When Did We Stop Noticing?
- Adam (admin)
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Something happening at the National Botanic Garden of Wales today caught my attention. Its Nature Journaling and Wellbeing Wednesday encourages people to slow down, observe their surroundings and develop a deeper relationship with the natural world.
It made me wonder whether, in an age when we record so much of our lives, we are becoming less accustomed to simply experiencing them. A beautiful sunset appears and we reach for a phone; an impressive landscape becomes a photograph; even quiet moments become something to share. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but there is an important difference between looking at something and genuinely noticing it.
For me, that has an interesting relationship with naturism. Public discussion inevitably concentrates on nudity because it is the most visible difference, yet removing our clothes has never seemed the most interesting part of the experience. What matters is what happens afterwards. We talk, walk, swim, read, laugh and continue with the ordinary business of being human, while becoming more conscious of the warmth of sunshine, movement of air, temperature of water and environment around us.
Researchers describe our psychological relationship with the natural world as nature connectedness, and the evidence surrounding it is increasingly interesting. A major meta-analysis examining 147 studies and more than 38,000 participants found a significant relationship between nature connectedness and wellbeing. A more recent 2025 meta-analysis of 70 studies similarly found positive associations with wellbeing, meaning in life and life satisfaction.
There is an important distinction here. Simply being outdoors and actually connecting with nature are not necessarily the same thing. We can walk through a spectacular Welsh landscape while staring at a screen, just as we can sit in a garden and genuinely notice birdsong, changing light or the smell of rain.
Perhaps noticing matters particularly this summer. Natural Resources Wales reports that Wales received only 10% of its long-term average rainfall in July, making it the driest July in a record stretching back 190 years. Across April to July, Wales received just 66% of its expected rainfall. The consequences can be seen in exceptionally low river flows and increasing pressure upon wildlife and our natural environment.
This is where I think naturism has something worthwhile to say. We are not spectators standing outside nature; we are part of it. Naturism does not make us environmentally virtuous simply because we remove our clothes, but its underlying philosophy encourages simplicity, authenticity and a closer relationship with ourselves, other people and the environment we share.
Perhaps there is also a lesson here about wellbeing. We are constantly encouraged to improve our lives by adding something — another app, product, routine or experience. Naturism offers a wonderfully simple alternative: sometimes removing something allows us to experience more.
So perhaps today’s challenge is simply to give ourselves ten uninterrupted minutes to notice what is already around us. No photographs, no posting and no need to identify everything. Just experience it.
If you stopped for ten minutes today and genuinely paid attention to the world around you, what would you notice that you normally miss?
Further reading
