World Environment Day & Our Lost Sense of Wonder for Nature

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Why are zoos places that only children visit? Why bird watching is a hobby that only retired people have? Are we really that busy? When we check our daily screen time on our phones, we know, that we are clearly not.

Have you ever noticed very small children observing little things in nature, like insects (even the not-so-good-looking ones)? That, is the treasured sense of wonder we are born with, a gift endowed to us so that we could explore our place in this vast creation, but we so easily lose it as we grow up, trading it for far less exciting things, materials. Why as we grow up, and acquire much more knowledge, much more power to do things and are filled with possibilities – in short, during the prime of our lives when we are most capable of figuring out our true relationship with nature, exactly then, fail to retain this capacity to be present, to be available to the gifts of the natural world?

This picture of Great Egret is more than a decade old. I captured this beautiful bird in all its pristine white glory, without much effort. It was calmly sitting on a wall, somewhere in a rural neighborhood back in my home country, India. Actually, I had seen flocks of them there.

I wonder, I, am scared actually, to think that if today, I go to the same spot, will I find them so easily again, in the same abundance? I hope the answer is yes.

5th June is World Environment Day. I have always believed that among a number of other factors, what has led to the continuous destruction of the natural world around us is – the lost sense of wonder for it. The trees, the birds, the animals, the oceans, the hills, the wildflowers, the bees, the rivers, the fishes in them…the wonderous list goes on.

P.S: In the first statement above, I don’t want to imply that I support zoos – as in animals in captivity. I am just referring to the saddening lack of a sense of wonder and interest in wildlife among adults.

🌿So what will you do this Environment Day? What will you see, touch, or visit, something that is patiently waiting for you for ages? :)

Enlightened minds have this rare ability to express the most profound, life-changing wisdom in the simplest of words. That is why I love these witty quotes, especially, quotes about mindfulness and the way they can be related to nature. I choose the best mindfulness quotes I come across and combine them with my favorite nature photographs to create these picture quotes.

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