“Slow down to the speed of wonder.” ~ John Muir Laws
John Muir Laws is a naturalist, artist, educator, and a principal leader and innovator of the worldwide nature journaling movement. He has dedicated his work to connecting people to nature through art and science.
He’s developed interdisciplinary programs that combine art with science and train us to observe the world with rigor and joy — strengthening our capacity to be intentionally curious.
This is an episode about nature journaling, but Jack would be the first to say: it isn’t about the journal, it’s about the journey.
We talked about noticing, wondering and connecting ideas; being drawn into the mystery of things by generating as many questions as we can; the three very different languages and ways of thinking represented by writing, drawing and numbers; “creative, rigorous and playful” ways to regard the world; dyslexia’s advantage in surfacing patterns and questions; finding beauty where we choose to find it — and seedpods as a metaphor for potential and hope.
I have a little mantra, whenever I’m out and about and exploring, whether I have my journal or not. I say to myself: “I notice… I wonder…It reminds me of…” That’s my trifecta, and each of those gets me to think in a slightly different way.
Listen to Ep. #307: Curiosity & Nature Journaling, with John Muir Laws
…and enjoy a little analogy bonus pack. I just couldn’t fit everything into those 28 short minutes for radio. The up-side of that is that now you can hear the entirety of our wild, wonderful analogous thinking around hammers and kilts. 🙂
John Muir Laws (known as “Jack”) is a naturalist, artist and educator. He is co-founder and president of Wild Wonder Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging nature connection and conservation through attention, curiosity, art, science, and community.
Jack is featured in The Dyslexia Advantage Movie. I had a terrific conversation with artist Rebecca Kamen about her experience with dyslexia in Seeing Differently: Curiosity, Creativity & Dyslexia.
I told I was taken with seeds. Look around, see what piques your curiosity. My balcony inspired me to learn about the curiosity of crows.
If you enjoyed this conversation, you might like these C2BC Classics: Urban Sketching, with Todd Cumpston; The Inquiring Minds Behind Science Writing, with Kim O’Connell; & A Mile in Their Shoes: A River Runs through Us.
Theme music by Sean Balick; other music by Sketchbook, via Blue Dot Sessions.
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