nature

The Mindfulness "Noticing Nature" Exercise

with inspirations from Karl Nielsen

The main idea is to influence the brain so that the default brain focus shifts to the beauty of nature in the here and now. From our evolutionary development the brain has a default focus on warning from danger for survival reasons. This was very important thousands of years ago. But today it is very unlikely that a hungry lion jumps on us. Today we are on top of the food chain. Today we can allow us to decide about the focus of our brain ourselves.

Exercise: Find a good friend (or a training participant) who shares with you on e.g. WhatsApp daily a photo from nature around you. Send each other every day one photo of something that touched you in nature: the sky, a flower, an animal, water.... anything where you stopped, looked at it with high interest, and where something touched you deep inside you. If you find the time write as well how it touched you inside. What reacts inside you when you look at this. And really enjoy this being touched by nature inside you.

Here a few photos that touched me when I did this exercise. For me it was so amazing how my focus changed and how I see and experience the street where I already live for 40 years now so differently. I see now trees differently in my street and flowers that I never saw before. It gives me so much inner calmness and joy. I highly recommend this little wonderful exercise to everyone!