The summer season has begun here in Newport and at Norman Bird Sanctuary. Camp is in session, the flowers are blooming, the sun is shining, and the tourists have arrived. As a mark of summer’s start, I went to the first newportFILM screening, a showing of Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World. Mary Oliver’s greatness as a poet was her ability to point out the wonders of the world around her. The panelist pointed out how this attention is a form of secular prayer. He said the more we pay attention to the world, the more we love it. We live in a time where our everyday life is unraveling our attention, where short form dopamine distractions rewire our brain, pulling us in different directions. How does pouring more attention into a world that seemingly is falling apart make us love it?
I believe the answer and solution lies with the birds and their songs. When was the last time you stood and noticed the chip and chatter of the birds around you? Moreover, how did it make you feel? The Attention Restoration Theory shows how time in nature restores mental fatigue and overall well-being. Mental health benefits from time outdoors are known from a regulated nervous system, better immune system, and better sleep quality. A 2022 study shows not only being outside but listening to bird calls assist with the restoration of attention. When we listen to birds’ songs, our parasympathetic nervousness is activated. This reduces stress makers such as heart rate and cortisol. However, the results were dose dependent, the more birds the better sense of calmness, serenity and peace.
The start of summer brings to mind Mary Oliver’s poem “The Summer Day.” Summer arrives quickly and passes just as fast, soon giving way to the chill of a New England fall and winter. So, “what should we do with our one wild and precious life?” We can begin by reclaiming our time, slowing down, and staying present this summer. I encourage you to take a walk through Norman Bird Sanctuary: listen closely to the birds, notice the world around you, and leave feeling curious, restored, and renewed in focus and attention.
Katie O’Farrell is a recent graduate from Salve Regina University with degrees in Psychology and Studio Art. This summer, she is working as a Photography and Media Intern for the Norman Bird Sanctuary.
References:
Bird sounds and their contributions to perceived attention restoration and stress recove
The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework
Birdsongs alleviate anxiety and paranoia in healthy participants
A Summers Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean —
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down —
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
-Mary Oliver
