"It is time for a new mental state to cultivate in our 21st-century lives, one oriented outward toward the world, that recognizes our fundamental interdependence, and that reminds us of the good humans can do. It is readily found in cultivating experiences of everyday awe."​
- Dacher Keltner, Psychologist​

Everyday awe can help us realise our deep interrelatedness with all life around us.  Many of us are experiencing loneliness – a separation not just from other humans as societal divisions seem to deepen, but also species loneliness – a separation from the more-than-human beings around us.

Over the last few centuries – really just an eyeblink in human existence – we* have cut ourselves off from other living beings on the earth through human exceptionalism; the idea that humans are the pinnacle of evolution, and that interdependence with other species and the earth doesn't apply to us (we can see the impact of that way of seeing ourselves in the world in our rapidly changing climate).  

During lockdown when our human voices and gatherings were quiet and for a while 73% Britons reported hearing louder birdsong (Natural History Museum). We suddenly realised the deep joy and wonder all the birdsong and bird life gifted us. Birdsong is a great example. It has been intertwined with our culture and music for since the dawn of humans and yet a study in 2017 showed that less than half the adult population in the UK could name a house sparrow (RSBP, Twirlywoos). And now, wild bird populations are in decline (UK Government). I believe there is a strong link between these two studies – we care about what we know and love.

"“[Tackling climate change] needs a fundamental change in our emotional relationship with nature. Neither romanticising it or idealising it nor seeing it simply in human terms but seeing it as something of value in itself. Knowing that it is constantly changing.” - Chetan Bhatt, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics, from BBC’s “Nature and Us: A History Through Art”

Everyday awe through nature journalling is a way back into a relationship with life around us and helps us to see our interconnectedness. Nature journalling is simply recording your interactions and reflections with nature on paper and can include measurements, drawings, words, however you prefer to express yourself. Nature journaling is a way of paying loving attention to the world around you – it starts with noticing, then curiosity, then a lifelong, interconnected relationship.

“Love is 'the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth.' Love is as love does. Love is an act of will–namely, both an intention and an action.” – Bell Hooks, All About Love

Bell Hooks describes love as a way to spiritually nurturing both yourself or another. It clearly means that it's a way of helping people – or non-human beings – to thrive as they truly are, rather than exploiting or squashing or crushing them.

Imagine we are sitting in a beautiful meadow with our nature journals. As we spend tender time looking at the intricacies of a wildflower – perhaps we notice a little chunk of a petal has been taken off here or the leaf curls in a certain direction there – we start to get to know that little bloom intimately. And just as friendships blossom, once we start paying attention, our curiosity is awakened and we begin to ask questions: How did that little chunk of petal get taken away? Was it an insect? Or a bird munching the flower when it was just a bud? Suddenly, the world is opened up and our wonder and awe and curiosity for life on Earth begins to spill out.

And once we start getting curious and wanting to know more about the wildflower, just like with friendships we can begin to become entangled, enriched by each other's experiences. That wildflower will enter into your consciousness in a much deeper way. You'll notice it everywhere. It will have certain memories attached to it.

Dacher Keltner has shown in his research on the emotion of awe that the feeling makes us more altruistic. As we show our wildflower loving attention and begin to awaken our curiosity and awe through its aliveness, this will lead us to altruistic, loving action. Maybe we'll plant a derelict area with wildflower seeds, maybe we'll let our lawns grow, maybe we’ll create a community garden. The reciprocity and interdependence ignited by the love and awe integral to nature journaling becomes the way you live your life.

In my opinion, that is how we can start to reverse the isolation and human exceptionalism that has done so much damage both to humans and to the more than human world.

Nature journalling can be perceived as a ‘pretty’, ‘cute’ thing to do, and yet for me it is far more powerful - at its core it is a way of awakening the everyday awe, wonder and kindness our world, and we, desperately needs.

“As we heal the earth, the earth heals us” – Robin Wall Kimmerer, mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation

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*When I refer to ‘we’ I mean Eurocentric societies.