Published by: Digital Schools

Nature Gazing – Part 1

I lay motionless, gazing out the window at the outlines of trees I have known my whole life.

The silhouette of the old shaggy pine tree, a huge weeping giant that shadows the edge of the neighbours backyard,  dissolves into black, and night has come.

I can’t believe I am here, is what I think and I roll over in a sort of dream state. I feel totally cocooned in a room that has been mine since the age of 7. It is not the little girls room it once was; exploded with too many hair ribbons and scrunchies. It has been “adulted” by my mother, simplified, and there is nothing pink in sight. But it still is my space, and the huge window that overlooks both ours and the neighbour’s backyards, still frames, almost exactly the same picture for the past 34 years.

Darkness here, is a real thing.

Only one streetlight interferes with the otherworldly dimension of stars and planets that are splattered diamond dust in the night sky.

You have a complete view of the milky way on the balcony, and stars beam superbly bright, nothing like the city.

The sound of the night is so pristine that it would be rude to make noise and disturb it with TV and loud conversations, so I sit in my room, with a dull sidelight on next to my bed, and listen.

There is a symphony of insects creating all sorts of rhythms – some hum, others click and strum, while a parade of wildlife starts their show that lasts until the night’s end.

At 1am a Koala makes an introduction to the valley. Grunting and rumbling its way through the grasses of the paddock out back, it takes residence over night in mums big gum tree.

By the morning, he is gone, and I later find him in another gum tree where his mates are, one leg hung up over a small branch, he looks hot and satisfied.

The next day it would rain – my mother would get sick. I would become her nurse and manage the family of green tree frogs breeding in the swimming pool.

Two weeks alone in my mother’s home and the entire run of the kitchen created an experience never once shared with her or the house. 

I didn’t get sick with COVID-19, and I wondered if luck, immunity, or my deep focus on nature, my obsessive ‘Nature Gazing’ buffered me?.

There is a lot to be learned on the benefits to our health and mental wellbeing that only nature can provide – and why some of us gravitate to the wild, much more than the average joe.
Next week – we lift the lid on ‘Biophilia’.

Guest Contributor: Emily Rack
Business Name: Horatio’s Jar
Publisher: Digital Schools

Emily Rack is a  freelance creative writer and researcher, visual content creator and designer. She is the head of the content production, publication and editing for Upschool+ Guest Contributors. She designs and produces her own graphics and illustrations and is a seasoned photographer and digital content creator.

 Emily is schooled in traditional yoga, ancient cultural dance from the east, and mindfulness practices from the ancient and new world. She has dedicated her life to researching and understanding matters of the mind, body and the human experience and cultivating ways to educate and communicate how to live well here on earth.

Communicating the urgent need for the human community to pay attention to the decline of native and endangered species is the primary focus of her recent content. Her research and dialogue also include how to self regulate and manage one’s emotions in times of trauma and stress. Gratitude, forgiveness, compassion and awareness are the keystones to all that she does.

Namaste.

  

——-

PUBLISHER’S DISCLAIMER: The publisher of this blog post (Digital Schools PTY LTD) works in partnership with the school as a 3rd party provider to help build and maintain the school website. Digital Schools sources a range of experts who provide products and/or services to educational institutions and we work with them to produce and publish topical information in the form of blog posts that we think  may be relevant, interesting or topical to families within the community. The views, opinions and content listed in this blog post are that of the guest contributor and/or publisher (Digital Schools). It should be noted that whilst the publisher and guest contributors are acting with the best intentions and in the best interests of the school and their community to provide helpful or interesting information, sometimes the content may not necessarily reflect the views of the school. 

The information in this blog post is not meant to be used, nor should it be used, to diagnose or treat any medical condition. For diagnosis or treatment of any medical problem, consult your own physician.  The school and the publisher of this blog post  are not responsible for any person reading or following the information in this article who may experience adverse effects.

Any references to external websites or sources are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement by the school or publisher in any way and the publisher and/or school cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information listed.

If you have feedback on any content on this platform, you can submit it to the publisher using the feedback link provided at the bottom of this page.