Early on Sunday morning, I led a mindfulness walk at Bluff Lake Nature Center. It was part of a whole weekend of activities at Bluff Lake in celebration of Summer Solstice.
If you live in Denver and not been to Bluff Lake, it is a beautiful quiet space in the middle of lots of human activity. From the top of the Bluff you can see the snow covered Rocky Mountains in the distance. But closer by is a view of a shopping area, traffic, and industry. The nature center is tucked away, down below the Bluff. As soon as you begin your descent into the green space of the nature center, you enter another world of prairie dogs, rabbits, water birds, and mule deer. And at this time of year, a sea of green.
On part of our Sunday mindfulness walk, we focused on color and light. When we take a moment to tune in, what becomes immediately apparent is the dramatic range of hues that one color can have. Most of Bluff Lake is green, but the shades and variations of green even on the same plant are different when we stop to pay attention. And when we add in the effects of light, the difference between greens in sunlight and greens in shade are striking. Add the movement that comes with a breeze and it’s a shifting kaleidoscope of shapes and patterns.
Like most mindfulness practice, this activity has an easy entry point. We simply focus on color and what we are seeing. We let go of labels (that’s green, that’s red) and come back to what’s actually in front of our eyes. A walking practice, as we focus on colors, answers some of our brains need for activity. When our mind does wander away (which it will), we just gently bring it back to what we are seeing. We can allow ourselves to drink in the colors through our eyes.
We can make this a regular part of our mindfulness practice, not just in gardens and nature centers, but wherever we are. Paying attention to the colors and hues in our gardens, in our world, and in our lives deepens our moment to moment experience. It opens the door to connection to the present moment – the only one we have.
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