The Great Outdoors
Well summer weather has finally arrived and we've finally reached a temperature of 30 degrees. I can now officially say I have my first sun burn of the summer, and I have begun to loose track of my days of the week.
I spent the last 2 days at Capilano River with the amazing "Catching the Spirit" leadership team. This was our final training session before camps start next weekend. It was so great to make a bunch of new friends, and to spend some quality time in the great outdoors. We made a trip to the fish hatchery, we did the ritual early morning head-dunk in the frigid river, played all kinds of nature games, and we even did a little bit of planning and leadership stuff (you know that stuff we were supposed to be doing).
In one of our activities, we got talking about stress and sleep patterns, and how way back before lights were invented, people went to sleep right after sun set and awoke when the sun was rising- the natural human sleep cycle. But now with the technology we have today, people often aren't asleep until just before the sun rises, and aren't awake until the days' sun light is half gone.
Dave, our supervisor said something that I thought was brilliant. The same way that humans have evolved sleep patterns, they have also manipulated the way of life. Humans used to spend their entire days outside and enjoying nature; now the average kid probably spends more time on their Playstation or infront of the TV than they do outside. I guess all of us camp leaders love the outdoors and that's why we chose to volunteer our time for it, but there's something more to it. Dave said that he believes spending time in nature makes you more "human". Now that sounds kind of crazy, but he then added that the more time you spend connecting with nature, the more connected you are with yourself and your emotions and therefore other people too. He said how the more time you are outdoors the more you feel compassionate for people and the more you care for things in our world. I thought what he said was genius; I've never thought of it like that before, but if I think about how good I feel after I've spent lots of time outdoors, then it makes perfect sense.
Now it probably seems very contrary that I am typing all this out on my computer, but I do love my technology. I believe it is also an essential learning tool, and so much can be taken from it. So I guess what I'm getting at is I believe there is a need for a balance of both the natural world, and the new generation- technology world. And I hope to see people creating that balance, which right now has far too much of the new world in it.
My goal for the summer is to spend more time outside with nature, and less time infront of a luminescent screen. Hold me to it.
Tomorrow, it's off to Salmo for provincials!
I spent the last 2 days at Capilano River with the amazing "Catching the Spirit" leadership team. This was our final training session before camps start next weekend. It was so great to make a bunch of new friends, and to spend some quality time in the great outdoors. We made a trip to the fish hatchery, we did the ritual early morning head-dunk in the frigid river, played all kinds of nature games, and we even did a little bit of planning and leadership stuff (you know that stuff we were supposed to be doing).
In one of our activities, we got talking about stress and sleep patterns, and how way back before lights were invented, people went to sleep right after sun set and awoke when the sun was rising- the natural human sleep cycle. But now with the technology we have today, people often aren't asleep until just before the sun rises, and aren't awake until the days' sun light is half gone.
Dave, our supervisor said something that I thought was brilliant. The same way that humans have evolved sleep patterns, they have also manipulated the way of life. Humans used to spend their entire days outside and enjoying nature; now the average kid probably spends more time on their Playstation or infront of the TV than they do outside. I guess all of us camp leaders love the outdoors and that's why we chose to volunteer our time for it, but there's something more to it. Dave said that he believes spending time in nature makes you more "human". Now that sounds kind of crazy, but he then added that the more time you spend connecting with nature, the more connected you are with yourself and your emotions and therefore other people too. He said how the more time you are outdoors the more you feel compassionate for people and the more you care for things in our world. I thought what he said was genius; I've never thought of it like that before, but if I think about how good I feel after I've spent lots of time outdoors, then it makes perfect sense.
Now it probably seems very contrary that I am typing all this out on my computer, but I do love my technology. I believe it is also an essential learning tool, and so much can be taken from it. So I guess what I'm getting at is I believe there is a need for a balance of both the natural world, and the new generation- technology world. And I hope to see people creating that balance, which right now has far too much of the new world in it.
My goal for the summer is to spend more time outside with nature, and less time infront of a luminescent screen. Hold me to it.
Tomorrow, it's off to Salmo for provincials!
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