The Power of Observation…a Personal Story
Photo sourced from hikespeak.com
It was a warm day, and the sun had cast shrub silhouettes onto the ground. The setting sun gave an orange tinge to the sky. Two gals, Z and T, were walking on dry and rocky soils of the chaparral. Both gals headed up a steep hill, looking down at the nearby sycamore trees. With her pair of worn-out sneakers, Z had trouble gripping the earth beneath, and her feet slipped as her hands hinged forward to stop her from falling. Z was not an enthusiastic hiker - only taking part because her therapist assigned her homework: to spend time in nature. “Easy enough,” she thought.
Z stopped in her tracks. Looking around at what she perceived as a giant wall of green. She took out her phone and began to fiddle with it. Within the verdant uniformity, drawn-out twitters and chirps could be heard from a toyon tree. T watched as the songbird hopped from one branch to the next. The two gals continued to walk, and T was struck with an idea.
Since Z was not amused by her surroundings, T had one goal: to break Z’s perception of the green wall and have her embrace at least one plant. Besides, chaparral has much more to offer if one develops the ability to use all senses. T began by scanning the area; what plants were around? Lemonade berry, yarrow, black sage, the list continues.
Coastal Sage Brush. Photo courtesy of, copyright of Jim Bishop, a Landscape Designer, from San Diego, California.
T stopped when she noticed coastal sagebrush. T asked Z if she could rub her hands with the soft leaves between them and lift them towards her face to catch a scent. A charming look came about, and at that moment, a shift in Z’s demeanor appeared. Suddenly, everything stood out. Z’s mind went from boredom to curiosity. She began to notice all the different colors the chaparral had to offer. The pop of purple captured her eye, and she soon desired to know the properties of datura. Due to personal reverence, they found out about its historic past. This understanding created a long-awaited intimate interaction with living things in nature. Observing and questioning what is around us begins to stretch a person’s sensory perception. A familiarity, a sense of kinship, restores our bond with nature. Subsequently, this fosters healing because nature itself is so ultimately self-healing.