Enrichment — Excitement for Animals, A New World for You
Journaling is a form of enrichment that can help you prepare for an “enriched” life.
As per the Saint Louis Zoo website — “An enriched zoo environment is defined as one that is interesting, allows animals to perform natural behaviors, permits them to be more active, and increases the animals’ control over their environment. Enrichment helps satisfy both the physical and psychological needs of animals and allows them to make choices.”
Life in a Zoo
In zoos, the endeavor is to make animals' lives easy and away from any predatory risks. They are fed well and are well-taken care of. Such an environment keeps them away from the “natural” environment to which they belong to. Using “enrichment” techniques, the zookeepers try and bring unpredictability to these animal’s lives.
Zoos across the world call it — Enrichment. A few of the enrichment forms deployed by the zoos to make animal life interesting:
- Sensory enrichment,
- Food enrichment (by giving them a variety of food),
- Physical habitat enrichment (by creating enclosures that push their creative side),
- Cognitive enrichment (things to play), and
- Social enrichment (uniquely engaging with them each day),
Zookeepers know that they can’t bring the “wild” in these animals’ lives, but by bringing small unpredictability in their days, they ensure that they grow well and learn about a life that they might or might not see ever.
In the book, The Power of Meaning, Emily Esfahani Smith, the author speaks about Ashley, a zookeeper in the Detroit Zoo. During their meeting, Ashley introduced Emily to a giraffe named Jabari. To demonstrate the meaning of enrichment, Emily and Ashley hold on to a branch full of leaves and offers it to Jabari. To Jabari, it’s more than food. It’s an opportunity to interact with the zookeeper and the visitor. Jabari approaches Emily and sweeps the leaves from the branch in one go, and it leaves Emily in complete awe.
Ashley’s role in the Detroit zoo is to keep these animals happy and their lives sufficiently unpredictable to ensure their well-being.
Emily also writes that — “Enrichment is one way for zookeepers and staff to try to achieve the goal of keeping the animals happy. By moving rocks or tree branches around to create a different environment for the animals to explore, hiding food so that animals have to search for it, giving the animals objects to manipulate, they help make life in the zoo more unpredictable and, therefore, more stimulating.”
Enrichment for You and Me
As soon as I came towards the end of this beautiful story from Emily, I realized the connection with Journaling.
I felt a connection between Journaling and the concept of “Enrichment.” Journaling helps explore aspects of life that we have not lived yet but where we actually belong to.
Journaling is a window to this awareness, to this new world. A flash thought, a profound thought.
Every day, when I write in my journal, I witness an unknown world. Sometimes I refer to it as my inner world, and sometimes it gives me an impression of something out of this world.
Time and again, I ask myself this question — “How is my mind generating all of these thoughts/ideas?”
“The Power of Meaning” helped me make a connection. Journaling is one of the tools that can help you experience an unpredictable world that might be essential to your well-being.
Like Jabari’s that leaves the giraffe happy and allows him to return to his family every day with new and rich experiences when you allow yourself to get immersed in the world of journaling, you also go through this “enrichment” exercise.
Journal for enrichment
“It’s very strange, but the mere act of writing anything is a help. It seems to speed one on one’s way.”
— Katherine Mansfield, writer, and poet.
Enrichment in our context means unpredictability. It means tools that offer cognitive challenges and opens gates to a new perspective.
- Journaling = Unpredictable experiences.
- Journaling = Cognitive development.
- Journaling = New perspective each day.
- Journaling = Enrichment.
We all live a life of schedule and predictable behavior.
Whether it is at home or the workplace, our lives are largely driven by predictable behaviors and experiences. At the beginning of the day, you know what meetings you will be attending, at what time you will be having your meals, what colleagues or friends you will be meeting, and so on.
The actual experiences might vary, but by the time you decide to wrap up the day, the factor of “unpredictability” is not too much; its role is limited. And, that’s why we jump to our smartphones and social media to have our dose of unpredictability.
What if you consciously choose techniques that add unpredictability to your day?
Or, if it doesn’t make it unpredictable, allow you to experience it at least?
That’s where Journaling helps me and can help you. It allows me my dose of unpredictability, my dose of enrichment, and my dose of a whole new world. I don’t need a smartphone to do that.
Every morning, I dedicate at least 30-minutes to my journal notebooks. By the time I stand up, the practice helps me calm down, create some space in my head, see a new perspective, and witness/experience something my “predictable” life cannot offer.
Answer this — “Who knows me best? And, what five things will that person tell about me?”
A straightforward question. Give yourself a deep breath and close your eyes. What names appear in your mind?
Your Mother, or spouse, or a close friend, or Father, or ??????
After answering this question, again and again, every month for a long time, I finally faced the perspective this question was trying to tell me.
The answer was — ME!
How can anyone else know me more than myself?
The moment my journal made me realize this, I felt a connection with an altered self. A person whom I didn’t know. It was a moment of complete unpredictableness—an “enriched” experience.
“Once I begin the act of writing, it all falls away — the view from the window, the tools, the talismans, and I am unconscious of myself….one’s carping inner critics are silenced for a time….there is always a surprise, a revelation. During the act of writing, I have told myself something that I didn’t know I knew.”
— Gail Godwin, American novelist, and short-story writer.
How can Journaling “enrich” your life?
- Daily writing five lines in your journal notebook help you relax.
- Journals are a tool to leave your legacy to this world—enough motivation to feel enriched straightaway.
- Multiple journaling methods gives you varied form of enrichment.
- Journaling is not a habit; it’s an art form, and that’s why it can fulfill your artistic need too.
- Writing brings out your true inner-self, and that helps you grow self-confidence.
- Journaling is not monotonous, and that’s why the “unpredictability” factor is also not monotonous.
- Journaling has no rules, no structure, no formula. Do it the way you want.
Journaling is not just writing; it’s a form of writing, which lets your mind explore itself.
Our minds are way powerful than we can ever imagine or use them for. Journaling is a tool to become aware of this fact.
A simple awareness in itself is Enrichment.
It’s time to deploy an Enrichment tool that can help you live a life of satisfaction, calm, and wonder — Welcome to the world of Journaling.
Nishith is an avid reader, Writer, Author, Marathoner, Self-transformation coach, YouTuber, Podcaster, and creator of the unique self-development platform — “Be Better Bit-By-Bit.”
Debut book — Be Better Bit-By-Bit available on Amazon.
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