Cultivate Your Mindfulness to Overcome Plant Blindness
This month’s practice invites you to up your mindfulness and curiosity to overcome “plant blindness.”
Botanists refer to “plant blindness” as the tendency for human beings to view plant life as one indistinguishable, inert mass of green, rather than the life-giving organisms that author Zoe Schlanger refers to as “...active beings with lives of their own that can make food out of light.” Schlanger emphasizes that plants make human life possible: they generate oxygen, regulate climate, create food webs, shape landscapes, and influence human nervous systems and psychology.
As extraordinary as plants may be, a common rationale for people’s general lack of interest in them is that they are slow. Of course, this is a matter of cultural perspective, and not all cultures and people view plants and nature in this way. To counter this blindness and renew our connection with plants and their life-affirming qualities, Schlanger and others suggest we:
- Slow down, get curious, and notice (sounds like mindfulness, doesn’t it?)
- Pay attention to house plants as well as those outdoors. Notice how they respond to different locations, times of day, weather, moisture, and sunlight.
- Observe a plant’s seasonal changes, how they grow, go dormant, and come “back to life” again.
- Watch plants over time to appreciate their complexity, unique intelligence, and what Schlanger refers to as their “agency” - their observable, responsive, and interactive behaviors.
Changing how we pay attention to and perceive plants allows us to deepen our connection with nature and benefit from its many restorative and wellbeing-supporting qualities.
Learn more about how nature impacts our wellbeing on the Bakken Center’s free Taking Charge of Your Wellbeing website.