Focus Attention- A Powerful Second Step to Nature Awareness
By Joseph Cornell
The Human Mind Is a Wandering Mind
The human mind is a wandering mind. Years ago I demonstrated this truth to a group of twenty-five educators in Canberra, Australia. I asked each one to focus on a beautiful tree as long as possible, and to raise a hand when his attention wandered from the tree to other thoughts.
After six seconds every hand was raised. The educators were astonished to see how restless their minds were.
Psychologists have reported that people generate about three hundred self-talk thoughts a minute. In 2010, two Harvard researchers, Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert, discovered that 47 percent of the time adults think about something other than what they’re doing.
To Be Aware of Nature, One Has to Be Attentive to Nature
To be aware of nature, one has to be attentive to nature. To observe how essential focused attention is, try the following experiment:
-Go to a wild place where the scenery is especially captivating. Gaze around you and enjoy everything you see and hear. Notice that, when you’re deeply attentive, everything becomes vibrantly alive.
-Then observe that when your thoughts become distracted, the world of nature disappears—noting when you’re fully present and when you’re not.
-Imagine the power of sustained, engaged awareness. It is only by focusing our attention completely that we meet nature face to face, and truly know her.
Stage Two: Crow Games
The game in this stage give people a fun challenge that requires focused concentration for them to play effectively. As players become fully engaged in the task, they become more observant, calm, and receptive.
Stage Two activities create a perfect bridge from the active, playful games to the reflective nature activities to be experienced later in Flow Learning.
The symbol for Stage Two games is the CROW because this bird is an extremely alert observer. You can create your own crow games by devising clever ways for people to concentrate on one of their own senses.
Children and adults are unusually attentive as they walk a Camouflage Trail. One educator told me that she once forgot to mark the end of a Camouflage Trail, and her students continued walking and intently observing for an additional hundred yards before she realized what had happened and tracked them down!
(Camouflage Trail could be found on page 108 of my book Sharing Nature.)
To play this game, give players a pencil and a piece of paper with an X in the center, to represent the player’s location on the Sound Map. When a player hears a natural sound, he marks it on the map, carefully noting the sound’s direction and distance.
Sitting quietly, listening to the soothing voices of the nearby trees, birds, and bubbling brook, calm us and deepen our appreciation for the life around us.
The Focus Attention phase needn’t last long; sometimes five to fifteen minutes is enough.
Flow Learning Is Student-Centered
While leading a group, it is beneficial to ask yourself the following questions:
Traditional education has focused primarily on imparting information; at least as important to consider are the energy and interest level of the students. The more students are alert, engaged, and interested, the more easily they’ll both learn the information and experience a positive affinity for the subject.
The first two stages of Flow Learning allow you to work creatively with the mood of your group. If your group is tired, you can energize them with an active (Stage One) otter game; if it is too boisterous, you can quiet them with a calming crow activity.
Summary--Stage Two: FOCUS ATTENTION
Quality: Receptivity
The article above was excerpted from Joseph Cornell’s book Sharing Nature: Nature Awareness Activities for All Ages.
To purchase the book, click here: https://www.crystalclarity.com/product.php?code=BSNA
By Joseph Cornell
The Human Mind Is a Wandering Mind
The human mind is a wandering mind. Years ago I demonstrated this truth to a group of twenty-five educators in Canberra, Australia. I asked each one to focus on a beautiful tree as long as possible, and to raise a hand when his attention wandered from the tree to other thoughts.
After six seconds every hand was raised. The educators were astonished to see how restless their minds were.
Psychologists have reported that people generate about three hundred self-talk thoughts a minute. In 2010, two Harvard researchers, Matthew A. Killingsworth and Daniel T. Gilbert, discovered that 47 percent of the time adults think about something other than what they’re doing.
To Be Aware of Nature, One Has to Be Attentive to Nature
To be aware of nature, one has to be attentive to nature. To observe how essential focused attention is, try the following experiment:
-Go to a wild place where the scenery is especially captivating. Gaze around you and enjoy everything you see and hear. Notice that, when you’re deeply attentive, everything becomes vibrantly alive.
-Then observe that when your thoughts become distracted, the world of nature disappears—noting when you’re fully present and when you’re not.
-Imagine the power of sustained, engaged awareness. It is only by focusing our attention completely that we meet nature face to face, and truly know her.
Stage Two: Crow Games
The game in this stage give people a fun challenge that requires focused concentration for them to play effectively. As players become fully engaged in the task, they become more observant, calm, and receptive.
Stage Two activities create a perfect bridge from the active, playful games to the reflective nature activities to be experienced later in Flow Learning.
The symbol for Stage Two games is the CROW because this bird is an extremely alert observer. You can create your own crow games by devising clever ways for people to concentrate on one of their own senses.
- Camouflage Trail is an excellent example of a crow game for children. To play Camouflage Trail, place human-made objects along a trail; have the children see how many such objects they can count. Some of the objects should be easily visible, while others (such a rusty nail or a clothespin) should blend in with the natural surroundings.
Children and adults are unusually attentive as they walk a Camouflage Trail. One educator told me that she once forgot to mark the end of a Camouflage Trail, and her students continued walking and intently observing for an additional hundred yards before she realized what had happened and tracked them down!
(Camouflage Trail could be found on page 108 of my book Sharing Nature.)
- Another favorite Stage Two activity is Sound Map (described on page 106 of Sharing Nature.)
To play this game, give players a pencil and a piece of paper with an X in the center, to represent the player’s location on the Sound Map. When a player hears a natural sound, he marks it on the map, carefully noting the sound’s direction and distance.
Sitting quietly, listening to the soothing voices of the nearby trees, birds, and bubbling brook, calm us and deepen our appreciation for the life around us.
The Focus Attention phase needn’t last long; sometimes five to fifteen minutes is enough.
Flow Learning Is Student-Centered
While leading a group, it is beneficial to ask yourself the following questions:
- If the group is tired and lethargic: “What Awaken Enthusiasm game would energize and lift their spirits?”
- If the children are overly excited: “What Focused Attention activity would help focus and calm them?”
- “How can I vary the activities and stages of Flow Learning to keep people fresh and fully engaged?”
Traditional education has focused primarily on imparting information; at least as important to consider are the energy and interest level of the students. The more students are alert, engaged, and interested, the more easily they’ll both learn the information and experience a positive affinity for the subject.
The first two stages of Flow Learning allow you to work creatively with the mood of your group. If your group is tired, you can energize them with an active (Stage One) otter game; if it is too boisterous, you can quiet them with a calming crow activity.
Summary--Stage Two: FOCUS ATTENTION
Quality: Receptivity
- Increase attention span and concentration.
- Deepens awareness by focusing attention.
- Positively channels enthusiasm generated in Stage One.
- Develops observational skills.
- Calms the mind.
- Develops receptivity for more sensitive nature experiences.
The article above was excerpted from Joseph Cornell’s book Sharing Nature: Nature Awareness Activities for All Ages.
To purchase the book, click here: https://www.crystalclarity.com/product.php?code=BSNA
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