5 Minutes in Nature: The awe of autumn

Changing seasons can help you appreciate the subtleties of nature. Often, you don’t have to travel far from home to find something wonderful to observe.

This post is part of my 5 Minutes in Nature project, a series of short activities designed to help you relax and feel closer to nature. Numerous studies talk about the healing powers of nature. One published last week by the American Psychological Association finds that actively trying to notice something new during a walk provides emotional health benefits for seniors. The New York Times also wrote about the study, calling the activities “awe walks.”

In the spirit of discovering something new — in finding some awe in your neighborhood — here are a few things to try the next time you can spend five minutes in the autumn air.

5 Minutes in Nature: Appreciating green

This post is part of the 5 Minutes in Nature project — quick activities that are designed to help you relax and more deeply appreciate nature, five minutes at a time.

What color is grass? What color are leaves in the summer? What color is a cactus? They’re all green, right? But our snap response causes us to miss some of the nuance that makes nature interesting.

Introducing 5 Minutes in Nature

For the past several months, I’ve been working on a project called Five Minutes in Nature. My plan was to introduce it to you now — the first full day of spring. But this is not how I planned to do it.

Five Minutes in Nature is about getting more people outdoors, appreciating the natural world five minutes at a time. The original idea was to help people get away from their screens.