Examen - 07 2025
Transcript
Welcome. As we begin this examen on nature, I invite you experience nature in some way as you proceed. You can stroll through a park, sit on a patio or under a tree, or just open a window to hear or feel the breeze. Any way you can connect to nature here is ok.
First, let’s take just a moment to settle in, to find a place of rest and calm. Whether you’re walking, standing, sitting, even lying down, take a few deep breaths and as you do, simply feel the sensations of your breath going in and out. The breath doesn’t need to be any particular way – just notice it as it is, and let your body relax with each out breath.
As you begin to settle, start to pay attention to the nature around you – wind blowing, sun shining, clouds moving though the sky, rain pattering on a window – anything that you can see, hear, or feel that’s part of our natural word, just start to notice it and spend a moment connecting there.
Next, think back through the day, considering where you encountered and appreciated the natural world. Perhaps you noticed warm amber tones on the clouds as the sun rose, or wind gently stirring the heights of the trees. Maybe there’s a favorite house plant you see each morning, or a garden you walk by on the way to work. Take some time to play back your day, finding those moments of appreciation for the natural world.
Next, let’s take some time to sit in gratitude for the gift of nature. We might thank God for creation of the natural world, with its many gifts and opportunities for calm and connection. We might sit in amazement of the vast, infinitely complex, and life-sustaining character of our world that seems to lie beyond explanation. If no moment from today captures that sense of gratitude, consider a time you felt a sense of awe in nature, where you stopped and marveled at something you were experiencing. This can come from something as vast and mysterious as the ocean or as small and simple as a flower that opened overnight. In any way you can, cultivate a sense of gratitude for all that has been provided for us in nature.
Now let’s take some time to consider where maybe we failed to appreciate the world around us. Where did we sleepwalk through natural world when could have paused, appreciated, and reflected on its gifts? Where did we miss the chance to be renewed, or conversely, to be good stewards of the world around us?
And finally, think forward to tomorrow. What can be done to sit, even for a few minutes, in nature and appreciate its vast, complex, awesome abundance? Where can we take just a moment to let the sun shine down or the wind blow through and experience deeply the peace that such moments can provide?
As we end by coming back to the space around us, noticing where the natural world is right now, I’ll offer this poem by Mary Oliver, titled, When I am Among the Trees
When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches. And they call again,
"It's simple," they say, "and you too have come into the world to do this,
to go easy,
to be filled with light,
and to shine."
November 07, 2025
Examen: Nature
SUMMARY: This Examen is an opportunity to notice, appreciate, and give thanks for the gifts of our natural world.
PRESENTER: Chris Dickman, Senior Instructional Designer, Office of Online Learning
Transcript
Welcome. As we begin this examen on nature, I invite you experience nature in some way as you proceed. You can stroll through a park, sit on a patio or under a tree, or just open a window to hear or feel the breeze. Any way you can connect to nature here is ok.
First, let’s take just a moment to settle in, to find a place of rest and calm. Whether you’re walking, standing, sitting, even lying down, take a few deep breaths and as you do, simply feel the sensations of your breath going in and out. The breath doesn’t need to be any particular way – just notice it as it is, and let your body relax with each out breath.
As you begin to settle, start to pay attention to the nature around you – wind blowing, sun shining, clouds moving though the sky, rain pattering on a window – anything that you can see, hear, or feel that’s part of our natural word, just start to notice it and spend a moment connecting there.
Next, think back through the day, considering where you encountered and appreciated the natural world. Perhaps you noticed warm amber tones on the clouds as the sun rose, or wind gently stirring the heights of the trees. Maybe there’s a favorite house plant you see each morning, or a garden you walk by on the way to work. Take some time to play back your day, finding those moments of appreciation for the natural world.
Next, let’s take some time to sit in gratitude for the gift of nature. We might thank God for creation of the natural world, with its many gifts and opportunities for calm and connection. We might sit in amazement of the vast, infinitely complex, and life-sustaining character of our world that seems to lie beyond explanation. If no moment from today captures that sense of gratitude, consider a time you felt a sense of awe in nature, where you stopped and marveled at something you were experiencing. This can come from something as vast and mysterious as the ocean or as small and simple as a flower that opened overnight. In any way you can, cultivate a sense of gratitude for all that has been provided for us in nature.
Now let’s take some time to consider where maybe we failed to appreciate the world around us. Where did we sleepwalk through natural world when could have paused, appreciated, and reflected on its gifts? Where did we miss the chance to be renewed, or conversely, to be good stewards of the world around us?
And finally, think forward to tomorrow. What can be done to sit, even for a few minutes, in nature and appreciate its vast, complex, awesome abundance? Where can we take just a moment to let the sun shine down or the wind blow through and experience deeply the peace that such moments can provide?
As we end by coming back to the space around us, noticing where the natural world is right now, I’ll offer this poem by Mary Oliver, titled, When I am Among the Trees
When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches. And they call again,
"It's simple," they say, "and you too have come into the world to do this,
to go easy,
to be filled with light,
and to shine."