Stepping Into Nature

Heather Peters

Beautiful Distractions

By Heather Peters

This year has been difficult for teachers and school systems. We have all been tossed into something new and uncomfortable in many ways. I have the privilege of working in a small, independent school that honors the needs of children, and have had the opportunity to rethink my teaching in interesting ways. Leading a group of first graders is always a wonderful challenge, and this year it takes on new meaning as I work to balance the reality of a global pandemic with the needs for joy and creativity to be a part of daily classroom living. The school where I work and the community I am a part of has always embraced the outdoors as a place to seek peace, wonder, and inspiration. This year gave us more of a push to head outdoors; this year, the six-and seven-year-old students and I are outdoors all day.

Being outdoors has been a gift for our group. We all know children need to be outdoors as much as possible. Increased physical activity, connection with science and mathematics through hands-on exploration, and personal development through discovery of strengths are a few major benefits. I have always intuitively known this throughout my 13 years of teaching, and this year I have the pleasure of living it. Each day I gear up for the weather and head into the woods with my sweet group. We play and learn together and are growing in our understanding of the natural world and our place in it.

We have shared so many moments together this year that have been the kind of experiences we will never forget. Many of them were spontaneous and brought to us through natural observation. These moments have been beautiful distractions. There was a time in the fall when we noticed a monarch caterpillar emerging from its chrysalis. Right there, in front of our eyes, we watched a butterfly emerge through its final transformation. It was breathtaking and wondrous and all of those superlative words we use to describe such an experience. One of the students remarked, “This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life.” I agreed. It was one of those moments we will collectively remember forever.

When we are outside talking about letters and numbers, wondering about how sounds connect to create worlds, we always stop what we are doing when we hear the call of the red-tailed hawk. There are a few that frequent our space and we love to watch them soar and wonder what they have been up to. Where are they going? Are they hunting? Where did they come from? We are also surrounded by other native New England birds — blue jays, chickadees, titmice, cardinals, goldfinches — and stop to observe them.

These beautiful distractions are a welcome opportunity to think about something different, learn about the beauty of the natural world, and learn about what distractions are and how they can expand creativity. The ability to move in and out of distractions is also translating into flexibility within student work. We are coming to see other pieces of our day as beautiful, where we once might have been apprehensive: beautiful mistakes, beautiful accidents, beautiful disagreements. We are learning that the things in our life that were not a part of our original design or plan can become a beautiful part of our lives and we can learn to move in and out of them with confidence. These beautiful distractions are teaching us about how all experiences can be met with purpose, and we can learn from all of them.

This summer I was standing in a storage shed we use for classroom supplies feeling overwhelmed by the work that was necessary to prepare for this upcoming outdoor school year. I heard the familiar call of a red-tailed hawk and turned around, leaning on the doorway to watch the hawk soaring above me. In that moment, I found myself thinking about how beautiful that distraction was, and how honored I felt to be a part of something so important and connected to the natural world. I was wishing for this same experience for all teachers and students and families everywhere.

This year has shown me the many benefits that being outdoors can provide, and I will continue to keep my classroom outside as long as possible. Every child deserves to develop their sense of self and purpose by navigating all the wonders the natural world has to offer. This experience has allowed me the daily reminder that being outside has growth benefits for students and teachers alike and that there is always time to stop and admire the natural world and the beauty that connects us.

Heather Peters is a Head Teacher at Touchstone Community School in Grafton, MA. She currently teaches the 6/7-year-old group. Heather is passionate about progressive education and is always growing in her understanding of what it means to be a teacher. She is a parent of two young people, Ruth and Fern, and her goal is to be the kind of teacher that they would be proud of. You can reach her at heatherp@touchstoneschool.com.

Ideas for Getting Your Kids Into Nature

By Danielle Cohen

Tearing your children away from their screens and into the backyard, let alone the woods, can be difficult, but the slew of benefits that the outdoors provides kids’ minds is ample reason to give it a try. Happily there are lots of ways to make nature as stimulating as the activities kids like to do inside. Here are some ideas:

SET UP TREASURE HUNTS. Make a short, simple list of things for your kids to look for outside — such as “a shiny object,” or “something you can hold liquid in.” The satisfaction of finding the objects turns it into a reinforcing activity, and it will keep them outside in search of the next list item. IDENTIFY THINGS. Get a book with pictures about birds, bugs, leaves, trees, or flowers in your local area, and go outside looking for specific creatures in the book to identify. Matching leaves to pictures and names has a reinforcing treasure hunt kind of appeal. The same goes for bird calls. GIVE THEM THE TOOLS TO DISCOVER. Gifts like a bug box, a magnifying glass, or a shovel will promote ways to explore the outdoors with a fun new tool that feels professional and empowering. GO TO AN OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE. Parks in almost every city have performances for kids, many of which are free. If your child can’t take her eyes off Nickelodeon, take her to a puppet show in the park. For older kids who like movies, take them to outdoor plays and musicals. START A COLLECTION. You can find small parts of nature like rocks or shells almost everywhere, and starting a collection adds appeal, giving a kid motivation to search and therefore spend time outdoors. Just make sure you’re not in a state park; most have rules that don’t let you bring anything home. USE TECHNOLOGY TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. If your kid is hooked on any and all electronic devices, have him bring along a camera or phone and create video or photo journals of various nature trips. He’ll still be near a piece of technology, but he’ll be using it to focus on the world around him. GO FRUIT OR VEGETABLE PICKING. Coming home with a basket of food that they’ve gathered on their own is both rewarding and might make them appreciate their food more, and where it comes from. PLANT A GARDEN. Tracking the progress and seeing the eventual product of a seed your child planted provides a different, deeper sense of achievement than beating a difficult level in a video game or getting a lot of likes on your last Instagram.

KIDS INTO NATURE continued from page 43 TAKE A HIKE. Walking on a trail to a waterfall or breathtaking view also gives kids a sense of accomplishment, rewarding them for their physical efforts during the hike. This goes for bike rides, too. If there’s a swimming hole at the end, they’ll even be able to cool off. Just don’t forget to bring snacks and take short breaks to keep their energy up! MAKE ART PROJECTS. For the kids who would rather sit inside with some arts and crafts, get them to use objects from nature for their art. Picking flowers to press onto paper, using berry juice as paint, or collecting pinecones and rocks to decorate are ways to infuse nature into activities they already enjoy. BUILD SOMETHING. You can also reverse the process and make art with your kids that will support and nurture the natural world — things like bird feeders or flower boxes. Kids will keep coming back to watch an object they created provide for other living things.

Organizations To Help Get Your Kids Outside

The urgency of kids’ lack of outdoor play isn’t lost on nature and wildlife organizations, many of which have started programs to get more kids outside. As part of their effort to get 10 million kids outdoors, the National Wildlife Federation provides lots of ways to find connections to nature near you. Other programs to get kids playing in nature include the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, the US Forest Service’s More Kids in the Woods program, the Sierra Club’s Inspiring Connections Outdoors program, and many more.

All the advantages that nature offers ring true for adults, too, especially for stress relief and mood improvement. Try to get outside with your kids; not only will it show them how important spending time in nature is, but you might find you enjoy it just as much as they do.

Danielle Cohen is a freelance journalist in New York City. Reprinted with permission from ChildMind® Institute, an independent, national nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders. www.childmind.org

The Sky is Falling, the Sky is Falling!

By Maureen St. Germain

What if extraterrestrials show up? What if an earthquake strikes? What if your candidate doesn’t get inaugurated? What will you do when all of heaven breaks loose and everyone around you is losing their minds or their focus or their belief systems?

Let the universe help you with a breakthrough.

You don’t need to practice heroics; it’s not expected of you. Only salmons need to swim upstream. The universe has abundant energy to assist you in taking actions that will support your shifting and changing, but if you are holding on, the universe cannot support you in getting you where you need to go.

Consider that you might lose your job, your income, your lover, or your family connections. What would you do about an unexpected loss? All big corporations have a disaster plan; do you? A disaster plan considers the worst case scenarios, who would be in charge, how decisions would be made, and it provides for options.

It also means you pay attention to your inner guidance, inner voice and inner nudging, since an important part of your disaster plan might be to let go of worrying or a decision to stop struggling. Learning to ground yourself can assist this process. You can do this by connecting to Earth.

In the middle of panic mode, take a moment and breathe. Put your attention on your tailbone. Extend an imaginary rod from your tailbone to the center of Earth. Anchor yourself like a tree. Plant your roots well. See every little worry or frenzy that disturbs you follow this shaft into the ground and dissipate, like a lightning rod grounds a lightning bolt. Release your fear and worries to Mother Earth, and let her clear your body and mind. Earth will send back to you calming support. This technique will become easier and more familiar with practice.

Next, identify at least two positives related to your situation that will allow you to see the silver lining of this issue. Claim these positive thoughts for yourself; they are the foundation of your new experience. Affirm your resolution and how satisfied you are, as you allow the universe to surprise you with its solutions.

Final step, get out of the way. For, imagine you are in a cab leaving LaGuardia Airport in New York City, headed for Manhattan. Will you tell the taxi driver how to get you there? Of course not! The universe knows even more than a New York City taxi driver, and — believe it! — the universe is your new best friend.

Right now, we are all faced with both limitations and choices. We are faced with the confining limits of how to pay our bills, how to move forward, how to create the best new lifestyle for ourselves since the old way most definitely has been left behind.

How will you do this? Announce to yourself and to the universe, “I am learning my lessons through love.” When you find yourself in situations of discomfort or disquiet, remind yourself daily, “I am learning my lessons through love,” and be open to the corrections of those around you who love you and want to protect and advise you.

Life can be fun and easy. We choose to make it so with our words, beliefs and our intentions. We also make it so with our sincere approach to helping others with the corrections we need to give them through love — without vindictiveness — and by doing it in a loving way.

Known as The Practical Mystic, Maureen St. Germain’s passion is supporting individuals in their personal expansion and spiritual awakening. A sought-after speaker, transformation teacher and author, she has taught in 24 countries since 1995, and her books have been translated into seven languages. Visit www.maureenstgermain.com.

Awakening to the Gift of a Flower Garden

By Carolyn McGee

My grandmother had over an acre hillside garden filled with every flower imaginable. It was as if Mother Nature had stepped into my grandmother and come to life. As a child, that hillside was the most magical place on Earth for me. There was a river that ran through the property at the bottom of the hill and I would sit as close to the garden as possible, listening to the magical tingling sounds of the water and feeling happy. I didn’t know then the impact of the water and nature on my soul.

Some of my most powerful childhood memories include when my grandmother would take me on a tour and explain the beauty. I wish that I would’ve paid more attention to her stories about all those flowers. As I became a young woman and set off on my own, I unconsciously re-created the safety and security of my grandmother’s garden. I always had a fish tank in my home where I would allow the water to flow much like the river I loved as a child. I surrounded myself with flowers and plants and was often my happiest transplanting things with dirt under my fingernails.

Along the way, I got lost. During my marriage, gardening became a rule-following

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exercise. It no longer brought me joy to see the flowers all in little rows perfectly measured apart. They mirrored back to me how I was rigidly being held in an energetic space that did not allow me to flourish as my authentic self.

The first thing I did when I separated from my husband and occupied my own home was to create a free-flowing flower garden. I got slips of plants from both of my grandmothers’ gardens and my mother’s garden and created beautiful flow and synergy throughout my yard. I spent many hours, again with my fingers in the dirt, intuitively moving a plant from one spot to the other that I felt would give it the support it needed at that moment. Over the years I sometimes found myself moving the same plant from one side of the yard to the other — allowing it, loving it, and supporting it in whatever way it and I needed in that moment. As my garden flourished and expanded, I healed and returned to my intuitive, free-spirited center. I added water fountains to my yard and home, and thrived.

I grew up in North Carolina until I was seven-years-old and always felt I was more a Southern gal. Eventually when I knew it was time for me to start my transition to move out of the Northeast, I moved with my plants to a beautiful townhouse apartment after I sold my home, as the first stop along my journey back to my roots.

Having my heirloom plants connected me to Earth and my grandmothers. The beauty anchored my energy, and I spent many hours with my hands in the dirt on my patio connecting to Earth energy while listening to the soothing flowing water of my fountains.

When it came time for me to move South the timing did not appear that it would work for me to bring my plants with me so a friend volunteered to keep them at her home over the winter and I would get them in the spring. When the day came for her to help me plant them in pots so they could winter with her I was devastated. It became crystal clear to me how connected I am to the energy of these beautiful plants. Not only do they keep me connected to Mother Earth and provide joy with their blossoming beauty, they nourish me in a way that I did not understand until that moment.

I could not imagine moving without them. So, I put my trust in my angels and guides that everything would be taken care of, that divine timing would support me and my flowers, and it did. Within a couple of weeks, I found the perfect little home in North Carolina and had a closing date. All unfolded beautifully, and my friend and I dug up my plants for the journey south.

It is the cycle of life and support with a deeper level of understanding and connection that sustained me during the move and settling in. Knowing that just standing for a few minutes by my plants would reset my energy, ground me, and connect me deeper to source energy made the challenge of an out-of-state move flow easier.

My plants are safely in my new backyard patiently waiting for spring to set in new roots. They continue to bring me joy even in the dormant period of winter. We await with anticipation the new opportunities for growth and expansion in our new environment. I feel their love and support and am grateful for my connection to nature.

Carolyn McGee specializes in amplifying your intuitive superpower to understand, trust and follow your soul’s path to live a joyful, abundant, and purposeful life. Helping you remember your intuitive connection enhances your ability to receive messages, and understand and trust your guidance 24/7 to take empowered action. www.CarolynMcGee.com

heaters are not open during the pandemic, but T when I step into a place of woods or meadows,

I enter an ever-changing drama, which never ceases to quicken my heart. A hawk swoops over my head, and watches my dog and me as we enter her domain. We are both cast and audience in this theater. Once more I am at home, yet it is a home never the same, and each turn in the path takes me down another corridor to a room transformed.

Nature and Me

By Sarah Fuhro

s always, A I turn into the woods, step into the meadow, where, as always, I hear the hum, of activity, of song. Movement catches my eye, flight, turns my head. They are there, as always, my guides, my compass.

Walk deeper, a branch slaps my face.

As always, I am stunned.

Is it possible, I trespass? ave you ever had a dream where you discover H a whole new floor or hidden room in your house? Each journey into the woods feels this way to me. I step out of my house or my car into a place, which may be familiar, but is never the same. The rules of movement are constant flux: the other residents can never be predicted. The light, the seasonal changes, which unfold day after day, make me gasp with wonder, or sigh with nostalgia for the mushroom or flower, which was there yesterday, but flowed and transformed into another life form.

Fired by mystery, mythology and the lure of the natural world Sarah Fuhro, practitioner of Druidry, wanders the woods, swamps and meadows of the Sudbury Valley. You can read her Moon blog at https://sarahfuhro.wordpress.com.