Simon Robson- Blog 12- Outside Reading

The Tips to Spiritual Connection

 Simon Robson

12/13/2020

Today I was looking at an article titled “6 Ways to Deepen Your Spiritual Relationship with Nature” as this is something that I am really trying to do especially as our Christmas break rolls around and I will have more time without homework. This is something that this class has led me to want to do more and more throughout the semester but it seems like this just keeps getting more difficult as the semester continues and the pandemic continues to lock people up inside. As a result I am trying to figure out more ways to increase my time in nature and to enhance my experiences while I am outdoors. 

The first tip that this article gave was “Make a Commitment to Connect with Nature” as it talks about the way that we often get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. This is definitely something that I have fallen victim to as I put things such as homework, friends, and relaxation above my need to get out among nature. The next tip was “Create time alone in nature” this is also important to remember because often when I do find myself outdoors among the trees and animals I am hiking or camping or something with my friends and I continue to create distractions for myself and don’t allow myself to be entirely immersed. 

Next it said “find a good place”. They specified by saying it does not need to be over-thought or perfect but it is important to find an area or feature that you are drawn to. This was interesting to me because I really like to find things that are interesting to me out among nature and study them more and think about it. It makes me also refer it back to my life and the natural way of life and the world. The next tip said to sit down. I was somewhat skeptical about this as it kind of goes against a lot of what we have learned in our class so far. It made me think back to the conversations of “flow” and the spiritual connections that happen there. I think however this article is referring to allowing yourself less distractions and although flow is something that can occur it takes a while to find this flow so the article may have found it easier to just slow down and focus solely on your connection. 

The next step said to “relax and observe”. It described the way that one should just focus on the little things and find what they are drawn to. It also focuses on the way that one should try to utilize all your senses which is something that Dr. Redick taught us during the class as well. It is important to see, hear, smell, and even touch things as you can learn more and understand it more as you do this. The last step they give is to communicate. It is to purposefully think about the way these things are and try to understand their existence. To work on this spiritual connection and the way that we interact with these other living beings around us. 

Overall, I think that this article was a little bit redundant and not quite as helpful but it had the right ideas in mind. It is still important to me however to work on getting outdoors more and work on connecting with nature more in order to work on my spirituality.


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