Beyond the Slogan: How to start reconnecting with Nature
- TreeSisters
- Sep 29
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 7
“Connect with Nature” or “reconnect with your roots” can be found all over our website, social media, videos, and presentations. It is a phrase that sits at the heart of our work and what we believe is the missing piece that links so much of the challenges and crises we face. But beyond the slogan, what does it actually mean? What does connection look like, and how do you even start?
The truth is, reconnection is not a one-size-fits-all experience. It does not demand that we become botanists, tree huggers, or learn the lunar cycles - unless that is what you want. Instead, it is about rekindling relationship: shifting from seeing Nature as a backdrop, destination or worse, a commodity to recognising ourselves as part of her living, breathing community.
Central to our mission has always been both restoring the land and restoring relationship. The trees we plant matter, yet equally important are the countless everyday ways we deepen our reciprocity with the Earth. And not because it is nice to do or good for our wellbeing - although it is - but for our survival as a species and for the countless species that call Earth home. As only by reconnecting and noticing these ways we belong to the Earth can we begin to live differently, within ecological limits, and start to build something far better and more sustainable.
Tangible ways to begin your journey
1. Step outside with awareness
Even if it is just a few minutes between tasks, pause. Notice the air on your skin, the birdsong, the shifting sky. This simple act of presence is connection.
2. Learn the names of your neighbours: plants, birds, insects
Choose one tree you pass daily, or one birdcall you hear often, and learn its name. Recognition is the beginning of relationship, and from relationship comes care. You could also play with orientation: see if you can tell where North is by watching the birds, or find the river by following the line of trees. Observing these patterns deepens your awareness and strengthens connection.
3. Honour the seasons
Track the solstices and equinoxes, or notice the first daffodils, elderflowers, or migrating swallows. While modern life and its pressures don’t always allow us to live fully in sync, each season offers its own rhythm: Winter invites reflection and stillness, Spring encourages growth, Summer calls for connection and celebration, and Autumn is for harvesting and letting go. These small acts re-root us in the cycles that sustain us, beyond human calendars and deadlines.
4. Tend something living
Plant herbs in a pot, nurture a houseplant, or care for a patch of soil. Giving care and receiving beauty, fragrance, or nourishment in return reminds us of reciprocity, the foundation of all thriving ecosystems.
5. Create a sit spot
Find a place outdoors, however small, where Nature is active, and return often. Approach softly and quietly so as not to disturb the rhythm, and stay long enough for the surroundings to settle around you. Engage your senses: what do you see, hear, smell, or feel? How does this space change over time? Notice the subtle rhythms, the shifting light, the hum of insects, the movement of plants, and the passing of the seasons. What begins as stillness becomes relationship, helping you understand the interconnection of life and the limits within which it thrives.
6. Weave gratitude and ritual into the everyday
Drink your morning tea outside. Whisper thanks before eating. Light a candle at dusk. These small acts remind us that we are part of the living world and reinforce the care and attention that sustaining life requires.
Connection does not have to be complicated. It begins with attention, observation, and small acts of care, choices that rebuild our relationship with the living world and show us how to live within ecological limits.
We are growing a global movement of people restoring not only land and forests, but our shared relationship with Nature. By healing this connection, we can begin to live differently, fostering care, reciprocity, and connection in a world that recognises what is at stake if we don't.
