Cold temperatures, shortened daylight hours, and lack of greenery can fool anyone into thinking there isn’t much reason to head outside in winter. It may seem like life and Nature have hit the pause button. 
 
Don’t be fooled. There is a lot going on out there!
 
With less foliage present in the winter, there are many characteristics that become more apparent and less obscured by the sensory overload during the growing season. If you are not sure of what you are looking for, all you need to do is get out there and let your senses be the guide.

SIGHT
 
Fall leaf color is one of the more noticeable aspects of trees that people enjoy. One study estimated a 30-billion-dollar annual contribution to the tourism industries of the 24 states in the eastern U.S. alone. 
 
While the fall color change can be enjoyed through the windshield, there are many more details to enjoy when you slow down and spend time in the presence of a tree. 
 
Branches twist and wind their way to openings where their leaves can capture sunlight. This winding nature of the branches leads to an artistic framework. The abstract patterns can be enjoyed from a number of angles and perspectives, such as when winter leaf drop exposes the branching structure of deciduous trees.

​​Bark color and textures vary greatly between species. River birch’s bark layers peel and curl along the trunk, revealing salmon colored inner bark. This attractive coloration and unique look make it a popular tree in landscapes. It may take on added winter interest if you do a little reading on a potentially useful characteristic of birch bark. Birch bark contains a compound that repels water, keeping the tissue dry. It is also flammable. A perfect combination when needing to start a campfire.

I particularly enjoy the texture, colors, and patterns of sycamore bark. The flaking bark leaves behind an evolving camouflage pattern formed as the green, gray, and tan papery layers exfoliate to reveal bright white inner bark on stems. ​

​In late winter, as we begin to anticipate the coming spring weather, the tiny leaf buds begin to swell and provide an early hint of the colorful season to come. This slight coloration is seen in the tops of the trees, contrasting against the brown and gray branches and blue skies. As winter draws to a close, we can enjoy the hint of red atop silver and red maples as well as the vibrant yellow cast along weeping willow twigs..

​TOUCH
 
In Wisconsin we are fortunate to have northern white cedars. They make my personal top-ten list of favorite tree barks!
 
As northern white cedars age, their bark shreds into thin linear strips that run up and down the trunk. It has a slightly spongy feel in the outer layers of bark if you press into it with your fingertips and feels soft to the touch as you run your fingers along. 
 
There are numerous areas where we can get out and enjoy northern white cedar across Wisconsin, with one of my favorite areas being Newport State Park in Door County. Closer to my home in Waukesha County, Retzer Nature Center has a few groves of cedars around the park, one of which forms the centerpiece of the parking lot. 
 
Even your feet will notice the soft, cushiony feel of the leaf litter blanketing the ground under a grove of northern white cedar.
 
You can enjoy their bark at any time of year, but spending time with them in winter has far greater impact for me as they maintain their green foliage through the winter. Immersing myself in a canopy of green when brown and gray dominate the winter color spectrum is like a breath of fresh air. 

​SMELL
 
I can seldom pass on the opportunity to bend down and smell a flower in bloom. Some have little to no fragrance. Some are enjoyable and others might not be so pleasant. Regardless, the experience of stopping to smell the flowers pulls me into the present moment.
 
Even with the lack of flowers in the winter months, there are a few trees that I have a hard time passing by without taking in their pleasant fragrance. Some may have soothing effects and others I find energizing.

SOUND
​
I enjoy the distinct crunching sounds underfoot during a winter hike. Whether the trail is lined with fallen oak leaves or covered in freshly fallen snow, neither of these unique sounds were something I experienced while growing up in Puerto Rico and southern Florida.
 
Another one of the sounds I go in search of in winter leads me to stands of eastern white pine. Not only does the foliage dampen the stark sounds from traffic and other noise pollution sources, the fine and feathery texture of the needles emit a soothing “whoosh” as the breeze passes through. 
 
Pair this calming sound with the soft texture of the needles and pleasant aroma and you may be able to understand why sitting on a branch near the top of an eastern white pine is one of my favorite places to be!

Black or sweet birch is known for its wintergreen taste, black cherry for its somewhat cherry or almond-like taste, and sassafras has flavors of spiced fruit. Since some of these species may also contain low levels of toxic compounds when ingested, you may opt for the alternative experience of scraping the bark of fresh twigs to reveal the aroma. Sassafras has a fruity aroma like that of Froot Loops!

Using the sense of taste should be approached with caution. Even if a particular plant is known to be edible, it may still contain toxic compounds, certain people may have a sensitivity, or there may be similar looking plants that may be toxic. ​

SENSORY JOURNEY

While we may spend more time indoors during the winter months, there are plenty reasons to get out and enjoy the season. If not just to get out in the sunshine or bathe in the green colors of pines, spruces, and other evergreens, I'm also drawn outside to witness the unique aspects visible in winter and appreciate the different experience they provide.

Acknowledging and engaging in the changing of the seasons helps to build layers of memories, can strgengthen your emoitonal attachment to a place, and grow your appreciation of life.

This time of year is interesting. Holiday, year-end, and new year celebrations abound. We find ourselves reflecting on the past in one moment. The next moment we are looking forward to the future.

Outside, the cold has set in and often times we already have snow on the ground. Winter has arrived.

When does winter “officially” begin? In meteorologic terms, it began December 1st. Astronomically speaking, it begins at the winter solstice. (Here's a great article about the seasons, solstice, equinox, aphelion, perihelion)

At this point in our annual trip around the sun, the Earth's tilt has the northern portion positioned further from the sun than the southern hemisphere. Thus the reason the sun is lower in the southern sky rather than overhead during the middle of the day. 

This year, December 21st is the day where the tilt will reach its peak and begin to reverse. This pivot occurs at 9:59am on Tuesday, the winter solstice.

I find inspiration in recognizing this day and moment as it means that we will start to see our daylight hours lengthening with each passing day. I love the cold and the snow, but can be challenged as there are days where I leave home before sunrise and return after sunset. 

By taking time to acknowledge the solstice, I am energized with positive emotions. I am aware of this specific point in the journey and in-tune with the present moment. Brighter days are ahead both literally and figuratively.

​After spending the past few weeks camping and hiking in various forests of the eastern U.S., I noticed marked differences in my demeanor and state of mind. 
 
Even with the sacrifice of physical comfort by sleeping in a tent rather than in our bed, I slept more soundly. I also noticed an improvement in mental clarity. In part this was due to the absence of the demands and distractions often encountered at home and work; but also from the peace that overcame me as I enjoyed the trees, sun, breeze, song birds, and sights in the forests and along the trails.
 
We were immersed in nature. We felt great! ​

My wife and I spend a fair amount of time outdoors throughout the year. Whether it is taking trips like this, regular walks in the parks and trails near our house, or enjoying time in our backyard gardens, I know my time spent in nature nourishes my soul and has a positive impact on my health and well-being.
 
Your personal experiences may be like mine and you also feel positive impacts from your time in nature. We hear about Nature providing benefits to our health and well-being, but are the claims real or do they just sound plausible?
 
Sounds Good, Can You Prove It

As it turns out, there are numerous studies that looked at and measured the impact of spending time in nature. There are also studies that looked at the human health impact when natural areas and trees have been removed from an area, as was the case in several communities who lost an extraordinary number of trees due to the invasive emerald ash borer.
 
Those of us who have been aware of the positive impacts we experience may have been self-medicating by making time spent outdoors a regular part of our weekly routine. Obviously medical professionals need to operate on hard evidence rather than opinion, so thankfully this information has been making its way into the medical field and showing up in doctor’s prescriptions!

What Does It Take to Get Me Outside

​     My tips include:

• Find activities you enjoy doing that can keep you motivated (we like hiking new trails in county & state parks - there's always another park to hit next week!)
• Find something that is readily accessible (aka low cost & easy to do - we like walking around the neighborhood)
• Search out new adventures that are out of your ordinary routine and you find exciting (like kayaking, zip-lining, disc golf, or  tree climbing!)

EVERYONE needs playtime!  Play is an essential part of life. Children get it. Some adults have forgotten. Play is vital for the enjoyment of life as well as social, emotional, intellectual and physical development. Picture yourself playing within this week’s video. ​

Come play with us! Register for a climb today and come experience it for yourself! ​

Screen-time. It seems like we cannot avoid it.
 
Growing up, screen-time was the television. For me that meant MTV, Discovery Channel, sitcoms or playing Atari.
 
Today, screen-time also comes from our phones, tablets, watches, pc’s, laptops. At work, at home, in the car, in restaurants and bars, or even while we sit on a park bench.
 
While I it can be difficult to truly grasp the numerous impacts screen-time has on humans, I recently had an experience that opened my eyes to the conditioning affect I have subjected myself to.
 
For some people, online interaction is the equivalent of the in-person social interactions I am drawn to. When I consider the time I spend online, a fair percentage of it is with social media platforms, news feeds and email inbox.
 
I engage with each of these in a similar fashion, scrolling through a never-ending feed of digital stimulation. Within a fraction of a second, I make a decision for the next course of action.
 
If the item requires a relatively short amount of time for contemplation or consideration, like a picture, I can appreciate it for a few seconds before my thumb intuitively flips on to the next item. If the item holds some value or interest requiring more in-depth engagement, I might give it a minute, but no more. In many cases, the item gets flagged, saved or added to my list for later action.
 
I believe this overabundance of information and stimulation is part of what makes our digital devices so addictive. As soon as I pick up my phone it’s as if I enter a trance where I scroll continuously until one item grabs my attention enough for me to take pause.
 
While I may think I am learning or absorbing the information I come across, I question how much I retain in this state of mind as I cannot process completely before I am on to the next stimuli. This became uncomfortably apparent to me recently.
 
Back in the Analog World
 
One of my weekly goals is to spend one morning dedicated to reading articles, journals and magazines I have collected in my “future reading” pile. This stack of readings and bookmarks include the items from my digital binges, articles I had flagged for later, and notes I take from books I am reading.
 
I was at the coffeeshop one of these mornings with the sole purpose of taking time to read through a small stack of professional journals and research articles that I had set aside. I had already thumbed through the journals and knew there were specific articles that I wanted to give more attention to.
 
I settled in to enjoy quiet time with my readings over a cup of coffee. I began paging through until I came upon the first article of interest. Being somewhat technical in nature, it captured my undivided attention. That article had a lot of great information, and there were plenty more to go.
 
Before long I reached the end of my stack.
 
Looking down at my stack of journals, I had to laugh. Somewhere along the way I stopped reading articles and ended up skimming through the pages and dog-earing the interesting articles for future reading.
 
What was I doing? I was there to read! It’s as if I am on a constant search for new information and answers to my questions, yet not taking the time to digest and process the information beyond face value.
 
When I thought it through, I realized that I had unknowingly returned to my habit of mindless scrolling. My digital reflex had jumped into my analog world.
 
Digital Fast
 
It may seem easy to explain it away with the notion we hear in regard to shortening attention spans, but I doubt it is that simple. Do kids-these-days have shorter attention spans? Has my attention span been shortened in the digital age?
 
I never pursued the field of psychology beyond a handful of introductory courses in college so I may date myself; but, every time I heard a ding on my phone or laptop, I pictured myself as one of Pavlov’s dogs.
 
With each interruption no matter how brief, it typically results in at least a 10 to 15-minute disruption in my day as it takes that long to fully reengage my mind with the task at hand. Talk about a drain on productivity. It didn’t take too long for me to shut off notifications on my devices!
 
I believe that maintaining ready access to social media, news feeds, and e-mail are a powerful distraction and hindrance to engagement with work, play, family and friends. How well do you stay in conversation with your spouse when out to dinner at a restaurant with 15 screens or your phone on the table?
 
This leaves me wondering if attention spans are truly decreasing to a significant level, or how much of this has to do with distraction and conditioning?

In Search of Green 

Of the images I have displayed in my office today, the focal point is a large print with the perspective gazing upward into the crown of a magnificent beech tree and the splendor of its green leaves. I still remember basking in the field of green shining down on me as I took the photo during my time with the tree. This energy continues to radiate as I sit in my workspace. 
 
The effects of working in the presence of this image are noticeable. I feel a calmness within, in much the same way as when I drove that stretch of road that took me through an oasis of green in the middle of winter. 
 
Fortunately, there are many places around Wisconsin you can immerse yourself in green this winter. In Waukesha County, I enjoy hiking through stands of conifers in Nashotah Park and Retzer Nature Center. Mukwonago park has a few nice groupings of conifers, one easily accessible as it is adjacent to the campground parking area. 
 
I encourage you to get out into an area with an abundance of green. Hike, ski or drive yourself someplace green. See if you can sense impact the color has on your mind and body. ​

​Dr. John Gathright was an author and motivational speaker, not a tree climbing expert. He wrote a book about pursuing your dreams, and at one of his book signing events, he was approached by a woman. Speaking from her wheel chair, Toshiko Hikosaka told him of her dream to climb the world’s largest tree and that she wanted him to help her. He was not a tree climber and had no idea how to climb such a tree, but he wanted to  help her achieve her dream.
 
Three years later, Gathright and Hikosaka reached the top of a giant sequoia. At 63 years old, she was the first paraplegic to climb a tree to this height. Her climb that day culminated in triumph, wonder and exhaustion. They spent the night in the top of that 243-foot tall tree, on the branches, under the stars.
 
Just as that day in the bookstore had set the ball rolling for their 3-year journey, the climb to the top of the sequoia was the beginning of the next chapter. Upon returning to Japan, demand for Gathright’s tree climbing adventures inspired him to cut his own path forward.
 
Given there were no tree climbing schools in the country at that time, he had to start at the very beginning.
 
It was a delight for me to be able to attend a presentation of Dr. Gathright recently. He is a pioneer in using recreational tree climbing in therapeutic and rehabilitation programs, and I have been inspired by his work for a number of years. To hear him tell his story of the legwork he had to go through was amazing.
 
Sometimes It Is About The Numbers
 
He had to find research that supported his idea of establishing tree climbing as an effective and legitimate form of therapy. No research existed at that time, therefore he realized his next course of action was going to have to be the pursuit of his PhD studying and testing his hypothesis.
 
His doctoral thesis looked at the physiological and physical differences in individuals between their climbing living trees and climbing a concrete structure. In both instances, participants were climbing to elevated heights and performing similar tasks. 
 
In analyzing the data, there were clear differences between the 2 experiences. When climbing trees, participants experienced less pain and fatigue, experienced greater vitality and clarity of mind, and reported feeling a greater feeling of self-worth versus when they were climbing the concrete structure.
 
Tree climbing had produced an increase in positive emotions and reduction in negative emotions. His further studies revealed and measured reductions in participant levels of stress, tension, anxiety, depression, and anger after climbing trees.
 
Not only did his research show the positive effects of tree climbing, it revealed that it wasn’t simply the climbing that was providing the benefit. There was a marked enhancement of the effects when the participants were climbing trees.
 
Gathright had provided the scientific basis behind his TreeHab and Tree Therapy programs.
 
Meet Your Therapist
 
My first ascent of a tall tree early in my career had a profound impact on me physically and mentally.
 
My muscles enjoyed the physical exertion, but I was exhausted. I was energized by the height I had reached, at the same time nervous. Through all of the hormones flushing through my body, I found mental clarity and focus. I was energized, yet I was at peace.
 
I never measured the effects to confirm in what ways and by how much climbing trees changed me, yet I walked away from that climb relaxed and inspired. And every climb since.
 
Over 20 years later, I came across the research of Dr. John Gathright that identified and quantified the effects of climbing trees that I had personally experienced.
 
From its origins in 2000, TreeHab has worked with thousands of children with physical disabilities and emotional trauma. Gathright and Tree Climbing Japan have helped over 300,000 people of all abilities discover their inner tree-climber.
 
As I listened to him share his stories of people he has worked with over the years, I was reminded of those who have touched me during my journey thus far.
 
Tree Climbing Touches Lives
 
I am involved with tree a climbing program for urban youth and people who do not have the resources to leave the concrete and asphalt landscape at will. Counselors and therapists utilize our climbing experience in their dealings with children facing emotional trauma, such as that related to the loss of a parent.
 
It was interesting to hear him speak of programs developed for people with autism and ADHD. While the experience and benefits of tree climbing have a profound impact on these participants, it appears that TreeHab is also having a promising impact on breaking down the stigmas associated with them in his community.
 
I have seen the benefits first hand in dealing with a variety of people from all walks of life and backgrounds. While the majority of our climbers may not fall into any of these categories, every one of us benefits from the same effects that tree climbing provides.
 
His words brought into focus for me that we each have our own inhibitions, insecurities, and unique qualities. Each of us may be at a different point in our journey through life, come from different backgrounds and face our own challenges; but, every one of us can reap the benefits of time in the trees.