There’s a technique for dealing with anxiety that involves observation. It goes by many different names, but the one I know by is called the Rule of 3. I’ve found it to be excellent, not only for anxiety, but also for becoming better at experiencing nature.
While I’ve already got an advantage when it comes to experiencing nature, because of constant exposure, the other thing this practice is helping me with is expressing my experiences. Mostly I mean it’s helping me with mental self-talk, but I can see already that it will help me when it comes to writing or painting, too.
To be better at expressing nuanced details, you first need to observe or experience the nuances. I didn’t even realize I had only been skimming the surface of what is actually there.
I’ll bet this is true for a lot of us.
The Rule of 3
This morning a bald eagle lifted off from the roadside as I approached the spot where it had been eating carrion. If I had been consciously practicing the Rule of 3 at that moment, this experience would have first been filed under ‘things I see’. But it could also fit under ‘things I feel’. Because the sight of it caused a feeling in me. Something deep, and knowing. A message. Winter may come in earnest and early this year.
To practice the Rule of 3, whether you want to fall asleep easier at night or become better at experiencing nature, just observe 3 things with 3 senses, one at a time.
3 Things You See
At first you’ll likely take the first three things you see. That’s a start. Note them, and then move to the next sense.
3 Things You Feel
These can be things you feel physically, or things you feel emotionally. For anxiety, or to go to sleep, it works best for me to focus on things I feel with my body. You’ll likely take the first three obvious things here, too. I’ll provide examples of my own observations farther down in this post.
3 Things You Hear
Again, you’ll probably tick off the first three things you hear.
Repeat these steps if you’re having trouble going to sleep or if your runaway mind is threatening to overwhelm your state of mind.
Take Your Observations Deeper
Here’s where this simple exercise becomes useful for learning to observe nuances, which in turn make experiencing nature exciting and rich with opportunities to do so.
After you’ve gone through the first round of observations of things you see, feel, and hear, do it again.
But this time, sense deeper, farther, and more faintly. Practice reaching out farther with each round of observations.
How I Experience Nature After Practicing the Rule of 3
Here’s an example of how this practice has helped me in my ability to observe the nuances that might escape me otherwise. This is not the way I do it when I’m trying to sleep, though. I focus on on physical senses for that. These are for learning to notice things in greater detail.
When I am going through the things I see, first I notice the main object I see. A tree, for example. Then I notice the way the limbs are shaped, or how far they extend outwards. Is it old, or young? How young or old, in context of my definition of such things?
A rock is old in a different way than a tree could be, for example. Are the leaves simple, or compound, alternate or opposite? Are they quaking with the slight breeze, or stiffly resisting? What about the colors – can you see the touch of death on them yet, when fall is around the corner and the leaf is resigning to what it must know will be the end of this period of life?
How odd it is that we humans find such beauty in the process of a leaf’s death, as it changes colors from vibrant green to yellow, gold, red and orange before it finally releases its grip entirely and drops to the ground. Why are these feelings not extended to ourselves as we pass through the latest stages of our lives? I want to feel that way about my own aging self, and others.
And that’s just in the things I see when I look at a tree.
Now I’ll give an example of things to hear. In this scenario, I’m sitting on the ground in the woods, probably after getting down close and personal to take a photo of something small among the leaf litter.
If I close my eyes and listen, I’ll hear the birds nearby first. I focus on that for a moment, then move out farther. I can hear the creek trickling if there’s a little water running through its channel.
And then, if I’m very quiet, I can hear the faint rustle of something moving around beneath the leaves. With a bit more focus, I detect the direction and approximate distance from where I am sitting. Finally, curiosity will get the best of me, and I have to go see what it is.
If I haven’t frightened it into silence and stillness in my efforts, I might find the beetle or centipede crawling around on the moist earth beneath the humus and dead leaves.
Now for the things I feel.
At first, it might just be how the breeze tickles the hairs on my arms as it passes over them. If I’m walking or jogging on the driveway, it might be the stability or instability of the rocks beneath my feet. Since I’m out of practice with that, though, it might be the pounding of my heart inside my chest.
There is a favorite thing I like to observe when practicing the sense of things I feel, though. There are places on our property where the air temperature changes. When I am walking down the driveway, if it’s winter and cold out, I find the warm spot on the last hill as I approach the house. It’s in the air, and it can’t be seen, only felt. The difference is significant between the spot and not the spot.
Not Just for Experiencing Nature, but For Falling Asleep
When I need help falling asleep easier, I’m in the bed, of course. Feel 3 PHYSICAL things. I notice how the top of my right foot is touching the mattress beneath it. My left hand may be under my pillow, and my right thumb is resting lightly on my left palm. My pillow is stuffed with buckwheat hulls, and these often serve to be both things I hear and things I feel.
Hear 3 things. The air conditioner is always the first sound I hear. Sometimes I can hear coyotes yipping in the holler next to the house. And then of course, there’s the sound of breathing or moving – either my own or Rob’s. The house often creaks or the cat makes noises sometimes, too.
The most difficult on is things I see. Really, this one ought to be the first sense done if falling asleep is the goal, so you don’t have to open your eyes after you’ve gotten all relaxed. We’ve tried to cover every possible light source in the room, because I hate them seeping under my eyelids at night, lol. But the covers are inadequate, so there’s always some light to see somewhere. Seeing nothing at all but blackness counts, too, though. And the dim outlines of the doorway or window work.
Summary
The purpose of the Rule of 3 is to help bring you out of your mind and into your body. If you use it to get better at observing from that perspective, it becomes possible to gain a much deeper way of experiencing nature. You’ll notice it in places you might otherwise not, and notice far more than you ordinarily might.
And if you are a writer, artist, or philosopher, these observations will serve you well as you pursue those vocations. Perhaps it helps a person become better at any pursuit at all. Try it, and let me know what you find!
More in This Series about What Constitutes Nature
I’ll add to this list as the articles are written and posted:
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Author/Artist Info
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I make Paleo Paints from the lightfast pigments foraged from Madison county, Arkansas, creating under the pseudonym Madison Woods. Most of the colors I use comes from rocks gathered from our own creeks here at Wild Ozark. I outsource titanium for white, lapis for blue, and grow garden thyme for yellow.
My inspiration is nature – the beauty, and the inherent cycle of life and death, destruction and regeneration. My work is a partnership with the land. Immersing in her color, absorbing inspiration, taking communion. A painting begins with a foray to collect rocks, soot and bone. Each pigment, alone a portrayal of beauty, combined in a painting, becomes a whole reflection of the very soul of the Ozarks.
My Portfolio is HERE
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I’m also a REALTOR® with Montgomery Whiteley Realty, under my real name Roxann Riedel. If you’re thinking of moving to the Ozarks of Arkansas and would like me to be your Buyer’s Representative, email, text, or call me at (479) 409-3429! And if you’re moving away from or selling property in Madison, Newton, or Carroll county, I’m happy to be your Listing Agent.