During the pandemic, I picked up my camera again after leaving my photography hobby behind for a bit. I hadn’t lost interest; I’d just stopped making the time.

That changed when my son and I hunkered down with my parents in Iowa during the first year of COVID. They have some nice land and are in a city that sits on the Mississippi. Not only did I pick my camera back up, I also started birding in earnest, though am still today what I would call a hobbyist in both.

I’d spend a couple of hours a day, usually early morning and over lunch, creeping around their deck and back yard, camera in hand. During that time, I got to know different bird species by their calls, watch fledglings be fed by their parents, their downy feathers sometimes blowing off in the wind, and was treated to weeks of 30 or so bald eagles snatching fish out of the still churning waters at Lock and Dam No. 11.

For all the turmoil and suffering, I still remember that year as one of renewal.

Even after we returned to Chicago, I continued to scan the treetops and make treks to the beach and other preserves to quietly observe birds, camera still in hand. The birding community in Chicago is pretty robust and friendly, and migration seasons are a true joy. From our piping plovers who have their own security teams to the sandhill cranes everyone waits to hear flying over in the Fall to the countless species that take a layover down by Lake Michigan, there is plenty to see and hear in this city that isn’t the usual noise of traffic and sirens.

Then, I stumbled on a video about the science behind looking up and realized why birding had become such a routine, important part of my self-care: There are mental health benefits to looking up.

Now, whenever I’m out walking I remind myself to scan the sky. Sometimes that’s as simple as looking for the bird I just heard call. Other times I watch a squirrel scamper up to a safer distance only to turn around and chide me for disrupting their work. Or maybe I just look at the blues in the sky and purposefully set my mind to zero, pushing each entering thought to the side for a few minutes and clearing my brain’s slate.

My invitation to you today is to consciously take a few moments to look up. Go outside and just stare at the sky for a couple of minutes. Or go for a walk and scan the trees. A number of birds, like cardinals and black-capped chickadees, spend their winters with us (even some robins!), so see if you can spot some.

Note how you feel after taking those few moments. Is your mind little quieter? Are you a little more relaxed?

Sometimes the small things are exactly what we need when we’re dealing with big feelings and big stress.

The Light Links

What is Skyology? How looking at the sky can boost your well-being

Mental health benefits of stargazing and astronomy

Birding for beginners

One-minute meditations for when you really need a minute

Mary Oliver: “I got saved by the beauty of the world.”