1st June, 4pm - 5pm Pacific time; 2nd June, 9am - 10am, Brisbane, Australia
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Melinda Nakagawa - Describing the Indescribable

There are moments in life when we understand how small we are in the grand scale of the universe. We might experience this when looking at the vastness of the night sky, an expansive landscape, or a dramatic sunset.

Can you tap into this feeling close to home? How could you portray it in your nature journal? Try using a combination of words and pictures to explore this sense of scale for our place in the universe.

The experience of awe is one that every nature journaler knows well. Awe is a feeling of deep reverence, admiration and wonder in the presence of something that elevates our experience beyond the ordinary.

Author Dacher Keltner explores this experience in his book Awe: The Transformative Power of Everyday Wonder. Keltner believes this is an experience that can be cultivated by paying attention to wonder in our everyday lives.

In your nature journal, reflect on the times and places that you experience awe in your own life. Are the triggers for awe grand and magnificent or tiny and close to home? Can you cultivate the experience of awe by practicing opportunities to notice it around you more often?

Many people have a strong sense of connection with the landscapes they had around them during their early years. For example, this could be a dry sclerophyll forest, a desert, an open prairie, or a coastal environment. Exploring this connection with the landscapes of our formative years can be a deeply rewarding experience, and help to grow our connection to place.

What types of nature were you close to in your childhood? What do you feel when you are in this environment? How does this place give you a sense of ‘home’? Write about your experience of your favourite kind of environment in your nature journal and see what these reflections can teach you.

Think about something unseen in nature, such as gravity, time passing, plant communication, or an animal’s inner world.

How could you express this invisible concept in your journal? How could you learn more? How can nature journaling help you understand these unseen processes and their relationship to your own experience in the world?