09/09/2026
Pattern recognition.
I found this snail shell in the garden and couldn’t stop looking at the spiral.
Nature is full of patterns. Spirals, branching trees, veins in leaves, flowers, waves, clouds.
And the more I thought about it, the more I started thinking about the patterns within us.
The way we react.
The thoughts we return to.
The places we hold tension.
The ways we protect ourselves.
The choices we make without realizing we’re making them.
We can’t change a pattern we haven’t recognized yet.
First, we have to see it.
Then we can begin to understand it. Acknowledge it. Get curious about where it came from and whether it’s still serving us.
And with awareness, we have the opportunity to choose something different.
Our response to these patterns goes beyond simply noticing them.
Physicist Richard Taylor and other researchers have studied our response to fractals, repeating patterns found throughout the natural world. Research suggests that viewing certain fractal patterns can reduce physiological stress, and EEG research has found changes in brain activity associated with a relaxed, wakeful state.
Maybe this is one of the reasons a garden can feel so different from a screen.
A spiral shell.
The center of a flower.
Branches reaching into the sky.
Our eyes follow the patterns. Our attention settles.
So the next time you’re outside, take a moment to really look.
Notice the patterns around you.
And maybe, in the quiet of paying attention, notice the patterns within you too.
Awareness is where change begins.
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