Nature is all around us

Taking a moment to really look

Phew, it’s been a minute. I’m on the tail-end of my round-the-world research journey for my book on wintertime mindset; ready or not, spring is coming, and my work is season bound. It cannot be extended, nor the clock slowed. I feel like I’m in a perpetual state of 3pm on Friday afternoon: trying to cram in all that I can before I log off for the weekend, compressing writing and observation like zip files and zipping through them, or trying to.

I spent the last few weeks in Japan, exploring the hyper-seasonality of their food, falling in love with 7-11 (the convenience stores there are on another level), and asking myself: would all our challenges with winter be solved if all toilets had heated seats?

In most of Japan, the seasons are idyllic, spread evenly throughout the year, and each one beautiful and savor-worthy in its own right. I traveled to a small rural village in the Tohoku region where the snow was meters high to experience what winter is like in one of Japan’s coldest areas. But even there, you could feel that spring was coming: we harvested radishes grown under the snow on a warm, sunny day while the snow melted all around us.

“The radish grown under the snow is sweeter than the one grown in the sun” -a literal radish fact shared with us, but also a winter proverb?

It’s that in-between season; the Sámi, the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia, refer to it as “spring-winter,” and in Finnish lapland it’s the best time of year for cross-country skiing, when the sun melts the top layer of snow into an icy crust, and you can glide along with minimal effort. In Japan, the cherry blossoms aren’t out yet but their little buds are visible, and the earlier-blooming plum blossoms are putting on a show. Depending on where you live, it could be full spring time (hello, California superbloom), very much still winter, or slush season.

But anywhere you are in the Northern Hemisphere, winter is making her exit - the days are lengthening more visibly now, and the spring equinox is just a few weeks away. It’s a time of transition, a time of change. This weekend in the U.S. is the beginning of Daylight Saving Time. And since Wintry Mix started at the end of Daylight Saving Time, a little over 5 months ago, this is a perfect time for the last newsletter of this winter. For everything, there is a season, and this season is wrapping up.

But I can’t leave you without one last challenge, one that’s meant - like so many of the other challenges we did together over the last several months - to help you notice. I find this one particularly fun to do as the seasons change, when there’s more to notice than we usually realize. This challenge is evidence based, coming from a series of studies run by Holli Anne-Passmore, a psychologist at the University of Edmonton and all-around lovely human who studies how nature affects our wellbeing. Her work finds that merely noticing nature - not seeking it out, or spending more time in it, but just attending to whatever nature you see in your environment on a daily basis - increases positive emotions, helps people feel more connected to each other and the world, and makes people more satisfied with their lives.

And so your challenge for the next two weeks is to notice the nature in your environment and how it makes you feel.

And never fear - the seasons will pass, the days will lengthen but then they will shorten, and winter will come again. And I’ll return to your inbox, with more Wintry Mix, just when you need it. And remember, you can always reach me directly at kari@karileibowitz.com. Until then, HAGS (have a great summer), and thanks for reading.

Notice Nature

Step 1: Notice the nature in your every day life. For this challenge, you don’t need to seek out nature specifically: you don’t need to drive to a park or take a hike. Just ask yourself, on a daily basis, what nature you notice as part of your every day life.

Step 2: When you do notice nature, notice how you feel. What does seeing this nature make you think? What emotions are coming up in response to that nature? You don’t have to analyze them or do anything with them, but just notice what they are.

Bonus reflection: Think back over this past winter - do any of the challenges from this newsletter stand out to you? Did you experience this winter any differently? What might you bring forward into other seasons of the year and your life?

Notes from the Slush Pile:

• If you still live somewhere cold, it might not be too late for you to start freeze-drying your laundry.

• I never get tired of complaining about how people complain about winter. A great article on that topic in The Atlantic recently.

• Thanks to Becky for a topical submission relevant to Japan, where the snow meets the sea:

  

That’s all for now, folks! See you in the fall. You can always find more about me on my website, karileibowitz.com.