Nature: A Place to Meet Your Senses Nature is, by itself, a quiet and unenlightening place, but with the

a better and different mindset, nature can become something more. One must make himself vulnerable to all of the living organisms around. By opening up all of ones senses, a deeper understanding of the uniqueness can be observed. Spending as little as ten minutes or as much as ten hours in a secluded, distant location in the forest can be beneficial for the person spending their time open to nature. For instance, I had a forty-five minute appointment with nature that unveiled more about the mystery behind nature and the way ones senses operate. When spending time in nature, usually the first and primary response humans have to it is sight. Sight can answer many questions, but still leaves a great amount left to the other senses: touch, taste, smell, and hearing. Encompassing all five senses can heighten ones experience in nature and overall opinion on nature. I spent a time outside of my school with my English class; the entire event was very interesting. When I first walked outside I noticed the glaring, bright sun up above the earth almost instantly; squinting was almost necessary on a bright, sunny day similar to this one. The rays of the sun lightly warmed my face and the rest of my body, all while lighting up the entire surface of the world. As I turned away from the sun, I noticed the tall, monumental trees around me. They gave out a towering feeling and made me have a feeling of smallness. I then reached out to touch the trees, themselves. Some trees even have a shaggy hanging look as if they were an old mans bearded face. Another noticeable feature of the outside habitat is the view of sizable dust particles flying through the air. I noticed the sharp, contrasting differences of the soft looking, green grass as compared to the rough, tan-colored brick. I was not completely submersed in all of nature just yet.

A closer examination of what is seen with the eyes, can be achieved by touch. For instance, by rubbing the side of one tree, I could feel the brittle roughness of the bark. The bark could be easily broken, but kept its tough appearance and feeling. On the same tree I examined the bark, a thorny branch made its home. upon touching the thorns, I came to the conclusion that they were as sharp as freshly sharpened pencil. After the intensity of tree-examining, I took a few seconds to just stand in the cool wind. The air bushed against my cheeks and other uncovered parts of my body and left a chilled feeling upon my epidermis. I looked down and immediately saw a stone with no sharp edges; the stone was so smooth and so lovely, in fact, it could be compared a great tasting smoothie. After recollecting with the stone in my hand, I threw it as far as possible and heard what can only be described as a unique thunk sound. Hearing is yet another one of the five senses, made possible by the ears found on either side of the human body. When I first walked outside the noticeable sound was the cars and trains in the far away distance. After spending a few precious minutes submersed in the nature, I heard differently. On this higher plateau of hearing, more is possible. For example, every step I took the crackling of leaves could be heard. I then looked down storm drain and saw what looked to be a large pool of water. Upon dropping a stone into my new-found babbling brook, I could hear the splashing plop. I then skipped to where most of the other classmates were but tripped. I fell face first in to the ground as graceful as chimpanzee participating in a figure skating competition. With my nose in the dirt, I did the only thing I could: sniff. I smelt the earthiness of the soil, along with the smell of shoes. After getting up and dusting myself off, I continued to a delightful looking pile of curly, light green tree moss. The fifth and final sense of humans is usually the least used in nature: taste. Taste can, on the contrary view, be the most useful sense of all five. I picked up a bunch of the curly tree moss,

and quickly decided on tasting it. I gently placed it in my mouth and began to chew; what I tasted was simply extraordinary and unique. It was a blend of dirt and the taste of extremely dry celery. I consider it acceptable as food in emergency situations only. I then saw some deep green-colored clovers on the grassy floor beneath me. To appease my fascination of clovers and fields, I took and handful and entered the clovers in my mouth. Not to my surprise, they tasted very similar to grass. I swallowed and then saw what would become my dessert: a pink flower blossom. I quickly entered the blossom into my mouth for I was still extremely famished. The flower, at first, had a silky feeling in my mouth. Right then, very surprisingly, a bitter gush of flavor was sent crashing into all my taste buds as I struggled to swallow. After finishing my three course meal, I looked back on my eventful date with nature. After spending about forty-five minutes with nature in an intimate setting, I learned many new lessons. For example, tasting objects in nature can not be based on how the object looks. A Bible verse came to mind while taking notes from Genesis. It talks about how the Lord saw his creation and it was good; Nature is perfect in every way. Yet another lesson I learned was by using all five of my senses I was able to obtain a higher appreciation for nature and what makes nature what it is.