"Unlikely Moments of Connection: How Nature Can Impact Us Even While Driving"

Some of the biggest benefits of being more connected with nature, strike me at the most unlikely times...

Like when i am driving. Learning to notice and name the plants and fungi we see, and how they are interacting with their surroundings, helps us to be in synch, and understand our own place in that system too... Especially for those of us with neurodivergent brains.

Today while driving and overwhelmed, i noticed the pale green of the weeping willow buds bursting - the springiest of spring greens... And I identified a cedar tree in somebody's front garden, and knew that there could, possibly be clusters of cedar cup fungi beneath it, gaping open like baby bird mouths... I saw blossom in the hedgerows, and noted that instead of cherry plum (or chum, as we have taken to calling it, first blossom after a long, few flowered winter) - it was blackthorn now dominating... Wafting intensely almond scented, and reminding us of further shifts out of winter...

The seasons can affect our mood and mental health so profoundly, that having signs that the hardest one is ending - even when it is cold, and muddy, and overcast... Can be a life saver. But it is only when we really start to pay attention to nature, to learn about it, that we notice and can interpret those signs.

Journeys like todays remind me why i teach. There is nothing more euphoric than knowing how to read your surroundings, and then in them reading hope.

Brace yourselves. Spring is here!