Nature Connection with Rebecca:

Letters of Wonder from My Ecosystem to Yours 💌

September 18, 02026

First-quarter Moon 🌓

Dear friends,

Sometimes when you're really busy, it can feel hard to make time for nature journaling.

Today I'm writing to share a reminder that even if you only have a minute, the practice of nature journaling is something that can make a big difference to your sense of well-being. A one-minute sketch can still bring you out of the worries in your head and into observing the world around you, giving you a sense of awe and wonder that can make the whole rest of your whole day better.

Even if you have the art skills to spend two hours creating a realistic rendered drawing, you're still allowed to do a quick sketch and that is "good enough." And if drawing isn't your forte, a quick sketch can help take the pressure off because you're not expecting it to look "good" anyway.

Last week I wanted to do some nature journaling while I was on my lunch break at work. But by the time I finished eating, I only had a couple of minutes left. I was tempted to think "Oh well, I guess I can't nature journal now." But I decided to make the most of the one minute I had!! So I chose the subject I saw closest to me: a dead dried leaf in the grass with a housefly resting on top of it.

Sometimes when you're nature journaling, you go on a search for a specific thing you're interested in. Maybe you are setting out to learn more about birds, or plants, or even just whatever you find that strikes your fancy that day.

But sometimes, there's not enough time to search for something that specifically calls to you. Sometimes, you just draw whatever happens to be in front of you.

And you know what? That can help you realize that this thing which you wouldn't have paid attention to otherwise is actually pretty interesting/beautiful/important.

I probably wouldn't have picked the dried leaf and the fly to sketch if I had had even a few more minutes available to me.

But the leaf and the fly are a part of the ecosystem. They belong here. They are part of the story.

And you are part of the story too.

So give yourself one minute of mindfulness observing nature and making marks on a page today. It could help you feel more joyful and connected.

-Rebecca 💚

P.S.

• ​Defend National Forests by signing this petition in favor of protecting the Roadless Rule. The public comment period is only open until September 20. The USDA's plan to rescind the roadless rule would allow large-scale logging in millions of acres of backcountry forest.
• I've been posting a lot on my Instagram this week @Habitat_restoryation​

📅Upcoming Events

• October 8: Bird Walk​
• John Muir Laws has invited me to lead a couple sessions of his Nature Journal Educators' Forum! One will be about writing and using words in your nature journal. The other will be about the intersections I have noticed between Nature Journaling and Nonviolent Communication. Specific dates TBD

Rebecca Rolnick

Writer, Naturalist, Educator

​www.rebeccarolnick.com​

​https://www.instagram.com/habitat_restoryation/​

Land Acknowledgement: This letter is sent from Syracuse NY, which is in the unceded ancestral lands of the Onondaga Nation of the Haudeonsaunee Confederacy.

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This is a 100% human-created newsletter. No AI was used in the outlining, writing, or editing of this letter.