Noise- noise, busy-ness, skyscrapers, talking that never ends. I could go on an on about all of the things that consume us, consume our society on a daily basis and prevent us from knowing nature, from seeing nature, and experiencing nature. Knowing nature in its purest forms, noises and all. We need the restorative benefits of nature. It is very difficult to do, but to find a time to spend just you and nature in all its simplicity is restoring in all sorts. 
Last year for an assignment for one of my second year college classes our professor asked us to go spend one hour in nature alone. Skeptical of this assignment, I ventured out into the outskirts of little old Hepburn, Saskatchewan. I couldn’t fathom how I would first of all spend an entire hour in silence, alone outside. What would I do? Would the silence make me feel claustrophobic? and second of all where could I possibly find a place where I wouldn’t be seen by anyone else for an entire hour, no humans or no cars. I drove my car down many gravel roads until I found a clearing a while outside of Hepburn. I sat on the hood of my car and I just sat and listened to what at first sounded like nothing at all- silence as I would have called it. But the longer I sat the more I realized I wasn’t encompassed by silence, but instead a whole new world of noises we in the city, in our noisy lives fail to hear. I heard bugs, grass swaying in the wind, trees rustling, and a clear mind. How refreshing it is when your mind isn’t drown out by the noises of everything that consumes our days.
I tell you this story because I think it is something we all need to do- and not just once but often. I left that hour feeling refreshed, reenergized, more emotionally grounded, and more centred as I continued on with all that I had to do that day and week.
Some of my own ways for getting the most out of solo time in nature include…
1. Leave all technology at home or shut off in your vehicle if you drive somewhere.
2. Bring a journal, a canvas, markers, pencils, paints
There are many psychological benefits to spending alone time in nature we never think of.
This is my challenge to you this week. Drive, walk, bike to somewhere remote. Whether that be outside of the city or town you live in or just a quiet place down by the river or park. Spend an hour without technology, without communication with anyone else. Just sit, and as you do I promise you’ll discover an entirely new world of noise that distresses, relaxes and restores you.
no waste wednesdays 