Meditation Monday - Creating A Curiosity Kit

Notice, Wonder and become creative. Learn the art of nature journalling.

Some of you may remember that at the beginning of the year I asked God for a couple of words that could guide me through the year. I felt God very clearly said “lie fallow” in other words don’t plant anything new but take a season to rest, rebuild and refresh. I talked in that post about seeding the soil with cover crops that provide a much needed boost of nutrients.

My cover crops for this season are awe and wonder and fun. It seemed to me that this time of lying fallow is a time for fun and enjoyment, a time to re-explore the wonder of God’s world. So I asked myself “What fun things should I focus on during this fallow season?” “Nature journalling” was the immediate response deep within my soul. This is something I have wanted to try for years but never seemed to have the time or felt the freedom to experiment with artistic skills that would stretch me beyond my comfort zone. Now is the time though, I am sure of it.

I invested in a few books - most from the second hand book stores and started reading:

The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journalling by John Muir Laws was the first I acquired, a must read book that I intended to buy when my interest in nature journalling surfaced. I also downloaded a few of his free resources, listened to one of his youTube videos and I was hooked.

For our journalling adventures in nature Laws suggests three steps:

I notice - observe what you are looking at

I wonder - ask questions about the object. Laws suggests we need to develop a “Growth Mindset”. Learning is challenging but it grows your brain and stretches your understanding. “I cannot do this … yet.” “What should I try next?” “I wonder what I could learn from this?” are good questions to ask ourselves.

This reminds me of. - the object may jar your memory reminding you of past experiences, knowledge or similar objects.

The whole process is a very contemplative one, that I found to be quite a spiritual practice too. It slows us down, focuses our attention and draws us into the mystery of the world around us encouraging us to ask questions that we may never know the answers to. And answers often give rise to more questions and invite us into deeper levels of mystery and intimacy.

A Curiosity Kit

One thing that really intrigued me and grabbed my attention was Laws suggestion that we create a Curiosity Kit. Wow I thought - it’s not just nature journalists that need this. All of us need curiosity kits.

We are made to be curious and even before we have words to speak, our curiosity explodes in the exploration of our world. We look, we touch, we taste, we listen and we smell. Starting with our mother’s face and our own toes and fingers, we expand our field of exploration until we embrace, with enthusiasm, all that fills our surroundings . Yet as we grow, the world becomes familiar and by the time we reach adulthood, most of us have lost that burning desire to explore the intricacies of the world around us. We need to reignite our curiosity. Creating a curiosity kit, whether it be for nature journalling or just for the exploration of life, is one way to do that.

John Muir Laws curiosity kit is quite complex. He suggests we acquire a pair of binoculars, a hand lens, magnifying box, small pocketknife, goniometer, small ruler, retractable inch and metric measuring tape, watch, compass, glue stick and pad of transparent tape as well as a journal. As you can imagine this equips you for some intense nature observation. Others prune it down to a blank page journal, a small knife and a selection of pens and pencils.

A Spiritual Curiosity Kit?

What would a spiritual curiosity kit look like I wondered? Something like the spiritual tool kit I travel with I suspect. Journal and a selection of pens and pencils yes. Maybe paints for the artist but what else? Maybe a Bible, though to be honest, I am at my most curious when I am exploring nature rather than when I am reading the Bible. A few of my favourite prayer/poems would help, however I think there needs to be more to it than that. A recent quote by Dr Martin Shaw “We make things holy by the attention we give them” gave me some clues. What helps me give attention to God’s world and the people in it? A magnifying glass and a penknife might be helpful and also those binoculars that I just bought. However more than anything, a spiritual curiosity kit requires a different pace of life. It requires a commitment to pay attention to the details of the world around me, to look with focused attention to those I meet and recognize the holiness hidden within everything I see and taste and smell and touch and listen to

Nature journalling opens me up a whole new world of intimacy with God, and I haven’t even drawn my first picture yet. It encourages an attitude of mind that really embraces the holiness of everything around me and stirs that curiosity that is beginning to blossom anew in my soul.

This week I signed up for a class in watercolor painting. Something I never thought I would do. My creativity lies in gardening and writing after all but God is prompting me to explore new possibilities and in this fallow time to enrich the soil of my inner being by applying that which will send down deeper roots and make the whole of my life healthier. I am excited about the journey that I am on.

Here are a few more of the books I have expanded my library with that I highly recommend.

Sharing Nature - Nature Awareness Activities for All Ages is an excellent book with some great experiential exercises for young and old alike. I am looking forward to trying some of them with our community and my friends.

Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth - another excellent book of nature journalling whose images are a little simpler than Laws’.

I also pulled out a few books from my shelves, ones that inspired me to consider nature journalling:

The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden is a classic that I think should be on the shelves of any curious garden person.

In And Out of the Garden by Sara Midda another garden journal that is quite inspiring

A Blessing of Toads by Sharon Lovejoy. a delightful book of entertaining garden stories and illustrations that I have enjoyed rereading this week.

Awestruck: How Embracing Wonder Can Make You Happier, Healthier and More Connected, Jonah Paquette, Psyd. This book is written from a scientific perspective as a guide to help us tap into the powerful, life-changing benefits of awe, a topic that I continue to explore and discover new depths to.

Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age: Katherine May explores the restorative properties of the natural world that reawaken our innate sense of wonder and awe.

I think that reawakening wonder and awe is at the heart of our appreciation of nature and our ability to enter into the joy of nature journalling. I hope that you will join me on the journey and be enriched by new depths of awe and appreciation of the incredible mystery that is our God who is the architect of the cosmos.

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