My First Experiment

Nature Journaling with Lynne Berrett

I am being brave by posting my journal online, and I am surprised at how freeing that is. These are random thoughts while making the bed this morning (thoughts that surprised me).

I am looking out the window and Spring is calling to me, “Come out! Come out!

The cherry blossoms are still snowing on the grass; the lilacs are still blooming in the dooryard, kindly waiting for me to bury my nose in them before they droop and drop the way lilacs do. The rhododendrum is preparing to open her fashion show. All brilliant this year, all gone in a week. Primavera, my ancestors called it: first flowering.

Spring is so brief. Life is so brief.

I have just learned that one of my dearest friends died. She was old, but younger than I. We met in our springtimes, during Vietnam Summer when we studied to learn how peace would be possible. We talked and cooked and marched behind baby strollers to end that war. Through years and years of personal peace and turmoil, we were together even when we were apart. Time did not wither our friendship. And what do distances mean, really, when soul meets soul?

Now she is gone.

Somehow, I am still here, looking out the window at the miracle we call Spring, and I call out to my husband, another miracle, “Let’s go for a walk.”

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After I scribbled this in an old notebook, we walked in the Rockefeller Preserve (about 15 minutes away by car), and I felt a strong need to take some photos with my phone.

Reflecting: I like to walk and we walk almost every day, so in a way I have taken walking for granted and treated it primarily as a “healthy” activity. Focusing like this has connected me to primal feelings of aliveness that nourish my whole self.

Note: This Journal is my personal participation in the Ageless Mind Project’s Journaling Invitational. To make journaling online easier, we have simplified the process. I'm inviting you to try this as an active way to build your own ageless mind. The new instructions can be found by clicking HERE.

Remember that experiments lead to discovery. One discovery I made is that taking photos on my little android phone added an unexpected dimension to my experience. To follow my adventures on my personal Substack visit Designing an Ageless Mind: A Personal Story.

Copyright 2024 By Lynne Berrett All Rights Reserved.

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