Right on the edge of Lisbon, there is a huge swathe of national park with hiking trails laced throughout.
There’s an abandoned watch tower, secret sitting areas, bridges where you don’t expect them, and the occasional biker who nearly runs over your toes while booking it towards the next break in the trees.
We spent both days this weekend exploring different parts of the forest, because literally every time we go we discover some whole new area that we’ve never seen before.
It was hot hot hot, there was no one on the trails, and it was a very delightful weekend indeed.
I’m really starting to believe that time in nature is a core component of creativity.
There’s something so generative about being out under the sky, smelling the grass and the trees as they respire in the heat, watching a butterfly chase the flowers in the breeze.
Nature is so prolific. It’s constantly creating and experimenting, discarding what doesn’t work without a shred of attachment, and going absolutely HAM on what does.
It doesn’t care if the final product is uniform or perfect or if everything meets some strict specification — it just gets on and does stuff, and the result is glorious.
My goal this week is to bring my own creativity closer to nature’s model.
How can I be more bold? What can I experiment with? What can I discard, and where should I double down?
And, most importantly, when can I get more nature time?
What about you? When was the last time you got immersed in nature? And did you notice an upswing in your creativity as a result?