Keep a Nature Diary

Quick Win

Jotting down your thoughts and observations while out in nature may help sharpen your focus and boost your mood.

Try This Today

• Decide what you want to include in your diary. Do you want to record every walk or garden visit? Or do you want to focus on one theme, such as the trees, birds or other wildlife? Do you want to visit the same place repeatedly and track how it changes with the seasons? Or do you want to explore new environments?
• Convey your thoughts, emotions and observations in detail. Write what you see, hear, smell, feel and think as you take in the scene around you. Be as descriptive as possible and include any questions you want to explore later.
• Collect and include interesting or beautiful items you find along the way. Objects such as leaves and feathers could be pressed between your journal pages.

Why

AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health, in its 2018 report “Brain Health and Mental Well-Being,” recommends that to improve mental well-being, people spend time outdoors to “regularly appreciate and enjoy nature.” After completing 12 nature walks with journaling over ​three​ months, 38 adults older than 65 with depression experienced fewer depressive symptoms, according to a study reported in 2010 in Holistic Nursing Practice.