More than half the world’s population lives in an urban environment, but everyone—even city dwellers—can use Sukkot as a time to reconnect with nature.

Here are some ways to unplug from the digital and to immerse yourself in the present moment. 

1. Take a long walk in a park, forest or nature preserve. As you walk, use all your senses to notice the different trees, cacti or plants. Thank them for providing shade, for cleaning our air and giving animals a place to live. 

2. Visit a farm or farmer’s market and incorporate whatever produce is fresh that week into your meals. 

3. If you can see nature from your window, focus on one tree or plant and look at it each day. If you have plants in your home, focus on one stem or leaf. Examine how the colors and patterns change over time, how the seasons affect it, whether animals or birds visit, how it continues to grow. 

4. Decorate your home with signs of the season. Dried flowers leftover from your altar, leaves collected in the park, apples picked from a local farm. Maybe you have a lulav and etrog - the traditional flora of Sukkot. Look at these throughout Sukkot and pause for a moment of gratitude because we are all part of nature.