If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you’ve probably met my dog Keira. Keira is not fond of rain. She pretty much refuses to even step outside the doorway if she sees or hears rainfall. Through a rainy winter, I regularly turned to the weather app on my iPhone to plan ahead for breaks in the rain to get her outside for a walk. And I’ve been quite amazed at how accurate (and therefore helpful) it is.
But a few days ago, I was taken aback. I checked the app and it showed a morning break for a few hours. So dog and I headed out. I noticed awesome grey storm clouds in the sky but in retrospect, it was like I was noticing from some other part of my mind. I didn’t grab my raincoat because the app showed a break in the storm. Halfway into the walk, the rains came. Long story short. We got wet. Very wet.
I paid more attention to the weather app than to what my very experienced senses were telling me about the morning weather. Wow. I didn’t expect that of myself. It snuck up on me. Humbling…
I like Richard Louv’s work…I went to see him speak about 7 years ago when he was on tour for his book The Nature Principle. The title of the event was “Nature Deficit Disorder with Richard Louv.” He was in conversation with Dawn Scott, the Family Program Coordinator at Spirit Rock Insight Meditation Center in Northern California. The event was part of the Conversations on Science series of City Arts & Lectures, a great series. Louv cofounded the Children & Nature Network. I follow the C&NN Facebook page which is where yesterday I noticed this article written by Louv—“Coming to Our 30 Senses.”
This paragraph popped out:
“There are many ways of knowing the world. In 2010, scientists at University College in London published the results of a study suggesting that human beings may be hardwired with an inner sense of direction. Other research suggests that when people rely exclusively on GPS units to find their way, they can lose some of their neurological ability for mental mapping.”
So when I read the GPS sentence, naturally I connected it to my Giant Humungous Rain Cloud vs Weather App Experience. Who ya gonna believe? Storm clouds and the smell of rain in the air? App?
Note: Louv is not saying ditch your GPS (I hope you’ll read the article—there’s a lot of good content there) and I’m not saying ditch your app. I really like the weather app…and…next time I see a storm cloud right above my head, I’ll probably pay more attention to what my senses are telling me and grab my rain coat when I head out the door.
